Photo: SRO Motorsports Group
Germany’s Hubert Haupt and Finn Wiebelhaus and Turkey’s Ayhancan Guven took victory in the GT and GT Sprint disciplines during the third edition of the FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia.
The German pair overcame a challenge from United Kingdom duo James Cottingham and Chris Froggatt to win the one-hour contest on Saturday, while Wiebelhaus then added a second medal for Germany by finishing second behind Guven during the single-driver sprint race a day later.
Valencia was the third city to host the Motorsport Games since the inaugural edition in 2019, following on from Rome (2019) and Marseille (2022).
The GT and GT Sprint contests were held at the nearby Circuit Ricardo Tormo, which hosted a round of Fanatec GT World Challenge Europe powered by AWS Sprint Cup as recently as last year.
The two-driver GT medal race started with United Kingdom’s No. 93 Ferrari 296 GT3 starting from pole position, but Bronze-rated Cottingham lost the lead to Haupt’s No. 4 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo on the opening lap.
The two drivers then remained close together for the remainder of their stints before pitting to hand over to their respective co-drivers, with Wiebelhaus emerging from the pits a few seconds clear of Froggatt.
The British driver set off in pursuit of the No. 4 Mercedes-AMG, but incurred a five-second penalty for track limits before fighting his way past Wiebelhaus with 15 minutes to go.
A second track limits penalty brought an end to Froggatt’s hopes of victory, crossing the line first but dropping behind Haupt and Wiebelhaus in the final classification.
It marks the second consecutive year that a Mercedes-AMG entry took victory in the GT relay race, with Germany succeeding French duo Simon Gachet and Eric Debard, who won in 2022.
Debard was on the grid to defend his title, sharing a Sainteloc Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II with Paul Evrard, but had his competitive run curtailed by a black-and-orange flag for suspected tire pressure irregularities and a subsequent ten-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
Dexter Mueller and Yannick Mettler captured the bronze medal for Switzerland after Mettler completed a last-lap overtake on Spanish driver Jorge Cabezas Catalan to finish third.
After taking the gold medal on Saturday, Germany was again involved in a battle for the top spots during the single-driver GT Sprint contest on Sunday.
There, Turkish driver Guven was crowned the winner in a last-to-first contest after he was initially stripped of pole position when his car was found to be underweight post-qualifying.
Guven moved his Schumacher CLRT-operated Porsche 911 GT3 R up to fifth on the opening lap and then fought his way into the podium positions by overtaking Jazeman Jafaar (Malaysia) and Darren Leung (United Kingdom).
A safety car, trigged by the No. 22 Mercedes-AMG of Yang Liao spinning into the gravel, allowed Guven to close up to Wiebelhaus and Daniel Juncadella, who were running in first and second, respectively.
Guven passed Juncadella after the restart to gain second and then completed one final overtake on Wiebelhaus with under five minutes remaining to capture the gold.
In the process, Guven succeeds his fellow Bathurst 12 Hour winner Matt Campbell as the GT Sprint winner, as the Australian triumphed at Circuit Paul Ricard two years ago.
