FIM Awards 2023: The French too!

Saturday evening at the Rimini Congress Center, the stars were Italian when 2023 FIM Awards ceremony, with Valentino Rossi honored for his entire career and Francis Bagnaia rewarded for his MotoGP world title. But several of our compatriots were also in the spotlight…

Once the lights were turned off for the 800 guests and then “Con Te Partirò” sung by soprano Federica Caseti Balucani and mezzosoprano Anna Konovalova, the four presenters James Toseland, Amy Reynolds, Barbara Pedrotti and Matthew Roberts were able to explain the tempo of the awards, with each “normal” world champion honored individually before the arrival of the mega stars of the year named “Ultimate Champions” for the occasion.

Jorge Viegas, President of the FIM: “Watching this film, I have no doubt: it’s the best sport in the world! FIM family, here we are! I would of course first like to thank the city of Rimini and the region, because we couldn't find a better place: we have all the great champions there, we have all the great manufacturers there, they are all Italian but I don't speak not Italian otherwise I will give the speech in Italian. You know that you have just re-elected me for four more years but I repeat exactly the same things that I said four years ago: tonight, I feel like a world champion because we have the trust of almost 100 countries and it is for me a great honor and pride. And today we'll finish with the prizes for the seven "Ultimate Champions." That's the number of disciplines we have, and I'm probably the only person who changes families every week: I go from MotoGP to Dakar, then Motocross, and it's an incredible experience. I know the people in all of these families and I love every minute I spend with each of them. And tonight is the only occasion where you, the world champions, meet all your colleagues. All together we have around 30 world champions, and this is a unique opportunity. For the first time this year I heard many times: “I want to be ready, I have to win this race”. It's fantastic ! Welcome to you, we work for you and you are the reason why we are here: we work for the drivers, we work for the champions! Welcome and have a great evening! Thank you a lot. »

Franck Vayssié, the Director of the Circuit Racing Commission then took over to present the medal to the Frenchwoman Emmanuelle Clément, sidecar passenger world champion with British driver Todd Ellis, then Mike Di Meglio, Endurance world champion with Josh Hook and the team FCC TSR Honda France represented by its team manager, Masakazu Fujii.

Not necessarily an easy moment for the French 125cc world champion in 2008 and already Endurance world champion last year, because of the serious accident suffered this year by his teammate Gino Rea, but the Toulouse man came out with certain elegance.

Mike Di Meglio : " Hello everyone. It was a very tough moment for us at Suzuka when Gino (Rea) had his accident. But this title is for him: he is not world champion but he did two 24-hour races with us. So yes, thanks to him, because he did a crazy job at Le Mans and Spa! Fortunately, he is OK and little by little he is getting better. I wish him a good recovery and I think of him a lot. »

Followed on stage Alvaro Diaz (FIM Supersport 300 World Champion), Dominique Aegerter (FIM Supersport World Champion), Jose Antonio Rueda (FIM JuniorGP World Champion), Izan Guevara (FIM Moto3 Grand Prix World Champion) and Augusto Fernandez (FIM Moto2 Grand Prix World Champion),

All the other champions were then rewarded on stage, then the President of the FIM, Jorge Viegas, insisted on taking care of the real stars. He thus invited Valentino Rossi on stage to present him with a FIM Special Prize before honoring the “Ultimate Champions” who are this year Sam Sunderland (FIM Rally Raid World Champion), Toni Bou (FIM TrialGP World Champion), Andrea Verona (World Champion EnduroGP), Bartosz Zmarzlik (FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Champion), Tim Gajser (MXGP Motocross World Champion), Alvaro Bautista (FIM Superbike World Champion) and Francis Bagnaia (FIM Grand Prix MotoGP World Champion).

Eric de Seynes also took to the stage to receive the FIM Trophy for the Future for the Yamaha bLU cRU project.