For my first historic meeting of the season, I went to Spain, to the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit for the 9th edition of the Espiritu de Montjuic.
After two years of interruption due to pandemic, here we are again on the biggest historical event in Spain.
It was under capricious weather that this meeting took place, mixing F1s from 1966 to 1985 and GTs/Prototypes from England in the luggage of The Master European Tour as well as GTs and Touring Cars from the premises of Escudería Targa Iberia.
A touch of modernism was present with the Mini Cooper F56 and their 180 horse power from the Copa Racer.
Le Master Racing Legends
15 F1 from 1966 to 1985 had made the trip to Catalan soil.
Race 1
Steve Hartley in a Mclaren MP4/1 was ahead of two Williams driven by Mike Cantillon in an FW07C and Lukas Halusa in an FW08 in Saturday's race.
Only 1.7 seconds separated the winner from his runner-up, 6 seconds ahead of the third.
1 - Steve Hartley #77 McLaren MP4/1 (MP4/1-05)
2 - Mike Cantillon #7 Williams FW07C (FW07-17)
3 - Lukas Halusa #6 Williams FW08 (FW08-05)
Race 2
Sunday we took the same, reversing the positions Lukas Halusa won ahead of Mike Cantillon and Steve Hartley.
The scattered rain at the start of the race intensified after a quarter of an hour, making grip more and more precarious.
The safety car made its debut after Steve Brooks' Lotus 91 left the track.
The race ended behind the safety car confirming Lukas Halusa's first victory with his new machine.
1 - Lukas Halusa #6 Williams FW08 (FW08-05)
2 - Mike Cantillon #7 Williams FW07C (FW07-17)
3 - Steve Hartley #77 McLaren MP4/1 (MP4/1-05)
The Master Endurance Legends
In Master Endurance Legends 2 Gt, 13 prototypes and 2 guests made up the list of entrants.
4 degrees, such was the temperature on this Sunday morning on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
The start was given behind the safety car.
No sooner had the race started than Jamie Constable's #99 Pescarolo-Judd 01 came off the track at turn 2. The safety car returned to the tarmac.
The intervention dragged on, due to a gearbox jammed in gear, the race management released the red flag and the cars stopped on the straight under closed park conditions.
After 15 minutes, the race resumed behind the safety car for a 12-minute sprint.
As soon as the green flag Christophe D'Ansembourg Lola Aston DBR1-2 #007 got the better of Kriton Lendoudis and his #8 Peugeot 908.
The race ended with victory for Christophe D'Ansembourg ahead of Kriton Lendoudis, third place went to the Zytek 09s #5 of Keith Frieser.
Race Classification
1 - Christophe D'Ansembourg #007 Lola Aston DBR1-2 (B09/60) (B0860-HU02)
2 - Kriton Lendoudis #8 Peugeot 908 (908-09)
3 - Keith Frieser #5 Zytek 09s
After the races organized by the British, let's look at those developed by Escudería Targa Iberia.
The Iberian Historic Endurance.
The 9th season of the Iberian Historic Endurance started this weekend in Barcelona with a full starting grid, with more than 30 entries from 4 different nationalities.
Spaniards and Portuguese were in the majority, but French and English had made the trip.
The different categories of Iberian Historic Endurance.
• GDS: The Gentleman Driver Spirit is a category for Special Touring Cars before 1965 up to 2000cc + MGB + Porsche 911 SWB and for Special Touring Cars before 1976 up to 1300cc
• H-1965: Prototypes up to 1965 with a cylinder capacity of less than 2000 cm3 and Touring Cars and GTs up to 1965.
• H-1971: Touring cars and GTs up to 1971.
• H-1976: Touring cars and GTs up to 1976.
• H-GTP and sports cars: Prototypes and sports cars until 1976.
• INV-
Guest
In qualifying Jordi Puig and Alberto Pecanins in a Ford GT40 took pole position for both races ahead of Pedro Bastos Rezende in a Porsche 911 3.0 RS at 2.144 seconds, followed by Bruno Santos also at the wheel of a Porsche 911 3.0 RS.
The first 50-minute race, run on Saturday under clear skies and rising temperatures.
Jordi Puig and his Ford GT40 showed off the power of his V8 to get ahead of Pedro Bastos Rezende and his flat six when braking into the first corner.
The hunt was led by a quartet made up of Bruno Santos in a Porsche 911 3.0 RS, Eduardo Davila also in a Porsche 911 3.0 RS, the Crossle 7S of the duo Stéphane/Mathias Rey and Florent Cazalot in a Lotus 7.
The retirement of Bruno Duarte (Porsche 911 3.0 RS) on engine failure forced race management to bring in the safety car 30 minutes from the finish.
The driver change window opening 1 lap after the entry of the safety car will disrupt strategies.
The checkered flag fell on the Porsche 911 3.0 RS of Pedro Bastos Rezende preceded Eduardo Davila on Porsche 911 3.0 RS as well.
The last step of the podium went to the Lotus Elan 26R of Carlos Bardot.
Race 1 Classification
1 - Pedro Bastos Rezende #60 Porsche 911 3.0 RS
2 - Eduardo Davila #176 Porsche 911 3.0 RS
3 - Carlos Bardot #27 Lotus Elan 26R (26-S2-14)
For the second round of the Iberian Historic Endurance contested on Sunday the weather had changed, the rain had invited itself.
Following the results of race 1, the front row of this Sunday race consisted of the two Porsche 911 3.0 RS of Pedro Bastos Rezende and Eduardo Davila.
Moments before the green lights, heavy rain began to fall which forced the race director to throw the competitors behind the safety car for a lap in order to familiarize the drivers with these new track conditions.
Bastos Rezende and Eduardo Davila are the first to get into the rhythm with Jordi Puig and Florent Cazalot, in Lotus 7, just behind.
In these track conditions, the light creation of Colin Chapman quickly took the advantage over the powerful Ford GT40 approaching Eduardo Davila.
An error by the Iberian pilot in a slippery area allowed the French to take the advantage.
Always as comfortable in these rainy conditions, the latter took the opportunity to climb to the front of the peloton by overtaking the Portuguese Porsche.
The completed driver changes did not change the face of the race. As the track dried up, the Porsche 911 3.0 RS Pedro Bastos Rezende made the power speak.
Despite this, the frail Lotus 7 kept the lead until 2 corners from the end, overtaken by the Porsche 911 3.0 RS.
However, Cazalot will be penalized for not respecting the minimum pit stop time (one second!).
Race 2 Classification
1 - Pedro Bastos Rezende #60 Porsche 911 3.0 RS
2 - Jordi Puig #19 Ford GT40 (GEL 018)
3 - Florent Cazalot #27 Lotus 7
Carreras Los 80’s
The Carreras Los 80’s, which takes us back to the golden age of touring car racing, started their 3rd season this weekend in Barcelona as part of the Espirítu de Montjuïc.
The different categories of Carreras Los 80’s
Touring cars up to 1400cc and Group 1 and N, up to 1994
Group A and Trophy touring cars up to 1994, up to 2000cc
Group A and Trophy touring cars up to 1990, above 2000cc
Grand Tourism Trophy until 1993
14 crews competed in a single 50-minute race with a mandatory stop.
Saturday afternoon qualifying was about the leadership of each category for the only race on Sunday.
Contested under the sun over a period of 30 minutes, qualifying saw Pedro Bastos Rezende on his Porsche 911 3.0 RS number 60, yes the same winning couple twice in the Iberian Historic Endurance (Cf. above), slam a 2:12:066 to take pole more than 2 seconds ahead of Ricardo Pereira's Ford Escort RS2000.
Sunday 10:40 a.m. the green lights went out, inviting competitors to rush to the first right/left at the end of the starting straight.
Taking advantage of the power of the three liters of the native of Zuffenhausen Pedro Bastos Rezende kept the advantage on the RS2000.
An error from the poleman allowed Ricardo Pereira to take the lead.
Following the stoppage of the Alfa Romeo GT Am of Jordi C. Roca due to a mechanical problem, the safety car returned two minutes from the opening of the driver change window.
Still under the safety car, the mandatory stop did not change between the first two Ricardo Pereira preceding Pedro Bastos Rezende.
The Porschiste whipped to regain the leadership to never leave it until the checkered flag.
Ricardo Pereira finished second, the podium was completed by Carlos Beltran in a Porsche 964 RS NGT.
Race Classification
1 - Pedro Bastos Rezende #60 Porsche 911 3.0 RS
2 - Ricardo Pereira #14 Ford Escort RS2000
3 - Carlos Beltran #3 Porsche 964 RS NGT
4 – Toni Garcia #90 Honda Civic
5 – Dan Jimenez #16 Honda Civic
Copa Racer
The RACER Cup is a one-design Spanish competition with 180hp Mini Cooper F56s.
The format of the meeting was
An official training session of: 10' for driver 1 to define the first grid and another 10' for driver 2 to define the second grid.
Race Sprint 1 20' + 1 lap for Driver 1
Race Sprint 2 20' + 1 lap for Driver 2
Long race 45' + 1 lap (driver change required between 20 and 30 minutes)
The endurance race grid will be established according to the rankings of the two sprint races.
