Tour Auto 2024, Competition Groups H&I

 

The Group H&I winning 1983 Ferrari 308 GrIV Michelotto of Jérémy Mennechet and Laurent Loubet passing through Gencay..

This blogpost covers the top ten cars that competed in Groups H & I of the competition section of the 2024 Tour Auto.   These cars are those of a type built between 1972 and 1981 and that competed in the original Tour de France Automobiles.  I followed this historic rally for nearly 3 days between Gencay and Pau

The second placed 1972 De Tomaso Pantera GrIV of Gauthier Gheysen and Flavia Marinho.

The third placed 1975 Ford Capri RS2600 of Aurélien Letheux and Gerry Blyenberg.

The fourth placed 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.3l ST of Richard Hywel-Evans and Richard Chapman.

The fifth placed 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 2.8l of Kurt Thiel and Angelica Fuentes.

The sixth placed 1981 BMW M1 Procar of Olivier and Nathalie Breittmayer.

The seventh placed 1972 Alpine A110 1800 GrV of Christian Chambord and Stéphane Baschiera.

The eighth placed 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7l of Michel and César Troisgros.

The ninth placed 1979 Alpine A310 V6 GrIV of Jean-Pierre Prevot and Firmin Bour.

The tenth placed 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL of Grégoire Vaucher and Jacques-Antoine Ormond.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Tour Auto 2024, Groups H&I Regularity

 

The winner of the Group HI regularity part of the Tour Auto was this 1973 Porsche 911 Carerra RS 2.7 of Jack Oxenford and Ricardo Diaz.

This post covers the Tour Auto 2024 and the top ten Group H and I cars competing in the regularity section of the rally.

The pictures were taken in Boutx in the Pyrenees or in Pau.

Second was this 1972 Porsche 911 2.5L ST Gr4 of Tommy Eriksson and Erwin Siesling.

Third was this 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 of Christian and Jean-David Haas.

Fourth was this 1972 Dino 246 GT of Damian Pozzou and Maria Cristina Egidy.

Fifth was this 1972 BMW 3.0 CSi of Jean-Francois Escat and Danielle Brincat.

Sixth was this 1972 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE of Laurent Rotiel and Christophe Prouzet.

Seventh was this 1973 Alfa Romeo 2000 GT Am of Guillaume Auffret and Eric Tuloup.

Eighth was this 1973 Renault 12 Gordini of Jean-Yves Charpentier and Thierry Noel.

Ninth was this 1973 Volkswagen 1303S of Francois Hecquet and Laurent Roux.

Tenth was this 1973 Fiat Abarth 124 of Charles De Bourbon-Parme and Christophe Dacre-Wright.

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web à condition de créditer le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com, et de fournir un lien vers cette page.

Tour Auto 2022, Compétition Group H-I (1972 - 1981)

The winning 1975 Ligier JS2 of Mr John of B / Le Commandeur on the EC8 Special Stage near Puisseguin.

My favourite group of cars on this year's Tour Auto was those of Groups H-I which are cars built from 1972 to 1981.   Forty one Group H-I cars started the rally and 24 of them finished.  Many different manufacturers were represented including Ferrari, Ligier, Alpine, Lancia, De Tomaso, Jidé, BMW, Ford and of course Porsche.   Seventeen of these cars are featured below in photos I took at the Circuit Val de Vienne and on a special stage at Puisseguin near Bordeaux.

The Tour Auto is a rally for cars of the type that competed in the original Tour de France Automobile between 1951 and 1981.  This year it started in Rambouillet and went down the western side of France to finish in Andorra.  It took five days and included special stages and circuit races.

1st.  Mr John of B / Le Commandeur, Ligier JS2 1975 (251)

Seen here at Val de Vienne, the Ligier JS2 dominated on the circuits and won at the Bugatti, Val de Vienne and Nogaro circuits.  With others suffering misfortunes, this was enough to ensure a win in Group H-I despite being slower than the faster GT and Touring Cars on the special stages.

Another view of the Ligier JS2.  This is a Cosworth DFV engined car such as raced at Le Mans in 1975.

2nd.  Florent JEAN / Yves JEAN, Porsche 911 SC Gr.IV 1981 (253)

One of the later cars in the event, this Porsche in seen here on EC8, one of the many stages where it was fastest.

The Jeans' Porsche at Val de Vienne where it finished third.

3rd.  Emmanuel BRIGAND / Yann ALBERT, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 1974 (262)

The Porsche on special stage EC8 near Ouisseguin.

Here the Porsche challenges the Ligier at Circuit Val de Vienne.

4th.  Grégory DRIOT / Quentin VALENTE-DELPLACE, Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0 1977 (Replica) (281)

A beautiful car even if a replica.

The Porsche at Val de Vienne.

5th.  Rémi GUILLOT / Matthieu IZIDI, Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7 1973 (292)

Kicking up the dirt on EC8.

6th. Nicolas LEROY-FLEURIOT / Adrien AUDIBERT, BMW M1 Procar 1979 (272)

The impressive looking BMW M1 near Puisseguin on EC8.

At the circuit Val de Vienne.

7th.  Christian CHAMBORD / Stéphane BASCHIERA, Alpine A110 1800 Gr.V 1972 (260)

Difficult to imagine a Tour Auto without an Alpine Renault.

The Alpine on EC8.

8th.  Norbert FRADIN / Claire FRADIN, De Tomaso Pantera Gr. IV 1972 (265)

One of Two Panteras on the Tour Auto this year.

Here the Pantera is the meat in a sandwich between an Alpine A310 and a Ferrari Daytona.

9th.  Florent POIRIER / Sébastien VILLEROY, Porsche 911 Carrera RS 3.0 1975 (Replica) (267)

Another Porsche replica.

Here the Porsche replica is chasing down the second of the Panteras.

10th.  Martin MOURIES / Yves MOURIES, Ford Escort I RS 2000 1973 (238)

The Escorts were  real challengers but this was the only one to finish in the top ten.

The Escort at Val de Vienne.

Other notable competitors:

Johan ALLAGNON / Joanna BOUQUILLON in their 1973 Jidé 1600 come over the hump but understeered off the corner and through the ditch.  They continued on and finished fourteenth.

Philippe LEFAURE / Jean CHENEBEAU in their 1973 Volkswagen 1303 S "Beetle" finished thirteenth beating all the Ferraris in the group!

First of the Ferraris, in sixteenth place was that of Yann ROBIN / Vincent ROBIN. It is a 1981 Ferrari 308 Gr.IV Michelotto.

My favourite Ferrari on the Tour Auto was this 1975 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Competizione of Alexander RITTWEGER / Sam HANCOCK.   It finished 23rd.

A real contender on the first two days was this 1975 Ford Escort I RS 1600 of Emile BREITTMAYER / Alexis THOMAS.

Seeing a 1975 Lancia Stratos Gr. IV always makes my day but this one retired on day 3.

Special mention:

The team that really challenged for the win this group but who retired on the last day were Kevin JONES / Lee JONES in their 1972 Ford Escort I RS 1600.  A fantastic performance!

John Etherton asserts his copyright to all of the photos on this blogpost.  However, you may post the photos elsewhere on the web as long as you credit the photographer, John Etherton, and this blog post, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com and provide a link to this page.

John Etherton affirme son droit d'auteur à l'ensemble des photos sur ce billet de blog. Cependant, vous pouvez poster des photos ailleurs sur le web aussi longtemps que vous créditez le photographe, John Etherton, et ce blog, Rouenlesafx@blogspot.com et fournissez un lien vers cette page.

The Ligier leads a group at Val de Vienne on the warm-up lap.