Team Italy’s Kimi Antonelli’s dominant gold medal-winning performance in this morning’s FIA Motorsport Games KCMG Formula 4 final has again marked him as a star of the future.
The 16-year-old’s victory adds an FIA Motorsport Games gold medal to his 2022 list of achievements which also includes championship wins in the Italian and German Formula 4 championships.
Team Italy remains undefeated in FIA Motorsport Games KCMG Formula 4 gold medal races – the win today backing up Andrea Rosso’s victory in 2019.
The performance also spices up the Marseille gold medal race, with Italy now drawing level with France with three gold medal wins apiece.
Antonelli not only won the gold medal but also topped every practice and qualifying session, won yesterday’s qualifying race, and set the fastest lap of 2:07.002 - a time more than a second quicker than his nearest rival.
The Italian led home Team Portugal’s Manuel Espirito Santo in the silver medal-winning second place, with Team Spain’s Bruno Del Pino Ventos taking third and bronze.
The top five also included Danish Formula 4 champion Julius Dinesen in fourth and Belgium’s Lorens Lecertua in fifth.
The comeback drive of the race belonged to Charlie Wurz - the son of ex-Formula 1 driver and 24 hours of Le Mans winner Alex Wurz.
After a crash in the qualifying race yesterday, Wurz charged from the back of the pack to record a sixth-place finish. The 16-year-old third-generation racer actually did the majority of his work on the opening lap – leaping from 24th on the grid to 11th on the opening lap.
Disappointed racers after today’s KCMG Formula 4 battle included Team Switzerland’s Dario Cabanelas who suffered contact on lap one in the first corner - breaking his suspension and bringing out a safety car.
Michael Woohyun Shin from Team Korea also suffered wing damage and finished one lap down in 23rd after a strong drive yesterday to sixth in the qualifying race.
Antonelli not only takes home a gold medal but has an extra 10,000 euros for his 2023 race budget thanks to Formula 4 chassis manufacturer KCMG.