Spain topped the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games medal table on home soil in the over the weekend, after claiming a record haul of six gold medals in Valencia.
The Spanish squad finished well clear at the top of the table, ending four days of competition ahead of Germany and 2022 winner Italy. A total of 13 nations struck gold in 2024, while 26 left the Games with at least one medal. They included 12 first-time medallists, with seven nations winning a maiden gold.
Of the disiplines relevant to DSC, following Saturday’s GT race, won by Germany, Sunday saw races for both the GT Sprint and Single-Make GT fields.
In the former, Ayhancan Güven stormed from the rear of the pack to secure Türkiye’s first ever gold medal in the GT Sprint.
The contest was made more interesting when pole-sitter Güven was sent to the back of the grid for running an underweight car. The Porsche driver was going to need to work for this win.
When the lights went out Güven immediately charged to fifth and then made quick work of Jazeman Jafaar (Malaysia, Lamborghini) and Darren Leung (United Kingdom, Ferrari).
The Safety Car was deployed before the 10-minute mark to remove the Chinese Taipei Mercedes-AMG from the gravel. This played to Güven’s advantage as he was now on the rear of Daniel Juncadella (Spain, Mercedes-AMG).
The Turkish racer did not need long to pass his Spanish rival and was now closing in on leader Finn Wiebelhaus in the Team Germany Mercedes-AMG. But the teenager was not going to be an easy overtake.
Wiebelhaus made full use of his car’s superior top-end speed to keep his rival at bay for several laps. It took a lot of work, but Güven finally squeezed through a Porsche-sized gap with less than five minutes remaining to claim gold.
Wiebelhaus added a silver to the gold he scored yesterday in GT, while Juncadella took bronze for Spain.
Owen shines again in GT Single-Make
A week on from his shock victory in the Finale Mondiale race for the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli runners at Imola, James Owen stole the headlines once again aboard a 296 Challenge in the Single-Make GT race.
Although the Briton did not cross the finish line first, he became a gold medal winner for Team United Kingdom.
Owen ran much of the half-hour race in second place behind Team Spain’s Ivan Velasco Sanchez, but made a pass on his Ferrari 296 Challenge car with one minute to go for the lead.
On the final lap, Sanchez nudged Owen’s Ferrari out of the way to reclaim the top spot and capture the checkered flag first. However, Sanchez was one of several competitors to receive a 25-second penalty for a starting procedure infringement and as a result, Owen was promoted to the win.
Owen’s gold medal was the second of the day for Team United Kingdom after Jorge Edgar’s triumph in the Karting Sprint Jr discipline.
Finishing second for the silver medal was Team Switzerland’s Christophe Hurni, who also jumped Sanchez as a result of the penalty. The Spaniard hung on to third for the bronze medal.
Staged at multiple venues around Valencia, the third FIA Motorsport Games drew a total attendance of 49,000 for the multi-discipline event.
The closing ceremony took place last night at the City of Arts & Sciences in Valencia, where the successful athletes were celebrated, while Spain was recognised as the event’s top performer.
Images courtesy of FIA
