Friday 21st april 2023 on the Castellet circuit
The 2023 car tour has just ended.
Leaving (official departure Château de Vaux le Vicomte) on Tuesday 18/04 from Paris to reach Cannes on 22/04 on the Croisette, which cinephiles know well.
For my part, I was present for the final of the 4th stage on the Paul Ricard circuit, place of the last event on the circuit.
To participate in the Tour Auto the car must be eligible, for this the model must have raced the Tour de France Automobile between 1951 and 1973.
There are of course exceptions for cars for newer rally cars.
Three categories were created according to the years.
VHC for cars before 1966
Class G for cars between 1966 and 1971
Class H/I for cars between 1972 and 1981
Of the 5 grids, 3 are reserved for those entered in competition and 2 for regularity.
That is a total of 126 cars in competition and 110 in regularity.
Let's get back to this event on the Castellet circuit.
Regularity
The two regularity grids start this afternoon on the circuit.
In the G class, the first three finished tied with 1 second penalty De Selancy / De Lancastre on Ferrari 275 GTB/4, Gautrin / Gautrin Mercedes-Benz 280 SL and Meylan / Clivio at the wheel of their Alpine A110 1800 SC.
In class H-I, Daniel / Garzino finished on the top step of the podium with their Alpine A110 1600 SC by conceding only one second of penalty in front of three second ex eco with 2 seconds of penalties, Eriksson / Siesling Porsche 911 2,5L ST GR4, Oxenford / Diaz and Elicabe / Daly on Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7.
In VHC, the Argentinians Oxenford / Celada on Ferrari 275 GTB make a clear round, no penalty, they are ahead of 6 of their opponents who finish with 1 penalty point, Nicoules / Nicoules Mercedes-Benz 300 SL, Servant / Rabbe Triumph TR3 A, Hamoniau / Dupard and Bel / Fischmeister Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta Lusso, Martens / Pyck Morris Mini Cooper S 1275 and finally Thise / Thise Shelby Cobra 289.
Final rankings after the 5 steps
Class G and H-I
Class VHC
Competition
Let's now move on to the competition grids.
Class G saw Meinrenken/Schroder's Alfa 1750 GTAm dominated Roddaro/Speyer's Porsche 911 2.3L ST and the Vandromme/Vivier Ford GT40.
The H-I class, we find two Germans, the BMW M1 Procar of the Breittmayer / Breittmayer duo ahead of the Porsche 911 RSR of Torre / Joffroy, ahead of an Italian, the Ferrari 365 Competizione entered by Rittweger / Hancock, respectively 26 and 55 seconds behind the winners.
The VHC, for its part, consecrated an American in front of an English and an Anglo-American.
The top step of the podium went to the Ford GT40 of Breittmayer / Thomas followed at 47 seconds by the Jaguar E-Type of the crew Merlin / Merlin itself preceding, by 2 seconds, the Cobra 289 driven by Wakeman / Blakeney- Edwards.
Final rankings after the 5 steps
Class G and H-I
Class VHC
See you at the beginning of September for the 1000 Tours du Paul Ricard next Peter Auto event that I will follow for RSC.