Bigger, bolder and, with one or two caveats, better. The FIA Motorsport Games is back after a two-year COVID-enforced hiatus for a second edition with all guns blazing. This weekend at Paul Ricard and its environs a total of 72 nations represented by around 450 boys and girls, men and women will battle it out for gold, silver and bronze across 16 disciplines. You won’t hear anyone, at least not from the FIA, use the ‘O’-word, but that’s what they are, motorsport’s very own Olympics, complete with a glitzy opening ceremony in nearby Marseille and the all-important medals table.
The Marseille Games, as they are officially called in a nod to the Olympics, will provide proof that the concept works, according to the FIA and event promoter Stephane Ratel, who planted the seed of the all-encompassing national competition when he came up with the idea of the FIA GT Cup of Nations back in 2018. This weekend’s event, insists Ratel and the man in charge of the Games at the FIA, Frederic Bertrand, will be the launchpad to even greater things in two years’ time for the third running of what will become a biennial event.
“One day the Motorsport Games will become a
