FIA Games: Swiss without medals 🎥
Switzerland came away empty-handed from the first FIA Motorsport Games in Rome. Russia emerged as the most successful nation. The premiere was accompanied by a lot of rain on the Vallelunga race track. With four drivers in three disciplines, Switzerland was minimally but strongly represented among some 50 nations. On none of the four days of the event [...]
With four drivers in three disciplines, Switzerland was minimally but strongly represented among around 50 nations. On none of the four days of the event was it dry all day, at times there was almost torrential rain during the races at the Autodrom in Vallelunga. This was also the case at the GT3 sports car finale, which ended behind the safety car.
Accident slows down the advance
By this point, the race had long been over for Christoph Lenz and Patric Niederhauser in their Lamborghini Huracán. Starting on a drying track as one of the few brave competitors with slicks, Lenz was on the move towards the top 8. During an overtaking maneuver in the infield, he braked and crashed into the tire piles.
https://www.facebook.com/fiamotorsportgames/videos/454616725183235
The recording of the GT race starts after the first laps on a drying track and shows Lenz's accident after about 2:30 minutes.
Fastest lap without value
Despite severe damage, Lenz was able to continue with a lap down and hand over the Lambo to the Bernese professional. This year's ADAC GT Masters champion set fast lap times with the barely drivable car, but had to retire for safety reasons after being asked to do so by race control.
Patric Niederhauser: "Too bad. Our strategy would have been right and therefore a lot would have been possible. The conditions were really difficult. We practically never drove on a completely dry track. So even my best time from free practice, where there were still a lot of damp patches, remained as the fastest lap of the whole weekend."
Victory in the GT Cup went to Team Japan ahead of Poland and Australia.
Technical misfortune for Meyer
Yves Meyer was not lucky in Rome either. The drift specialist easily qualified in eighth place for Saturday evening's final under floodlights.
There, he lost out to the eventual runner-up because the power steering on his BMW M2 went out, as it did a month ago in Greece. The medals went to Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Russia.
Eugster misses out on final
Fredy Eugster also had a strong start to the weekend. The Swiss Sim champion kept up with the top drivers in practice, even though "Gran Turismo" was foreign to him.
In the subsequent ten-minute qualifier, things did not go smoothly. Eugster got "into traffic" and therefore only started in the midfield when it came to the final.
Fredy Eugster: "Unfortunately, with 13th place, it wasn't enough for the final. That's why I'm still annoyed about the poor qualification."
The winner of the sim racers was an Australian.
Information about all races and the results of the first FIA Motorsport Games can be found on the specially created homepage.
facebook.com/AutoSportSwitzerland/
