PAUL RICARD CIRCUIT - 1/2/3 NOVEMBER 2024
The 2 Tours d'Horloge, a unique car race in the world reserved for Historic Competition Vehicles, contested over a period of 24 hours without interruption, will bring the 2024 season organised by V de V Sports to a glorious conclusion on the Paul Ricard circuit.
The 2 Tours d'Horloge was resurrected in 2021 by their creator Eric Van de Vyver, now associated with his daughter Laure in the organisation of this event. This year, on the occasion of its 32nd edition, the race has attracted a superb entry of around thirty crews representing eight nationalities.
It will bring together for a weekend the cars that have marked the history of the greatest endurance races with teams and drivers from all over Europe. Special features of the 2024 edition: two legendary French car brands will be at the start, Alpine and Ligier!
ALPINE AND LIGIER: THE HEIRS AT THE START
Created by Jean Rédélé in 1955, the Alpine brand has distinguished itself in the most famous endurance races. Thus, from 1964 to 1969, Alpine accumulated six class victories in the 24 Hours of Le Mans before achieving the holy grail by winning the race outright in 1978 thanks to Jean-Pierre Jaussaud / Didier Pironi at the wheel of an A442B. Alpine's victorious quest in the Sarthe classic has continued in recent years with three more wins in 2016, 2018 and 2019 in the LMP2 category under the banner of the Signatech Alpine team. At the 2 Tours d'Horloge, Alpine will be represented by an A310 V6 in the hands of Jean-Charles Rédélé and his daughters Eve, Laure and Victoire, respectively founder of the brand Jean Rédélé’s son and his granddaughters.
Ligier, a brand founded by Guy Ligier, driver, former team boss of the eponymous car brand, which also distinguished itself in the 24 Hours of Le Mans by reaching the second step of the podium in the general classification in 1975 driven by the duo, Jean-Louis Lafosse/Guy Chasseuil in a JS2 powered by a Ford Cosworth engine. The Ligier team then shone in Formula 1 contesting 326 Grands Prix and scoring 50 podium finishes including nine victories before being bought by Alain Prost and renamed Prost Grand Prix. But the Ligier saga in endurance racing did not stop there. In 2014, a new Ligier took over from the JS2: a sports prototype named the JS P2 which finished second in the LMP2 category in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the start of a brilliant career. On November 1, 2 and 3, the starting grid of the 2 Tours d'Horloge will include a Ligier JS2 entrusted to Philippe Ligier, the son of the founder, Jacques Nicolet, who took over the Ligier brand, and Pierre-Olivier Calendini whose ambitions are to recall the great memories of the halcyon days of its history.
Let’s now have a look at the other crews starting with the current leaders of the 2024 VHC V de V Endurance Season’s classification, the duo Damien Kohler/ José Da Rocha (Team Bersi ) completed for this occasion by Miguel Langin and Jean-Jacques Renaut, who will try to maintain their lead in their Porsche 964 and emerge victorious in the final general classification. The current runner-up in the rankings, Eric Wassermann (Wassermann Racing) will also defend his place on the final podium at the wheel of his BMW 323 i shared with Charles Veillard, Bert Smeets and Olivier Huez. Same ambition for Stéphane and Baptiste Guyot-Sionnest (currently 3rd in the VHC Endurance ratings) who will be backed up by Mathieu Guyot-Sionnest and Marc Berger-Grimaud at the helm of the Team WKMR’s Ford Mustang. Olivier Muytjens, who is only five points shy of the current Top 3, will be a competitor to watch in his Ford GT 40 prepared by the Belgian outfit HY Racing: it will also be driven by Eric Van de Vyver, Fabrice Reicher and Greg Audi.
Winners of the first round of the season – the 6 Hours of Navarra – in Spain, Romain Belleteste and Christophe Gadais will benefit from the support of Daniel Roustan and Jose Oliveira to bring home the Chevron B16 Bi-Rotor of Atlantic Racing in a good position at the finish. The team will also enter its BMW 635 Super Production for Jean-Marie Belleteste / Pierre Aviron-Violet / Steve Goldin / Serge Kriknoff. Another crew victorious this year, winners of the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard, " Mister John of B" and "Le Commandeur" will also be at the start of the 2 Tours d'Horloge in their Chevron B8 GT shared with "Looping" and Soheil Ayari. The latter is one of the most successful and eclectic currently active French racing drivers with a total of 7 French championship titles (single-seater, Super Touring and Grand Touring), two European GT championship titles, a title in the International Le Mans Cup in LMP2, victory in the Formula 3 World Cup in Macau, and 5 podiums in F3000.
The reigning champions in the VHC V de V Endurance Ratings, Matthieu and Paul Chateaux, will reconstitute the family crew with the help of Jean-Baptiste Chateaux, Philippe Scemama and Laurent Fort at the wheel of a Chevron B16, and Sébastien Eberheard and Axel De Ferran aboard a BMW 635 CSI. Also well placed in the 2024 VHC Endurance classification (5th) Jacques Colibet and Arnold Noret will team up with Philippe Vigneron and Franck Hardonnière in a Porsche 944 S2 prepared by the team managed by Alain Cudini, ex-French Touring Car Champion with thirteen participations in the 24 Hours of Le Mans to his name.
Former multidisciplinary professional driver (F3000, IndyCar, Touring cars, Endurance, Dakar, etc.), Philippe Gache will also be at the start to join in the battle for victory with his teammates including Monegasque rally driver Jean-Pierre Richelmi, his son Stéphane Richelmi (LMP2 champion in the World Endurance Championship in 2016 and LMP2 winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans the same year, LMP2 runner-up in the WEC in 2018 and 2019, LMP2 champion in the Asian Le Mans Series in 2017-2018) and Frédéric Rouvier at the wheel of a Porsche 934 Turbo prepared by André Caruso.
THE AUTO MOTO SHOW IN THE RACE
Having entered the 2 Tours d'Horloge for the first time last year, Jean-Pierre Gagick - presenter of the Auto Moto show broadcast on the TF1 channel - was so impressed by the concept of the event that he is back again this year. He’s entered a Ford Mustang named "Cruella" prepared by L'Atelier Mustang, which he will share with Emmanuel Hankard - Belgian influencer under the pseudonym eh0601 on Instagram - Jean-François Coget and Romuald Mano. Another Mustang on the entry list is the one run by the Luxembourg team Wengler Racing for Bob Kellen / Yann Munhowen / Max Schiltz / Steve Zimmer. And last but not least the Team TH with its Austin Mini 1300 for Thierry Thiefain / Enzo Thiefain / Hyppolite Collard / Frédéric Thiefain who will also be racing in the same category.
In addition, V de V Sports can count on the participation of many other teams. For example, in the Sport Prototypes category, the Côtes du Rhône Racing Team with a Chevron B19 for François Rivaz / Frank Stippler / Alexander Furiani, the Equipe Palmyr with a Tiga SC 79 for Marc Faggionato / Christian Vaglio - Giors / Gislain Genecand plus a March 81 S for "Nelson" / François Belle / Augustin Sanjuan as well as the Equipe Europe squad with a Chevron B16 for Didier and Julien Gruau / Pierre-Alain France / Armand Mille.
In the GT and Porsche ranks, there will also be battles galore in the different categories. Starting with the 944 versions with Skoal Bandit and its Turbo version for Hugo Mézard / Emilien Chayia / Nicolas Doquin / Antoine Doquin and the RTT team with an S2 for Philippe Raffin / Didier Ortion / Charles-Edouard Bouchara. Among the 911 3.0s, RTT will be present with an SC for Jean-Marc Bachelier / Edouard Ortion, GT Classic with an SC for Philippe Baert / Stéphane Moreau / Jean-François Besson / Sébastien Morales and Mansfeld with a 3.0 for Serge Libens / Marc de Siebenthal / Henrique Gemperle / Christine de Siebenthal .
Finally, the Porsche 964 field looks like being a hotly-contested one with Carzilla Racing and the crew Philippe Burel / Victor Fernandes / Rudy Burot / Eric Mouez, Net'Cuv Racing with Mickaël Desmaele / Christophe Girardot / Ulric Amado / Gregory Lecaude, CSP Le Mans with Pierre Le Flem / Marc Chatellier / Jean-Marc Leveque / Nicolas Beloou, Simon Racing with Cornelius Dornier / Andreas Rolner / Urs Beck. Then there’s GBF Racing with Christophe Laberty / Sébastien Mathieu / Jean-Pascal Roche / Laurent Sabatier, the Moderne Racing Team with Fabio Spirgi / Christophe Barth / Yvon Gindre / Mickael Lambotte and CG Motorsport with Jean-Luc Blanchemain / Alain Szyndelman / Claude Rucheton / Anthony Vetro.
TWO ASAVE GRIDS AND THE CLUBS
While the 2 Tours d'Horloge will occupy a large slice of the track time of the weekend, the two ASAVE (Association Sportive Automobile des Véhicules d'Epoque) grids, namely the ASAVE Racing 65 reserved for pre-1966 front-engined 2-seater GT, Touring and Sports cars and the ASAVE Racing 76 reserved for GT and Touring cars from 1966 to 1976, will complete the meeting. Each grid will have a 30-minute free practice session, a 30-minute qualifying session and two 45-minute races. Entrants can share the wheel between two drivers.
Vintage and sports car clubs will once again be in the spotlight this year and will be able to take part in a large parade of clubs and collectors on the famous Paul Ricard circuit on Saturday morning from 10:45 to 11:15 a.m. Information
The competition will be open to cars from the following groups
GT Group:
Periods E, F (1947-1965)
Periods G1, G2, H1, H2, I, J1 and J2 (1966-1990)
- Group 3: Series Production GTs
- Group 4: Competition GTs
- Group 5: Groups 1-4 Special Production Cars
- Saloon Cars
- Group B competition GTs
Touring group:
Periods E, F (1947-1965)
Periods G1, G2, H1, H2, I, J1 and J2 (1966-1990)
- Group 1: Series Production Touring Cars
- Group 2: Competition Touring Cars
- Group 5: Groups 1-4 Special Production Touring Cars
- Saloon Cars
- Group N: Series Production Touring Cars
- Group A: Competition Touring Cars
Sports Prototypes Group:
Periods E, F (1947-1965)
Period GR (de 1966-1971)
- SP 1: -2L Sports Prototypes
- SP 2: +2L Sports Prototypes
Period HR (1972-1976)
- SP 3: 2L Sports Prototypes
- SP 4: +2L Sports Prototypes
Sports 2000 until 1986 admission on application, without aerodynamic appendices, complying with SRCC Sports 2000 Historic, SRCC Sports Pinto regulations and appendix 3 of these regulations “Technical criteria Sport 2000.”
