2022 Le Mans Classic - Plateau 6 - 1972 to 1981

 

Some of the leading cars at the Esses in their first race on Saturday evening.  Lola leads TOJ and Porsche. Paul Lafargue was very fast in this 1979 Lola T298 but lost 3 laps in the final race having won the first two.

Plateau 6 at the Le mans Classic covers the period 1972 to 1981 and thus is the latest period covered by the six main grids.  An interesting selection of cars but not really representative of those who did well during this period. Nevertheless, some close racing.  Caron didn't win any of the three races but consistency was what put him at the top of the podium at the end.

Just after the start of the final race on Sunday and Lola and Mirage battle it out into the Dunlop Chicane.

Further down the field they try three abreast into the chicane!   Osella vs Chevron vs Lola.

Eventual winner was Ludovic Caron in this 1975 Chevron B31.

Second was this 1976 Cheetah G601 driven by Beat Eggimann.

Third was the 1976 Chevron B36 of Philipp Bruehwiler.

Fourth was the 1979 BMW M1 Procar of Sebastian Glaser.

Fifth was the Duby/Vannelet/de Sibenthal 1977 Porsche 935.

Sixth was this 1982 Ferrari 512 BBLM driven by Alexander Wittweger and Sam Hancock.

Seventh was this 1972 Mirage M6 driven by Chris Mac Allister.  He won the final race.

Jean-Marc Merlin was eighth in this 1980 Porsche 935 K3.

Ninth was this 1979 BMW M1 Grp 5 driven by Albert Weinzierl.

Tenth was Frédéric Da Rocha in this 1979 Lola T298.

A 1972 Lola T290 leads the Mirage through the Esses.

The 1977 Aston Martin RHAM/1

René Arnoux was one of the drivers of this 1979 BMW M1 Procar.

1976 Sauber C5

1976 TOJ SC304

1976 Inaltera LM

1973 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Grp IV

1973 Lola T292 battles with a 1976 Cheetah G601

1975 March 75S.

1976 Dodge Charger.

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.

 

1974 Porsche 911 Carrera RSR 3.0.

2022 Le Mans Classic - Group C Racing

 

The sixth placed 1987 Jaguar XJR8 of Richard Meins leading the seventh placed 1990 Porsche 962C of Lars Erik Nielsen through the Esses.

Group C covered the period between 1982 and 1993.  For many of the fans, the race and the paddock covering this period at the Le Mans Classic is the highlight of their weekend.  Loud, fast and covering a period many of us remember.  What particularly made this year's race special was it being the 40th anniversary of the start of Group C racing and having seven Group C Jaguars present.  All of the Group C cars that raced at the 2022 Le Mans Classic are pictured in this blogpost:

The winning 1988 Jaguar XJR9 of Jon Minshaw and Phil Keen at Tertre Rouge.

The  second placed 1991 Jaguar XJR-14 of Christophe d'Ansembourg.

The third placed 1990 Jaguar XJR-12 of Olivier Galant.

In fourth place was this 1990 Porsche 962C of Ivan Vercoutere and Ralf Kelleners.

Fifth place went to Erik Maris in this 1992 Peugeot 905 Evo 1 bis.

Eighth place went to Nicolas D'Ieteren in this 1990 Porsche 962C.

Shawn Lynn was ninth in this 1987 Jaguar XJR-9

This 1990 Spice SE89C driven by Eric De Seynes and Eric Van de Poele was tenth.

This 1988 Jaguar XJR-9 finished eleventh driven by James Thorpe and Claudio Cappelli.

One of my favourite Group C cars is this 1989 Aston Martin AMR1 which was driven by Alexandre Leroy into 12th position.

In thirteenth place was this 1989 Porsche 962C driven by Lukas Halusa.

This 1988 GKW 862-C2 came fourteenth driven by Massimo and Marco Guerra.

The 1988 Argo JM19 C of Marco Famagalli and Stephano Zerbi came fifteenth.

The unusual looking 1985 Gebhardt JC853 finished sixteenth driven by Stanley Dickens.

Seventeenth was the 1985 Toyota Tom's 85C driven by Masanori Sekiya and Kasuki Nakajima. Kasuki's father Satoru drove one of these at Le Mans in 1985.

Eighteenth was the 1988 Tiga GC288 of Vincent Neurrisse.

This 1987 Jaguar XJR-8 of Henry Pearman finished nineteenth.

Rounding out the top 20 was Max Von Braunmühl in this 1990 Porsche 962.

21st - 1991 Porsche 962C - Hans-Jörg Hübner and Nick Salewsky.

22nd - 1984 Sthemo SMC2 - Romain Belleteste and Christophe Gadais.

23rd - 1985 March 85G - Romain Rocher.

24th - 1988 Olmas GLT 200 - Bertrand Rouchaud and Benjamin Monnay.

25th - 1986 Tiga GT286 - Jack Fabby and Tim Macrow.

NC - 1990 Spice SE90C - Pierre-Loup Boch.

NC - 1993 Peugeot 905 Evo 1 Bis - David Hart.

NC - 1985 EMKA C84 - Douglas Titford and Trevor Reeves

NC - 1990 Spice SE90C - Tony Sinclair.

NC - 1983 Porsche 956 - Rainer Becker and Mike Wilds.

NC - 1990 Spice SE90P - Cal Meeker.

NC - 1990 Spice SE90C - Patrick D'Aubreby.

NC - 1989 Spice SE89C - Mike and Matthew Wrigley.

NC - 1990 Cheetah G606 - Eric Rickenbacher.

DNS - 1985 Ecosse C285 - Lionel Roch.

DNS - 1991 Gebhardt C91 -  Michael Lyons

One of the seven Jaguars races past as I look back from Tertre Rouge towards the Dunlop Bridge.

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.

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing and hearing the 1991 Le Mans winning Mazda 787B give a demonstration lap just before the Group C race.

A pair of Nissans in the paddock.  The 1990 Nissan RC90CP is about to be restored for historic racing having been acquired by Ascott Collection from the Nissan Heritage Collection. The RC90CK has similarly been acquired from Nissan by Ascott.  Hope to see them race again in the future.