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FIA Motorsport Games Summary

Publié le 28/10/2024

Team Luxembourg at the 2024 FIA Motorsport Games in Valencia

Valencia, October 27, 2024 – Over the past four days, the third edition of the FIA Motorsport Games brought together racers and fans from around the world for the largest event in the competition’s history. The Games began with a vibrant opening ceremony at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias on Wednesday. A total of 646 athletes from 82 nations competed in 28 categories, held across multiple venues in Valencia and its surroundings.

The Luxembourg delegation, organized by ACL Sport, featured 11 elite athletes competing across 9 disciplines:

Hugo Arellano (37) – Rally4 Tarmac
Luca Becker (21) – Esports F4
Sandra Donkels Becker (36) & Daniel Donkels (39) – Auto Slalom
Steve Fernandes (43) & Steve Kirfel (40) – Rally2 Tarmac
Chester Kieffer (18) – Formula 4
Lukas Pelizzari (11) – Karting Sprint Jr
Alexandre Point (11) – Karting Mini
Bob Schanen (21) – Cross Car Senior
Rohan van Riel (41) – Drifting

Even though the national team did not bring home any medals, everyone put up a good fight and did their best to show the best results. Florian Brouir, Sporting Director of ACL Sport comments on the results of the competition:

"Overall, very happy to have been able to take part in the FIA MSG with such a great delegation of 11 drivers. The team can be proud of its achievement. Although some drivers were hit by some bad luck, the performances were there, our drivers showed great skills. Some came very close to getting a medal and in almost every discipline, we reached the final stage, which is already a rewarding result!"

The host of the competition, Spain, showed the best performance overall, getting a total of 6 gold medals and 18 medals.

The detailed breakdown of the performance of the Luxembourgish team in their respective disciplines is as follows:

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Rally4 Tarmac

RESULT: 8TH

The Peugeot 208 crew, led by driver Hugo Arellano, competed on the tarmac stages set around Valencia and on the Special Stage at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. With a combined time of exactly 1 hour, they secured 8th place overall..

Rally2 Tarmac

RESULT: 4TH

Steve Kirfel and Steve Fernandes, driving the Hyundai i20N, came closest to the podium for the Luxembourg team, finishing 4th overall. Just 44 seconds behind the Danish team in third place, they completed the stages with a time of 54:02.

Esports F4

RESULT: 11TH

1 sur 2

Twenty-one-year-old Luca Becker represented Luxembourg in the Esports category, racing an F4 car on a virtual version of the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit using a Fanatec Simulator rig.
Becker qualified 14th in his group, advanced to 10th place in the Quarter-Finals, and further improved to 7th in the Semi-Finals. He ultimately finished 11th in the Finals on Saturday, just 10 seconds behind the leader from Brazil.

Auto Slalom

RESULT: 22ND

Thirty-three teams competed in the Auto Slalom discipline, racing a Hyundai Kona Electric through an obstacle course set up at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo. With the combined times of both team members determining the qualifying results, Sandra Donkels Becker and Daniel Donkels unfortunately did not advance to the eighth-final round, in which only the 16 fastest teams participated.

Formula 4

RESULT: 7TH

1 sur 7

Eighteen-year-old Chester Kieffer, fresh off a 4th-place finish in the French F4 Championship, competed against 21 other top regional F4 drivers from around the world. He qualified in an impressive 4th position and showed strong form in the Qualifying Race, finishing 5th.
Unfortunately, he was later disqualified for exceeding track limits, requiring him to start the Final Race on Sunday from the back of the grid. Undeterred, Kieffer fought his way up to a remarkable 7th-place finish.

Karting Sprint Jr et Karting Mini

Karting Sprint Jr

RESULT: 21ST

The Karting races across multiple disciplines were held at the Aspar Circuit, south of Valencia. In the Sprint Jr class, 11-year-old Lukas Pelizzari faced some tough luck over the weekend, being forced out of two Qualifying Heats due to crashes. As a result, he started the Finals from the back of a 36-kart grid. Nevertheless, over the course of 18 laps, he fought his way up to finish in 21st position.

Karting Mini

RESULT: 9TH

Another 11-year-old, Alexandre Point, represented Luxembourg in the Karting Mini discipline.
Demonstrating strong results throughout the practice sessions and finishing 2nd in his group during one session, he secured 17th position in the Qualifying Heat, which set his starting position for the final race. During the 11-lap race, he climbed eight positions to finish an impressive 9th overall.

Cross Car Senior

RESULT: 12TH

1 sur 4

The Cross Car track posed a significant challenge throughout the weekend, as frequent rain made the muddy surface nearly undrivable at times and forced constant adjustments to the race schedule. Despite these conditions, Bob Schanen delivered excellent performances in the Qualifying Heats, securing a 4th-place start in the Semi-Finals. Climbing to 3rd and holding that position for most of the 6-lap race, he was involved in a collision on the final lap, dropping him to 6th in the respective group—just one position short of advancing to the Final race.

Drifting

RESULT: 14TH

1 sur 3

The Drifting competition, held on a specially prepared track in a parking lot at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, saw 33 racers compete in a crowd-favorite event that drew packed grandstands. Fans gathered to watch top drivers from around the world in thrilling tandem runs. Rohan Van Riel represented Luxembourg in one of the most unique cars of the competition—a 500+ hp BMW M6.
After qualifying for the Top-32 shootout, he faced a Hungarian driver in his first tandem run.
Following mistakes by both drivers, a rerun was announced, in which Rohan outperformed his opponent to advance to the Top-16. Competing against a Czech driver in the next round, Rohan narrowly lost, finishing 14th overall.

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