2 TOURS D'HORLOGE - PAUL RICARD CIRCUIT

THE STARTING GRID!
 

All the crews that will set off today at 15:00 to race in the 32nd edition of the 2 Tours d'Horloge were present on the Paul Ricard circuit grid to take part in the practice sessions in preparation for this unique race reserved for Historic Competition Vehicles, contested over a period of 24 hours without interruption.
 
 
The competitors took part in two one-hour free practice sessions in the morning and the afternoon on the 5.822 km Formula 1 Grand Prix track in radiant sunshine. The two-hour qualifying session was held in the late afternoon. This was an opportunity for all the teams and their drivers to fine-tune the settings of their cars for the race and familiarise themselves with driving in nighttime conditions.

Even though the qualifying result has only a very relative value in a 24-hour race, the Chevron B19 of the Côtes du Rhône Racing Team driven by the German-Belgian crew François Rivaz / Frank Stippler / Alexander Furiani emerged fastest in the general classification (also 1st in the Sport Prototype 1 category) and will start from pole position ahead of another Chevron, the B16 Bi-Rotor version entered by Atlantic Racing for Romain Belleteste / Christophe Gadais / Daniel Roustan / Jose Oliveira (1st in the Sport Prototype 2 category).

Third overall and 1st in the GTS category was the Porsche 934 Turbo prepared by André Caruso for the crew made up of former professional driver Philippe Gache (F3000, IndyCar, Tourism, Endurance, Dakar, etc.), Frédéric Rouvier and the Monegasque father/son duo Jean-Pierre and Stéphane Richelmi. While the father brilliantly distinguished himself in rallying, his son has a fine record in modern endurance racing: 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 LMP2 category in the WEC in 2018 and 2019 and LMP2 champion in the Asian Le Mans Series in 2017-2018.

 
 Two other Chevrons completed the Top 5: the B8 GT of the crew "Mister John of B"/"Le Commandeur"/"Looping" joined for this occasion by 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. Fifth in the hierarchy was the Chateaux Sport Auto team’s B16 for Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Chateaux, Philippe Scemama and Laurent Fort.

The Tiga SC 79 prepared by Team Palmyr for Marc Faggionato / “Fernand Naudin” / Gislain Genecand clinched 1st place in the Sport 2000 category. The Simon Racing crew comprising Cornelius Dornier / Andreas Rolner / Urs Beck / Christer Joens bagged first place in the Porsche 964 standings. The foursome Olivier Muytjens / Eric Van de Vyver /Fabrice Reicher /Greg Audi placed Hyracing's Ford GT 40 at the top of the H-GTP standings. The Eric Wassermann/ Charles Veillard /Bert Smeets /Olivier Huez crew in their (BMW 323 i topped the SC category. The second crew entered by Chateaux Sport Auto for Paul Chateaux /Sébastien Eberhard/Axel De Ferran /Christian Demigneux (BMW 635 CSI) came first in the TC 4 category.

Having entered the 2 Tours d'Horloge for the first time last year, Jean-Pierre Gagick presenter of the Auto Moto show on TF1, is back this year with a Ford Mustang named "Cruella" prepared by L'Atelier Mustang, which he shares with Emmanuel Hankard - Belgian influencer under the pseudonym "eh0601" on Instagram - Jean-François Coget and Romuald Mano. He will start from 24th place on the grid with the 2nd fastest time in his category behind the Ford Mustang of the Luxembourg team Wengler Racing driven by Bob Kellen / Yann Munhowen / Max Schiltz / Steve Zimmer. Finally, the crew Arnold Noret / Jacques Colibet / Philippe Vigneron / Franck Hardonnière driving for the Cudini Racing Team came out on top in the category reserved for the Porsche 944s.

 
The eagerly-awaited Ligier JS2 driven by Jacques Nicolet, who bought the Ligier brand, Pierre-Olivier Calendini and the very experienced Raymond Narac, credited with several titles and victories in GT in the greatestest endurance races, was unfortunately unable to take part in the qualifying session due to a broken suspension knuckle. However, it will be at the start tomorrow to the great delight of fans of the French brand.

The competitors in the 2 Tours d'Horloge will return to the track at 14:00 for the Le Mans-type herringbone start which will be given at 15:00. The chequered flag signaling the end of the race will fall 24 hours later!
 
 

 Image: The Philippe Gache /Jean-Pierre and Stéphane Richelmi /Frédéric Rouvier crew in the Porsche 934 Turbo.

 

 2 ASAVE GRIDS, MANY CLUBS AND TRACK BAPTISMS
 
If the 2 Tours d'Horloge take up a large part of the track time this weekend, the two ASAVE (Association Sportive Automobile des Véhicules d'Epoque) grids, namely the ASAVE Racing 65 reserved for GTs, Touring cars and front-engined Sports two-seaters prior to 66 and the ASAVE Racing 76 reserved for GTs and Touring cars from 1966 to 1976 complete the meeting. Each grid has about twenty cars which, competed in their first race of the weekend.yesterday

Victory went to Maxime Guénat / Guillaume Mahé (AC Cobra) in ASAVE Racing 65 and Franck Julien (Ford Escort MK1) in ASAVE Racing 76. The two grids will return to the track thismorning for their second race. 

 
Finally, the event will provide the opportunity on Saturday in the late morning for four teenagers from the Pomponiana Functional Rehabilitation Institute in Hyères (specialising in the care of patients suffering mainly from nervous system or musculoskeletal disorders) to take part in a track baptism on the Paul Ricard circuit aboard historic competition vehicles from the 2 Tours d'Horloge and the ASAVE grids.
 
 

 
 
 
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.”