2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 4 - 1962 to 1965

 

Just after the start of the third and final Plateau 4 race with the GT40s leading a great field up the hill from the first corner to the Dunlop Chicane.

Plateau 4 is always one of the highlights of the Le Mans Classic and this year in 2022 it kicked off proceedings after the Jaguar, Porsche and Group C support races.  I enjoyed watching their first and third races and pictures from those races feature below.

Plateau 4 was always going to be a battle between the Ford GT40s.

This plateau really needs a Ferrari 250LM so I was very pleased to see this Dutch recreation present and running.

Lots of variety further down the field with Lotus, Alpine, Alfa, Austin-Healey, MG and Bizzarrini.

Most of the top cars in the field and many others are shown below:

The winner on scratch was this 1965 Ford GT40 of Diogo Ferrao.

Second was another 1965 Ford GT40, this one driven by Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford.

Third was Emile Breittmayer in a 1965 Ford GT40.

This 1964 Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé driven by Michel Lecourt and Raymond Narac came fourth.

Wonderful to see a competitive Ferrari in this plateau.  This is the 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO recreation of Nicky Pastorelli.  It came fifth.  Built in the Netherlands I believe and to very high standards including hand beaten bodywork. 

Ludovic Caron's 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 came sixth.

Seventh was Frédéric Jousset's 1965 Shelby Cobra 289.

Damien Kohler in his 1965 Shelby Cobra 289 was eighth.

Ninth were Gregor Fisken and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards in their 1965 Shelby Cobra 289.

The 1965 Ford GT40 of Dominique Guenat was tenth.

Eleventh was this 1965 Ferrari 250 LM recreation of Alexander van Der Lof and Yelmer Buurman.

This 1965 Ford GT40 was twelfth driven by Jean-Francois Decaux.

One of my favourite cars, this 1964 Elva GT160 driven by Michael Birch and Gareth Burnett finished thirteenth.

Fourteenth was this Shelby Daytona Coupé driven by Neurrisse and Rouchard.

Sixteenth was this 1965 Lotus Elan 26R but it won the Performance Index for Plateau 4 driven by Simon Evans.

Tenth in the Performance Index was this 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ driven by Claudio Scalise and Manuel Elicabe.

A good Jaguar E-Type battle led by the 1963 car (No.50) of Luc-Pierre Verquin.

The 1965 Porsche 904 Carrera GTS of David Clark and Pierre Fillon.

The fast 1965 MG B of Michael Boyle.

The 1965 Shelby Mustang GT350 of L Desplaces.

The 1965 Marcos 1800 of Chris Marsh, Axel Lind and Robert Hamilton.

Malte Fromm in his 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia TZ.

Julian Ellison in the 1966 Austin Healey Sprite Prototype.

1966 CD SP88 driven by T de Chesse and E Bruet.

1964 Alpine M64 driven by Mitch McCullough.

Christian Bouriez in his 1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT leading a 1964 Lotus Elan 26R.

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1966 Marcos Mini GT driven by G. Carini, C. Gasco and J. Trousse.

One of the fastest cars was this 1965 Ford GT40 driven by Shaun Lynn but it spun out of contention in race 3.