From 23 to 27 October, Valencia will host the third edition of the unique FIA Motorsport Games, which brings together competitors from a wide range of motorsport disciplines and gives them the opportunity to represent their nation in the same way as they do at the Olympic Games. Of course, the Czech Republic will not be absent.
The organisation behind the FIA Motorsport Games is the SRO of Stéphane Ratel, who founded successful series such as FIA GT in the past and is the spiritual father of the GT3 category. One of his latest projects is the Motorsport Olympics, which has been supported by the International Automobile Federation since its first year. The first year of the FIA Motorsport Games was held in 2019 in Rome and at the nearby Vallelunga circuit. After a pandemic hiatus, the next event took place in 2022 in Marseille and at the Paul Ricard and now the competition returns for a two-year cycle – in 2024 in Valencia at the Ricardo Tormo circuit.
The Czech Republic will be represented by 15 athletes this year. In karting endurance it will be Aleš Burger, Zdeněk Ošťádal and Laura Šiklová. Burger and Ošťádal won a bronze medal in the previous event. In sprint karting senior will show up Václav Procházka and in sprint karting junior Martina Rumlenová. In the auto slalom category we will have Jakub Lavický and Elisabeta Kořínková. In TCR races, TCR Eastern Europe vice-champion Adam Kout will be present and in Formula 4, this year’s third man in F4 CEZ Max Karhan will defend Czech colours. The representatives in the historic rally graver category will be the pair Vojtěch Štajf – Veronika Havelková. Marco Zakouřil (drift), Adam Kotaška (cross car) are returning to the FIA Motorsport Games this year and Martin Kadlečík will be joined in the esports discipline by Vojtěch Fiala.
The number of competition disciplines is constantly growing and this year there are 27 categories from GT or TCR races on circuits, through rally, offroad, karting, car slalom to virtual racing. Each driver has the opportunity to win a gold, silver or bronze medal. The nation with the most gold medals in all categories is crowned the overall winner of the FIA Motorsport Games.
More than 80 national sporting authorities are expected to participate and have managed to attract the best GT and touring car drivers from around the world. This year’s event is also open for the first time to the best drivers from the World Rally Championship. As a result, the professional drivers stand side by side with their compatriots for whom motorsport is above all a passion.
Important focus is placed on young competitors. This is especially true in the junior categories. Kimi Antonelli won the 2022 FIA Motorsport Games in Formula 4 and now stands on the doorstep of F1. Doriane Pin also competed in kart slalom here that year and is now celebrating success in sports cars and formula racing.
The FIA Motorsport Games successfully brings together the largest number of nations competing at a single motorsport event. The previous event in France brought together 463 athletes representing 72 nations. This unique Olympics attracted, among other things, 45,000 spectators.
Czech drivers, in cooperation with the Autoclub of the Czech Republic, have successfully represented their country in previous editions, with Michal Reichert taking silver in drifting in 2019, Vojtěch Štajf – Vladimír Zelinka winning the silver medal in the Historic Cup in 2022, and Ondřej Kočka, Aleš Burger, Zdeněk Ošťádal and Sonia Ptáčková taking bronze in Karting Endurance.
