They did not stay away, but reminded about themselves at the FIA Motorsport Games 2022 international automobile competition. This event took place near the picturesque Provencal city of Marseille, on the famous circuit where the royal Formula 1 competitions take place - the Paul Ricard circuit. Our Ukrainian team took part in almost all possible disciplines, namely: Autoslalom - Andriy Yaromenko/Tetyana Kadyuchenko, Karting Slalom - Ivan Kondratenko/Maria Kravchenko, Cross Car Junior - Nikita Botuk, Fantec eSport - David Pastukhov, Formula 4 - Oleksandr Partyshev, GT – Yevhen Sokolovskyi, Ivan Peklin, Drifting – Dmytro Ilyuk, Touring car – Pavlo Chabanov, Karting Sprint Junior – Mark Brovko, Karting Spring Senior – Dmytro Muravshnyk. The delegation showed competitive results and had the opportunity to declare themself at the international level, in a difficult time for the country.
Today we have the opportunity to talk with the participant David Pastukhov, the driver of a fairly new discipline that is rapidly developing, and which does not leave professional car racers indifferent - this is sim racing.
- Tell us in more details, David, how did you get to this point? How did you get involved in this particular motorsport discipline?
Everything associated with cars and motorsport has been and is a field of interest for as long as I can remember. From an early age, I tested myself in the discipline of karting, I think like all car lovers I dreamily contemplated the archives of Senna's dance on the tracks and Schumacher's achievements. Took part in the Cross Country discipline, I have achievements in the ATV class. As for sim racing and its professional interpretation, it all started with the contemplation of the birth of this field, the subsequent purchase of a steering wheel and training, later participation in state level and international competitions. I think the main thing is that I saw a perspective in this discipline that many people didn't notice (I think simracers will understand me), it's not just fun with evening gatherings, but a professional sport and a kind of springboard for training future motorsport stars.
- What achievements in this Discipline do you currently have that you would like to share?
I think that every polished turn, every new track completed, and the lap completed faster is already an achievement and a kind of success in development. I really like it in real life and watch endurance races with enthusiasm, so in sim racing I lean my choice towards this type of race. In sim racing, the driver is not limited in which discipline to choose, you can train as drifting, rally, ring racing. I am the bronze medalist of "A-Tune Time Attack". With the team Kyryll Negoi and Timur Olkhovyk, I had the opportunity to take 4th place at the Suzuka 10-hour international endurance race. Also compete in the 24 Hours of Bathurst, the 24 Hours of Spa Twice, and the 24 Hours of Petit Lemans.
- We see that you are quite serious about racing. But do you understand that everyone is interested in first-hand details from the Fia Motorsport Games 2022? Could you share more details, such as how to get there, where you stayed, where the track is located, and the course of the competition itself? Did you evaluate your opponents? What results did you expect?
That's how I try to treat everything I do with such care, sim racing has not escaped this. In order to describe the impression, words will not be enough. First of all, let's move to the French Provence, which is a large percentage of the atmosphere, drive 40 km from the picturesque Marseille, pass the ancient village of Curges-Les-Pins (where we actually settled with the coach), and cross a small mountain pass to find ourselves on the plain, where the historic Paul Ricard track is located. The main thing that I want to note is that the organization of the competition was at the highest level, it is not surprising because it was organized by the FIA. Each discipline had its own pavilion, or adjacent closed tracks. The eSport competition was held in the so-called "Mistral Hall", which was located at the very entrance to the track. There were plenty of competitors, the discipline accommodated the largest number of drivers from 58 countries. Each of them is quite experienced, I would like to spot the winner of the competition, James Baldwin from Great Britain, who drove his McLaren. The spirit of rivalry reigned during the two practice races. He evaluated his results in advance, and expected to show the highest result. But during qualifying, some difficulties arose that affected the car's handling. In the general draw for sessions, he started the race with 20 people in 15th position, and held it until the end. I want to note that the second race was more strikingly emotional. I started the race in the 7th position, from the start in a fast left turn, many cars crashed and spun, so I took advantage of this opportunity and climbed to the 4th position. But the adventures did not end. Satisfying my thirst for speed by driving a Lamborghini on the Mistral straight, I ran into a fatal problem at the Signes corner. Which was the excessive handling of the car, during which the rear part is pulled out from under me, to which I reacted well and kept the car on the track, preventing me from finishing the race in the fifth turn. This was generally how my further struggle with the car looked during the one-hour race, due to which I lost a position in the stage of struggle with controllability. In the future, the pilot from Kosovo, Visar Gjika, competed with me, a strong opponent, who tried to overtake my car for 20 minutes, but to no avail. Everything would be perfect, as long as I didn't lose about 10 seconds when entering the pit stop, with a problem of starting the engine. Which allowed two other participants to overtake me. Despite the fact that my pace was competitive, catching up with them was problematic.I finished the race in 9th position. That made it impossible for me to advance to the finals. According to the rules, it was necessary to take at least the 5th position. I will summarize that I am satisfied with my result and the opportunity to show our Cossack spirit and
show our struggle. Then fast laps and victories!
