FIA Motorsport Games Touring Car Cup: 2019-Present
Essentially the FIA’s take on the Olympics, the first running of the Motorsport Games was held in 2019. The event features a variety of different disciplines of racing, such as Karting, Drifting and Rallying. Each driver taking part represents their country as in the Olympics, with medals given out for each category within the various disciplines.
Naturally for this site the event of interest is the Touring Car category, which has featured in both iterations of the games held so far using TCR-spec cars. In 2019 the Touring Car Cup consisted of two races, with points given out for the top ten finishers in each. Those points were used to determine the results, with the top three drivers receiving medals. For the 2022 event there were two races again, however this time the results from the first race simply set the grid for the second race. The results of the second race then determined the medal winners.
Originally the games were pitched as an annual event, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the second running was pushed back to 2022. It was then announced that the games would be held every two years, with the next event scheduled to be hosted in Valencia in 2024.
So far the Touring Car Cup has enjoyed fairly strong grids, with 20 drivers representing their country in 2019 and 18 in 2022. The Motorsport Games are something of a novelty, but it’s an interesting concept that will hopefully continue to feature a tin-top category for years to come.