He could have been grateful to be allowed to take part, but instead a Russian kart driver caused a scandal by giving a Hitler salute on the podium and then laughing thievingly afterwards.
When he crossed the finish line in Portimao, Portugal on Sunday, Artyom Severyukhin was celebrated as the winner, but a short time later the Russian kart driver was the big loser.
Because Russia is currently suspended from a number of motorsport competitions due to the war of aggression against Ukraine, Severyukhin took part in the race on the Iberian Peninsula under the Italian flag for the Swedish team Ward Racing and promptly won.
But during the award ceremony, the horses ran away with the young Russian teenager, as a video shows. When the Italian national anthem sounded, he first hit his chest with his right fist and then gave a short Hitler salute.
On Monday, the world motorsport federation FIA announced an investigation against Severyukhin. Team Ward Racing also announced the immediate separation and said they were “deeply ashamed” of the 15-year-old’s behavior.
And Severyukhin himself? He was quoted as saying by a representative of the Russian Motorsport Federation: “I won the race and I was very happy. I’m from Russia. I thanked the team and my relatives from Russia. Some saw a bad gesture, but that was it It doesn’t. I just said thank you. I’m Russian, I’m from Russia and I stand by my country.”
The scandal at the official European Junior Karting Championship, which is organized by the world association FIA, also caused waves in the social media.
The FIA removed all articles and results for this race from their own homepage. Tweets and user comments have also been removed. There are still no statements from official FIA representatives about the incident.
On Twitter, however, there are still numerous comments under older tweets.
“Are you still sleeping?” Ask users there. Or: “Shouldn’t Severyukhin be disqualified for this action?”. Others even called for a lifetime ban on the young Russian.