The victorious March 81S of “Nelson”/François Belle/Augustin Sanjuan.
Last weekend, the 2 Tours d'Horloge took place on the Paul Ricard circuit. It is the only race in the world reserved for Historic Competition Vehicles run over a period of 24 hours without interruption. The 18th edition confirmed the success of the event among the crews and the public who always turn up in large numbers to participate in the oroceedings. At the end of a fiercely contested race, the March 81S of the crew "Nelson"/François Belle/Augustin Sanjuan crossed the finish line as the overall winner.
After the traditional "Le Mans type" starting procedure dear to the 2 Tours d'Horloge, the race got underway at15:00 in radiant sunshine. Very quickly battle was joined between the front-running sport prototypes. The Chevron B16 Bi-Rotor entered by Atlantic Racing for Romain Belleteste / Christophe Gadais / Daniel Roustan / Jose Oliveira held the lead for the opening 33 laps until its first refueling stop. It led the Chevron B19 run by the Côtes du Rhône Racing Team and driven by the German-Belgian crew of François Rivaz / Frank Stippler / Alexander Furiani who had taken pole position the previous day. Next came two Chevron B16s: the Chateaux Sport Auto team entry in the hands of Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Chateaux, Philippe Scemama and Laurent Fort and the Equipe Europe B16 of Didier and Julien Gruau, Pierre-Alain France and Armand Mille.
Among the favourites, the Porsche 934 Turbo prepared by André Caruso for the crew of Philippe Gache, Frédéric Rouvier and the Monegasque father/son duo, Jean-Pierre and Stéphane Richelmi, was in 3rd place in the general classification at the start of the race before pitting prematurely and falling back into the second half of the grid due to a problem with the torsion bar mounting, then the transponder, the gearbox and finally tyre wear which ultimately forced it to retire. The Chevron B8 GT of the crew "Mister John of B"/"Le Commandeur"/"Looping"/ Soheil Ayari was slowed by fuel feed problems, which occurred at the start of the race and which would cause of its retirement in the evening.
In the late afternoon, a succession of mechanical problems hit the leaders. The Chateaux Sport Auto team’s Chevron B19 of the of Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Chateaux / Philippe Scemama / Laurent Fort stopped at its pit because of a crack in the exhaust manifold. The Chevron B16 Bi-Rotor of Romain Belleteste / Christophe Gadais / Daniel Roustan / Jose Oliveira, which had retaken the lead in the general classification, stopped on the track after running out of fuel. It would rejoin 10 laps in arrears. The Chevron B19 crewed by François Rivaz / Frank Stippler / Alexander Furiani, credited with the fastest lap in the race, also returned to its pit because of a broken gearbox fork, followed later on by a fuel pump problem.
At the end of the first four hours of racing, the Chevron B16 in the hands of Didier and Julien Grau/Pierre-Alain France/Armand Mille was the only one of the four front-running sports prototypes not to have run into any problems, so it topped the time sheets ahead of the March 81S of the Palmyr team driven by "Nelson"/François Belle/Augustin Sanjuan and the Porsche 911 3.0 of the Mansfield squad entrusted to Marc and Christine de Siebenthal /Jean-André Collard /Henrique Gemperle. The 6th hour of racing saw the Chevron B16 of the Chateaux Sport Auto team climb back up to 2nd place in the general classification, one lap behind the leaders, but ahead of the Palmyr outfit’s March 81S. The battle at the head of the race between the Equipe Europe and Chateaux Sport Auto crews raged on into the early hours of the morning. Until the Equipe Europe's Chevron B16 suffered alternator problems that were quickly resolved, while Chateaux Sport Auto's Chevron B16 suffered a broken gearbox casing that sent it tumbling down below 15th place in the general classification. This was followed by an engine failure in the morning that led to its retirement.
THE MARCH 81S’S SOLID PERFORMANCE
From then on, the March 81S of the Palmyr team (3rd in the 2023 edition) led the race ahead of the Equipe Europe Chevron B16 and the Porsche 911 3.0 run by Team Mansfeld. Nothing would hamper the progress of the leading car driven by "Nelson"/François Belle/Augustin Sanjuan who crossed the finish line victorious at 15:00 after 24-hours racing and 526 laps completed finishing four laps ahead of the Chevron B16 shared by Didier and Julien Gruau/Pierre-Alain France/Armand Mille (1st in the Sport Prototype 1 category) which had to have a brake pad change one hour from the end. They saw the chequered flag nine laps ahead of Marc and Christine de Siebenthal /Jean-André Collard /Henrique Gemperle’s Porsche (1st in the GTS category).
The Simon Racing team’s crew composed of Cornelius Dornier/Andreas Rolner / Urs Beck/ Christer Joens came home fourth overall and won the Porsche 964 classification after experiencing gearbox problems that immobilised the car for 35 minutes.
After playing a leading role in the early stages of the race and then experiencing various problems (running out of fuel, broken exhaust silencer, faulty electrical harness), the Atlantic Racing Chevron B16 Bi-Rotor finished 8th overall and won the Sport Prototype 2 category.
Eleventh at the finish, the Cudini Racing Team Porsche 944 S2 driven by Philippe Vigneron/Jacques Colibet /Franck Hardonnière /Arnold Noret sealed victory in the classification reserved for Porsche 944s.
The Saloon Car category was won by the BMW 635 Super Production prepared by Atlantic Racing for Jean-Marie Belleteste / Pierre Aviron-Violet / Steve Goldin / Serge Kriknoff.
The Austin Mini 1300 entered by Team TH and driven by Thierry Thiefain / Enzo Thiefain / Frédéric Thiefain / Emmanuel Jacquemin also put on a magnificent performance winning the Tourism and Historic categories after an engine change carried out in 39 minutes.
2 ASAVE GRIDS, MANY CLUBS AND TRACK BAPTISMS
Like the previous day, two ASAVE grids brought down the curtain on the event. The second race of the weekend saw the victory of the AC Cobra of the Guénat / Mahé crew in ASAVE Racing 65 reserved for GT, Touring cars and two-seater front-engined sports prototypes from before 1966, and that of the Corvette C3 of the father/son duo Excoffier in ASAVE Racing 76 reserved for GT and Touring cars from 1966 to 1976.
This year, vintage and sports car clubs were again in the spotlight, and were able to take part in a large parade of clubs and collectors on the famous Paul Ricard circuit on Saturday from 10:45 to 11:15.
Finally, in the late morning on Saturday, the event provided the opportunity 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 on board historic competition vehicles from the 2 Tours d'Horloge and the ASAVE grids.
RETIREMENTS
No. 62: Ligier JS2 (LIGIER ) (Jacques Nicolet /Raymond Narac /Pierre-Olivier Calendini ): suspension rocker arm (20 laps).
No. 44: Porsche 944 S2 (RTT) (Philippe Rafin /Didier Ortion /Charles-Edouard Bouchara ): engine (69 laps).
No. 69: Chevron B8 GT (“ Mister John of B”/“Le Commandeur”/“Looping”/ Soheil Ayari ): fuel feed (114 laps).
No. 95: Ford Mustang (Team WKMR) (Stéphane Guyot-Sionnest/ Baptiste Guyot-Sionnest/ Georges Rocchietta / Marc Berger-Grimaud: drive shaft (116 laps).
No. 172: Ford Mustang (L'Atelier Mustang ) (Jean-Pierre Gagick /Emmanuel Hankard /Jean-François Coget /Romuald Mano: engine (168 laps).
No. 183: BMW 635 CSI (Châteaux Sport Auto) (Sébastien Eberhard/Christian Demigneux /Axel De Ferran /Paul Chateaux): engine (188 laps).
No. 169: Ford GT 40 (Hyracing) (Eric Van de Vyver /Fabrice Reicher / Greg Audi/Olivier Muytjens ): gearbox (240 laps).
No. 964: Porsche 964 (Moderne Racing Team) (Fabio Spirgi /Christophe Barth/Yvon Gindre/Mikael Lambotte ): suspension rocker arm (254 laps).
No. 310: Alpine A310 V6 (Redélé Competition) ( Eve Rédélé /Laure Rédélé /Victoire Rédélé /Paul Rousseau: regulations’ infringement (339 laps).
No. 83: Chevron B16 ( Chateaux Sport Auto ) (Matthieu Chateaux /Jean-Baptiste Chateaux /Philippe Scemama /Laurent Fort): engine (347 laps).
No. 111: Porsche 934 Turbo (JPS Racing ) (Philippe Gache / Frédéric Rouvier / Jean-Pierre Richelmi / Stéphane Richelmi ): tyre wear (377 laps).
No. 27: Porsche 964 (CG Motorsport ) (Jean-Luc Blanchemain /Alain Szyndelman /Claude Rucheton /Anthony Vetro ): shock absorber (379 laps).
No. 26: Porsche 964 (Carzilla Racing) (Philippe Burel /Victor Fernandes/Rudy Burot /Eric Mouez: (451 laps).
