Photo: SRO / Dirk Bogaerts Photography
The entry lists for the upcoming 2024 Motorsport Games have been published, with many rising stars heading to Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit this weekend.
Drivers represent nations at the event, with centrally run fleets of cars and karts. For the Formula 4 Cup, the second-generation Tatuus T-421 will be used and there will be 22 cars on track centrally operated by one team.
Qualifying on Saturday morning will set the grid for a 20-minute qualification race, then the results of that set the grid for the medal-awarding half-hour main race.
From F4 Central European Zone are reigning champion Oscar Wurz (Austria) and race-winning rival Max Karhan (Czech Republic), and with experience of Valencia from Spanish F4 are Andres Cardenas (Peru), Juan Cota (Spain), Yevan David (Sri Lanka), Francisco Macedo (Portugal), Griffin Peebles (Australia), Matus Ryba (Slovakia) and Gino Trappa (Argentina).
There is also British F4 race-winner Reza Seewooruthun (Great Britain), French F4 race-winner Chester Kieffer (Luxembourg), Brazilian F4 points leader Matheus Comparatto (Brazil) and USF Juniors race-winner Ariel Elkin (Israel).
Kaishun Liu, who has been runner-up in the Chinese F4 championship for the last two seasons, will be representing Hong Kong and coming from Japanese F4 will be Tosei Moriyama.
There will be 36 drivers competing in the senior class of karting at the Motorsport Games, and the same in the junior class.
Drivers to look out for in the senior class are Danish ex-Formula 1 driver Jan Magnussen’s son Luca, who is looking to race in GB4 next year, Romania’s David Cosma Cristofor and Sweden’s Leo Nilsson.
Cosma won the Trofeo Andrea Margutti, was ROK Superfinal runner-up, fourth in the CIK-FIA World championship, fifth in the South Garda Winter Cup, seventh in WSK’s Euro Series and Super Master Series when in junior karting, and on OK karts this year has come 10th in WSK SMS, 13th in Champions of the Future and 22nd in the CIK-FIA European championship.
Nilsson was 28th in the World championship for OK Junior karts in 2022, and on OK karts has come 15th in the South Garda Winter Cup and 17th in the European championship.
Bosco Arias (Spain), Arjen Kraeling (Germany) and Iskender Zulfikari (Turkey) are three of the likely victory contenders in the junior class at Valencia.
Last year Arias starred in mini karting, and since stepping up to OK-J has come fifth in WSK’s Euro Series, eighth in the European championship, 12th in WSK SMS and 23rd in the World championship.
Kraeling was eighth in the WSK Euro Series and World championship, ninth in CotF and 16th in WSK SMS.
Zulfikari was the most successful driver in the world on Mini karts in 2023, and won the ROK Superfinal on his junior karting debut.
The Motorsports Games will also have an Esports component that includes F4. Competing for honours there are French F4 race-winner Frank Porte Ruiz (Andorra), US F4 Esports champion Muhammad Ibrahim (India) and British F4 Esports title contender Matt Caruana (United Kingdom).