THE 6-HOUR RACE TOPS THE BILL AT BARCELONA! (20-21 MAY)
After a start to the season crowned with success in the context of the KENNOL Grand Prix de France Historique on 7-8 April on the Paul Ricard circuit, V de V Sports give fans of endurance racing another rendezvous reserved for historic racing cars on 20 – 21 May at the 6 Hours of Barcelona on the Catalonian circuit.
This new event on this year’s V de V Sports calendar has already attracted more than 20 cars that will revive memories of the many endurance races held on the Montjuïc and Montmelo circuits at the end of the 1960s and in the early 1970s, among them the 6 Hours of Barcelona run in 1967 and 1968, which morphed into a 12-hour race the following year and then 1000 km in 1971 before ending with a couple of 400-km events in 1972 and 1973. The final race was won by Gérard Larrousse at the wheel of a BMW-powered Lola T292.
Initially called the Espíritu de Montjuïc, the event organised by the Escuderia Targa Iberia in collaboration with the circuit finally changed its name to the 6 Hours of Barcelona thanks to the V de V Sports field, the main race of the weekend. In addition, it is hosting the Copa Racer, Formula Regional EU by Alpine as well as the F1 Academy. This celebration will be completed by numerous exhibitions (posters, driver suits and historic racing cars) and the presence of drivers who shone in that era.
VIVA ESPANA!
Six weeks after taking part in the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard, the majority of teams will cross the Pyrenees to try and improve their positions in the provisional classification established this season by par V de V Sports. Topping the time sheets is the provisional leader the TVR Griffith 200 driven by Eric Van de Vyver and Guillaume Maillard who should be joined by the former no. 5 world-ranked tennis player, Henri Leconte, a participant in this type of event right from the very beginning.
Franco-Belgian crew Olivier Muytjens/Brice again at the wheel of the Ford GT40 entered by the Hyracing team, which was among the front-runners in the round in Provence before suffered an alternator problem, is determined to win this time out. The E-Type Jaguar entered under the Cudini Racing Team banner managed by Alain Cudini, former French touring car champion with 13 outings in the 24 Hours of Le Mans under his belt, will also join the party!
Among the touring cars is the BMW 635 CSI run by the Chateaux Sport Auto team and shared by Paul, Matthieu and Jean-Baptiste Chateaux, the Wassermann Racing 323i driven by Eric Wassermann/Charles Veillard/Bert Smeets and Patrick Bouvier’s 2002 Ti. Porsche is well-represented in the GT category starting with the Flatsix Le Mans Circuit team that has entered a 911 3.0 SC for Christophe Gaultier/Stéphane Deshayes/Mickael Bossuet and a 964 GTS for Pierre Le Flem/Bruno Vieren/Axel Mereau. Another 964, a newcomer, is the car entered for Mickaël Desmaele/Jean Obeniche. Several 944s will also be in actiont: the Cudini Racing Team S2 for Christian Noret/Jacques Colibet/Philippe Vigneron, the Skoal Bandit team Turbo for Hugo Mezard/Emilien Chayia/Nicolas Doquin, the Team Yokaï Z’s Turbo driven by Grégory Lecaude/Christophe Noel, and the Cas RacingTurbo Cup for Dimitri Bouic/Gilles Boyer/Boris Bouic.
A Spanish team, the aptly-named Escuderia Barcelona, will also race in this retrospective event with a three-car entry: a Porsche 911 2,0 for Carlos Beltran/Luis Portal/Pablo Tarrero, a BMW 325 i for Jordi Fanlo/Manel Vilanova/Antonio Cubero and a Datzun 240 Z for German crew, Ralf Schnitzler/Tim Müller.
The race will have a prototype category with the RPL team’s Chevron B16 for Didier and Julien Gruau, the Wassermann Racing Lola T492 driven by Eric Baumard/Olivier Huez and the Lola T598 run by the Racing & Classic team for the Italo-Monegasque lineup of Valerio Leone/Davide Leone/Marco Coppini.
And finally, note the entry of the TVR Tuscan Challenge driven by Christophe Laberty/Sébastien Mathieu.
