On the Paul Ricard circuit the flag of Italy, the new winner of the 2022 edition of the FIA, flies high Motorsport Games which was attended by 72 countries represented by 463 pilots.
The blue team after dominating in rallies, in which it took home the primacy both among Rally 4 with Roberto Daprà and Luca Guglielmetti and with Andrea Zivian and Nicola Arena in the Historic Rally, on Sunday achieved the trio of gold medals thanks to the victory of Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Formula 4, which added to the silver one obtained by Mirko Bortolotti determined the absolute victory of the Italian team in the event organized by the International Automobile Federation and SRO Motorsports Group.
In France Antonelli confirmed the predictions that gave him as a favorite even before starting the engine of his car. The blue bearer after having soared in all the sessions, this morning took off from the pole thanks to the victory of the Qualifying Race on Saturday.
The sixteen year old immediately fielded a fast pace that led him to accumulate a substantial gap from the chasing group, thinned only on the occasion of a neutralization of the race following a contact between two cars.
With the green flag the Bolognese resumed his ride to victory followed by the Portuguese Manuel Espirito Santo and the Spanish Bruno Del Pino Ventos.
The top five was completed by the Danish Formula 4 champion Julius Dinesen and the Belgian Lorens Lecertua, fourth and fifth respectively. Italy therefore remains unbeaten in the category dedicated to single-seaters, which in the first edition of 2019 in Rome was won by Andrea Rosso.
# 3 Italy: Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Formula 4
Photo by: SRO
Excellent performance by Mirko Bortolotti in the GT Sprint, a category in which the Lamborghini factory driver managed to get second place at the end of a race that immediately saw him among the protagonists.
The blue driver, after starting from the fifth box of the grid, obtained after the qualification that was held this morning, made use of all his experience managing to climb two positions thus occupying the third place behind Matt Campbell and Ayhançan Guven .
On the eighth lap Bortolotti launched the decisive attack against the Turkish driver, going to take the second position held up to the checkered flag. The same maneuver was replicated by the Belgian Dries Vanthoor who moved into third position behind the Huracán GT3 Evo, which thanks to the placement of honor determined the victory of the blue team at the Motorsport Olympics.
“We have won the Olympics of international motorsport and this is a result of absolute value that goes well beyond our discipline, but which confirms the positive trend of all Italian sport – declared the President of the Automobile Club of Italy Angelo Sticchi. Damiani – It is an absolutely significant success which confirms the quality of our drivers and the great work done by ACI as a federation of Italian motors ”.
![Podium: Mirko Bortolotti, Grasser Racing Team](https://cdn-9.motorsport.com/images/mgl/YEQL3ZDY/s8/podium-mirko-bortolotti-grasse-1.jpg)
Podium: Mirko Bortolotti, Grasser Racing Team
Photo by: Alexander Trienitz
Roberto Daprà – Rally 4: “We did the whole race in crescendo, having to develop the set-up of our car at the same time. We are very happy with the work we have done and with my growth after the accident which has allowed me to regain confidence. We won the rally with a 16-second lead, but we knew that the fateful test was waiting for us, the SS14, where all three of us started side by side, something not really usual in our category. We chose the right line and we gave our best to stay in front, but it doesn’t happen that we had tense nerves for all three laps, but we managed to stay ahead of our rivals and win ”.
Andrea Zivian – Historic Rally: “It was wonderful to be able to participate in an event of this magnitude, which gave us an unforgettable experience correlated with a wonderful audience setting. I am sure that these games will have a growing future seeing how much good has been done in this edition, which will remain etched in our best memories. We pulled the whole race knowing that what mattered was the final, but we gave our best in every test while having fun at the same time ”.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli – Formula 4: “It was a difficult race because of the wrist (compromised in qualifying following a contact). In any case I managed to open a good gap at the beginning and then I managed the advantage. happy to have won, especially because I represent Italy this weekend to which I proudly managed to bring another medal ”.
Mirko Bortolotti – GT Sprint: “Today was not easy for us both in free practice and in qualifying, but in the race we fought hard to get a result we didn’t think possible. I am really happy with this second place which earned an important medal for Italy, which concluded the FIA in the best possible way. Motorsport Games“.
A big applause was addressed to the whole Italian team that took part in the event in eight categories, including: the Cross Car Senior with Simone Firenze who finished fourth in the final yesterday, Luca Losio who competed in Esports managing to get up to the semifinal, Manuel Vacca in Drifting stood out in the exciting challenges of the top 32 qualifying heats and Giacomo Ghermandi today protagonist of a slightly uphill qualification in the Touring Car, where he had to wave the white flag due to an inconvenience to the gearbox during the Main Race.
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