The stars came out on a glittering night for worldwide motorcycle sport when the 2023 FIM Awards Ceremony was successfully staged for the first-ever time in Great Britain at the striking ACC Liverpool in the heart of the historic city. The prestigious end of season ceremony saw this year’s FIM World Champions receive their gold medals to rapturous applause led by the assembled members of the FIM Family headed by FIM President Jorge Viegas.
With seven-hundred guests in attendance to honour the winners of fifty-eight FIM World Titles from six different arenas of motorcycle sport – Circuit Racing, Motocross, Trial, Enduro, Cross Country Rallies and Track Racing – the programme was packed but was executed perfectly. Filling the impressive venue in the north-west of England were representatives from the one-hundred-and-nineteen National Federations who showed their appreciation alongside motorcycling legends, FIM Promoters, FIM Partners and representatives from the wider global motorcycle community / industry.
Expertly overseen by the quartet of Masters of Ceremony comprising of Barbara Pedrotti, James Toseland, Rachel Stringer and Matthew Roberts, a free-to-view livestream on FIM-MOTO.TV ensured those in attendance were joined by a sizeable global audience to honour the 2023 FIM World Champions.
The evening’s proceedings got under way with the 2023 FIM Trophies being awarded as follows: FIM Women in Motorcycling Trophy – Motorcycling at School (Spain); FIM Environment Trophy – Misano Green Circuit: The sustainability of events (Italy); FIM Fair Play Trophy – The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride (Australia) and FIM Trophy for the Future – MotoStudent International Competition (Spain).
Following the FIM President’s Speech, Jorge Viegas then awarded FIM Distinctions – the Gold Medal Nicolas Rodil des Valle – to Michael Scott – long standing Circuit Racing journalist and, posthumously, to Mike Trimby – CEO and founder of IRTA.
FIM Vice President Giovanni Copioli and FIM Circuit Racing Commission Director Paul King were then invited on stage to present the medals in the Circuit Racing category which included Todd Ellis - Sidecar Rider World Champion; Emmanuelle Clement - FIM Sidecar Passenger World Champion; Karel Hanika - FIM Endurance World Champion; Mattia Casadei - FIM MotoE World Champion; Jeffrey Buis - FIM Supersport 300 World Champion; Nicolò Bulega - FIM Supersport World Champion; Ángel Piqueras García - FIM JuniorGP World Champion; Jaume Masiá - FIM Moto3 Grand Prix World Champion and Pedro Acosta - FIM Moto2 Grand Prix World Champion.
Next on stage were FIM Motocross Legends Dave Thorpe and Livia Lancelot to present the medals in the Motocross category to a line-up that included Aki Pihlaja - FIM Snowcross World Champion; Dani Heitink- FIM 85cc Junior Motocross World Champion; Mathis Valin - 125cc Junior Motocross World Champion; Andrea Adamo - FIM MX2 Motocross World Champion; Marvin Vanluchene- FIM Sidecar Motocross Rider World Champion; Nicolas Musset- FIM Sidecar Motocross Passenger World Champion; Marc-Reiner Schmidt - FIM S1GP SuperMoto World Champion; Max Anstie - FIM SX2 World Supercross Champion. Unfortunately, Ken Roczen - FIM WSX World Supercross Champion and Courtney Duncan - FIM Women's Motocross World Champion were not in attendance.
FIM Deputy President Ignacio Verneda and FIM Trial Commission Director Thierry Michaud then presented the medals in the Trial category where the recipients were FIM Women’s Trial World Champion – Emma Bristow; FIM X-Trial World Champion – Toni Bou; FIM Trial2 World Champion – Billy Green and FIM Trial3 World Champion – George Hemingway.
More warm applause then greeted FIM Chief Executive Officer Françoise Emery and FIM Enduro Commission Director John Collins who awarded the medals in the Enduro category that included Billy Bolt - FIM SuperEnduro World Champion; Kevin Cristino - FIM Youth Enduro World Champion; Jed Etchells - Junior Enduro World Champion; Jane Daniels - FIM Women's Enduro World Champion; Brad Freeman - FIM E3 Enduro World Champion; Steve Holcombe - FIM E2 Enduro World Champion; Josep Garcia - FIM E1 Enduro World Champion; Manuel Lettenbichler - FIM Hard Enduro World Champion and Mitch Brightmore - FIM Junior Hard Enduro World Champion.
Next it was the turn of the stars of Track Racing with, appropriately, FIM Track Racing Legend Barry Briggs joining FIM Track Racing Commission Director Armando Castagna on stage to present the medals to Rasmus Karlsson - FIM Speedway Youth World Champion - SGP3; Mateusz Cierniak - FIM Speedway Under 21 World Champion - SGP2; Martin Haarahiltunen - FIM Ice Speedway World Champion; Martin Smolinski - FIM Long Track World Champion; Ervin Krajčovič and FIM Flat Track World Champion.
FIM President Jorge Viegas then returned to the stage to hand out the Team category medal winners that comprised FIM Women’s Trial des Nations – Great Britain; FIM Trial des Nations – Spain, FIM International Six Days’ of Enduro Women’s and Men’s World Trophies – USA; FIM Long Track of Nations – the Netherlands; FIM Speedway of Nations Under 21 (SoN2) and FIM Speedway World Cup – Poland and FIM International Six Days’ of Enduro Junior World Trophy, FIM Junior SuperMoto of Nations, FIM SuperMoto of Nations and FIM Motocross of Nations – France.
FIM Promoter Legend François Ribeiro then took his turn to present the medals in the Endurance category that went to FIM Endurance Team World Champion – YART Yamaha and FIM Endurance World Champions – Niccolò Canepa, Marvin Fritz and Karel Hanika.
The final category of the night was for Ultimate Champions with FIM President Jorge Viegas once again on stage to make the presentations to FIM World Rally-Raid Champion (RallyGP) – Luciano Benavides; FIM TrialGP World Champion – Toni Bou; FIM EnduroGP World Champion – Steve Holcombe; FIM Speedway Grand Prix World Champion (SGP) – Bartosz Zmarzlik; FIM MXGP World Champion – Jorge Prado; FIM Superbike World Champion – Alvaro Bautista and FIM MotoGP™ Grand Prix World Champion – Francesco Bagnaia.
Reflecting on an amazing evening, Jorge Viegas – FIM President remarked: “The FIM Awards are always a very special occasion, and tonight Liverpool has joined the great editions of this event with the support of the ACU. Again, it is so unique to have so many of our FIM Champions together in one place and at one time, and it is something that has been warmly appreciated by all those who have been present. I would like to thank every single person who has contributed in any way to making the 2023 season such a huge success, tonight it has been the perfect way to celebrate it and bring it to a close. Already we are planning and preparing to make 2024 even better.”