VALENCIA, SPAIN (Thursday, October 24, 2024) – GT racing enjoys a very strong tradition at the FIA Motorsport Games, stretching back to the inaugural edition in 2019.
What began in Italy with one discipline expanded to become two at the second running in France, when GT was joined by GT Sprint. The growth continues this year, with GT Single Make set to make its first appearance in Valencia.
Three sets of medals will be up for grabs when the action takes place at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, with the deciding races set to play out across Saturday and Sunday.
GT: Past gold medallists chasing further glory at Valencia
The GT discipline has played a crucial role in the development of the FIA Motorsport Games, with the 2018 FIA GT Nations Cup in Bahrain acting as a forerunner to today’s multidisciplinary event. Both previous gold medallists will compete at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, where they will face plenty of new and familiar opposition.
France will defend the gold medal that it secured on home soil, though only Eric Debard remains from the previous winning effort. This time he will drive an Audi R8 run by the accomplished Saintéloc Racing squad, with Paul Evrard as his teammate. Japan secured the gold in 2019 and will bid for a second triumph this year with a new line-up, as Kei Nakanishi and Shigekazu Wakisaka share a Ferrari 296.
Fernando Navarrete Rodrigo represents Spain for what will be his third straight assault on the GT discipline. Once again, he will do so with a different car and teammate from the previous edition: in 2024, Navarrete Rodrigo will share an Audi R8 with Jorge Cabezas Catalán.
China last contested the GT discipline in 2019 and is back on the grid for this year’s edition in Spain. Yaqi Zhang returns on the driving front, joined by CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa Silver class winner Kang Ling in an Audi. Yannick Mettler won the same class at the Belgian event earlier this year and will share the Swiss-entered Mercedes-AMG with Dexter Müller.
For Germany, the vastly experienced Hubert Haupt will drive his familiar Mercedes-AMG, joined by rising star Finn Wiebelhaus. Ivan Peklin represents Ukraine, as he did in 2022. This time he will share an Audi R8 with Konstantin Gutsul, while Lithuania pairs Arūnas Gečiauskas with Jonas Karklys at the wheel of the same machine.
Chinese Taipei has chosen Yang Liao and Kuo Hsin Kuo, who will drive the popular Mercedes-AMG at Circuit Ricardo Tormo. Malaysia has strong medal prospects with its line-up of Selim Rafique and Weiron Tan, who will take the wheel of a Lamborghini Huracán, while Qatar will field Ghanim Salah Al-Maadheed and Ibrahim Ali Al-Abdulghani in the 992-generation Porsche 911 GT3 R.
Finally, the United Kingdom, which will call upon experienced international racer Chris Froggatt. He was on the grid in 2019 and all set to return in 2022, only for illness to force his withdrawal on the eve of the event. Froggatt is back for the third edition, where he will share a Ferrari 296 with James Cottingham, who has enjoyed success in British GT and now competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.
Track action will begin with two free practice sessions, each lasting 80 minutes. These are followed by qualifying (2 x 15 minutes) and a one-hour qualifying race. As was the case in 2022, the gold medal will be decided by a final one-hour contest.
GT SPRINT: Top-line professionals feature on 2024 entry list
Introduced for the second FIA Motorsport Games in France, the GT Sprint discipline features single-driver entries and places no limit on driver categorisation. As such, the world’s top GT drivers are eligible to enter.
That is certainly the case for host nation Spain, which has a very strong shot at taking home the gold medal with Daniel Juncadella. The Barcelona native brings a wealth of experience at the highest levels of motorsport, including the FIA World Endurance Championship, Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe Powered by AWS, and the DTM. He will drive the Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, a car with which he has earned several significant race victories.
The most obvious challenge to the host comes from Türkiye, which has chosen Ayhancan Güven as its representative. The 26-year-old won the 2018 FIA GT Nations Cup and has since established himself among the global elite of GT racing. Expect a strong challenge from the Turkish-flagged Porsche 911.
In addition to his GT assault for Chinese Taipei, Yang Liao will also contest GT Sprint in the same Mercedes-AMG. Germany has opted for a very similar strategy, with Finn Wiebelhaus also pulling double duty to chase GT Sprint honours at the controls of a Mercedes-AMG. Though still only 31, Jazeman Jaafar has already enjoyed a long and successful career in professional motorsport. Now racing in Asia, he will take the wheel of a Lamborghini for Malaysia.
The United Kingdom will be represented by Darren Leung, whose accomplishments include winning the 2023 British GT Championship and the 2024 Fanatec GT Europe Sprint Cup Bronze title. Driving his familiar BMW M4, Leung will be one of two Bronze-graded drivers competing in GT Sprint.
The Lithuanian entry will be driven by Eimantas Navikauskas. The Kaunas native is set for his second FIA Motorsport Games having participated in the two-driver GT discipline last time around at Circuit Paul Ricard. Finally, the United Arab Emirates will be represented by Saif Alameri. The second Bronze on this grid, he will drive a Porsche run by his own Rabdan squad, which is named after the iconic horse that was owned by the founder and first president of the UAE.
With only one driver per car, competition will take place over a single 30-minute practice session, followed by qualifying. Each car will run in reverse order for the Super Pole, where each driver will have two timed laps to set their grid position for the deciding 40-minute medal race on Sunday afternoon.
GT SINGLE MAKE: New discipline brings Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli to Valencia
GT Single Make will add a third GT discipline to the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games. The competition is based on the popular Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, with single-driver entries competing at the wheel of the Italian manufacturer’s new 296 Challenge car.
The United States will be represented by Lisa Clark. She brings eight seasons of Ferrari Challenge experience, winning a clutch of races and titles along the way, including the 2023 Coppa Shell Am title in North America.
Germany’s Axel Sartingen also knows the taste of success, having won both the Ferrari Challenge Europe Coppa Shell and the World Finals in 2022. Italy will also be represented by an experienced driver in the form of Paolo Scudieri, who has spent the past five seasons competing in the Ferrari Challenge Europe series. Swiss racer Christophe Hurni adds yet more racing know-how to the entry list.
Georgia will count on Davit Kajaia, who has a long and successful history in touring car racing. Japan will call upon Ken Abe, who has competed across the globe in a variety of machinery. Talal Shair will fly the flag for Lebanon, while host nation Spain has chosen Ivan Velasco Sanchez as its GT Single Make hopeful.
Sweden’s Christian Kinch has more than a decade’s worth of Ferrari Challenge experience, while United Kingdom’s James Owen has only been racing Ferrari machinery since 2023. The latter went on to win the Am title in the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli World Final last weekend during Imola’s Finali Mondiali. Owen produced a remarkable performance that took him to the overall victory thanks to great strategy calls. Venezuela has the youngest driver on the GT Single Make grid in Angelo Carlo Fontana Oliviero, while Portugal’s Alvaro Ramos is the elder statesman across all three GT disciplines.
There will be two free practice sessions on Friday, followed by two qualifying sessions on Saturday. Drivers will contest both, with the average of their best time from each deciding the grid. The medal race will run at 13:45 on Sunday.
|
|
|
|
|
