Vale's James Baldwin claims gold for UK in FIA Motorsport Games

Starting from pole position, the 25-year-old multiple SRO Esports champion, led the ESports pack into turn one and was never headed throughout a 60-minute race.

The victory for Baldwin came after race-winning quarter-final and semi-final triumphs, and he took the gold medal with a 2.942 second margin over Team Netherlands Chris Harteveld, with Team Spain’s Alberto Garcia Gomez in third place.

Both Baldwin and Harteveld drove the Assetto Corsa Competizione version of the McLaren 720S GT3 machine, a car similar to the one he raced in July's TotalEnergies Spa 24 Hour Race in Belgium for the Garage 59 team.

Garcia Gomez was the sole Lamborghini Huracàn GT3 Evo racer in the top 10 which saw a McLaren-dominated final.

Baldwin's gold medal has helped him add to an impressive list of career statistics that now include two championship victories in SRO Esports, the winning of the World’s Fastest Gamer competition in 2019, and taking an on-track British GT race victory in his first-ever GT race in 2020 at Oulton Park.

“That feels good," Baldwin said afterwards.

"That was such a stressful race because with ten minutes to go, I already had three track limits warnings, and a fourth one would have earned me a penalty.

"I was lucky I had a gap, otherwise, Chris (Harteveld) would have got me.

"At the moment, this feels like my best-ever esports achievement – the crowd, the flag, and how tense it was. Plus I’ve won a gold medal."

He added: “It was quite a big responsibility to represent your country in sim racing when you consider how many of there are in the UK. I’m really happy.”

Baldwin's Team UK victory came after Motorsport UK scored its first-ever FIA Motorsport Games medal with third place in the GT discipline, when Ian Loggie and Sam Neary finished third in the GT Endurance race with their Mercedes AMG GT3.