The inaugural FIA Motorsport Games have come to a close, with Australia claiming two medals from its three entries.

Grove Racing capped off a brilliant weekend for the green and gold team, claiming third place in the GT Cup after starting eighth.

There was plenty of positivity in the Australian camp, thanks to Cody Nikola Latkovski’s gold medal in the Digital Cup on Saturday inspiring the rest of the team to perform on the final day at Vallelunga in Italy, near Rome.

Luis Leeds almost made it three podiums from three, but finished just outside of the top three in fourth, having started eighth in his medal race.

Impressively, Australia, Belgium, Russia and Italy were the only countries to earn more than one medal in total at the debut of the Games, no country claiming more than one gold at the new multi discipline event.

Russian won the inaugural FIA Motorsport Games outright with three medals, and Team Italy and Australia tied for equal second.

GT Cup
Grove Racing’s Brenton and Stephen Grove finished third and claimed an almighty bronze medal in the GT Cup’s final feature race.

Stephen started the feature medal race in eighth, and with rain lingering at the Italian circuit, the conditions were tough for all drivers.

Stephen made a terrific start to the race in a super impressive opening and aggressive stint, as well as keeping things tidy. He pitted half way through the race for the compulsory driver change having climbed to fifth. From there, Brenton began his stint behind the wheel eager to continue the charge.

With the rain getting heavier in the latter half of the race, Brenton managed to hold his own in trying conditions, but the conditions were not favourable for close racing and eventually the safety car was called on lap 19 after the rain became too heavy.

Racing resumed two laps later and Brenton made his move – climbing from seventh to fourth before yet another safety car intervention on lap 22.

The pair were promoted to third after the Belgium entry in front of them was handed a drive through penalty for an earlier incident, leaving the Groves to spray the champagne on the podium.

Japan were the eventual GT Cup race winners, taking home gold ahead of Poland and Australia’s bronze medal of the 2019 FIA Motorsports Games.

What they said:
Stephen Grove:
“To come over here and represent your country, do it with your son and more importantly do it in a Porsche is just fantastic,” Stephen said.

“We’ve had a hard weekend, we’ve come here and had crazy conditions and we’ve been able to pull it together for third, it’s just outstanding.

“To represent Australia means an awesome amount to us both. We’re so proud that we were able to represent our country and so proud that we can bring something back to our country.”

Brenton Grove:
“It took me a while for me to find my rhythm, but once the safety car period finished we were on,” Brenton said.

“I made a couple of good passes and others slipped up, so for us this result is awesome.”

“It shows just how strong Australian motor sport and what the future holds for us going forward as a country.”

Formula 4 Cup
A charging Luis Leeds narrowly missed out on claiming Australia’s second Games medal in the Formula 4 Cup Feature Race.

Starting eighth on the grid, Leeds made his way through the field in a rain impacted race to end the event in fourth.

Leeds went close to claiming the final podium position, and what could have been a bronze medal, but in a strong and competitive field, the Victorian would have to settle for fourth despite his best intentions.

What he said:
“That race was interesting – starting off in the wet conditions and ending up really, really dry so we had to manage tyres and look for wet patches,” Leeds said.

“I pulled off a few courageous moves down into a few hairpins, but you’ve just got to send it sometimes and it paid off.

“It’s been an awesome week working with some amazing people. I wish I could have won for my country.”