Team Portugal claimed a brilliant gold medal in the Karting Mini Final as Xavier Lázaro prevailed at the end of a pulsating 11-lap battle.
 

The inaugural running of the Karting Mini category at the FIA Motorsport Games has proved to be one of the most exciting spectacles on the entire schedule with wheel-to-wheel action taking place throughout the weekend. The first-ever Karting Mini Final continued that theme as Portugal’s Lázaro took a hard earned and well-deserved victory.
 

Lázaro had enjoyed an event-long rivalry with Team USA’s Joshua Bergman with the pair being separated by around a tenth of a second in no fewer than two of the previous Heats. Despite Lázaro getting the better of Bergman in those particular duels, it was the American who started on pole for the Final by virtue of his cumulative results across three Heats.
 

Bergman made a solid start and held P1 before Team Spain’s Nuvola Morales Mendez came through to lead. That’s where the drama began as a concertina effect bumped the leading karts together, leaving Bergman without momentum and dropping down the order.
 

Team Portugal and Spain traded places on a number of occasions with Team Australia’s Jay Kostecki also enjoying a brief spell at the front, but the moment of truth came on lap nine as Lázaro finally made his move stick. The young gun went on to win as the action unfolded behind in the battle for second.

When the dust settled, and the karts crossed the finish line for the final time, it was Lázaro winning from the impressive Estonian Bennet Korjus while Morales Mendez completed the podium for Spain.