Pau Classic Grand Prix 2023, HTCC, Historique Tourisme Champion Car, Le Groupe 1

 

Some battles going on in Saturday's race between a BMW 323i,  a Honda Civic EE9 and two Renaults.

The French HTCC series was won of the mainstay events of this years Pau Classic Grand Prix.  It caters for historic and classic touring cars of many different types such as:

Groups 1 and 2 up to the end of 1981, 

Groups A & N up until the end of 1992, 

Coupe Antho 505 cars.

I saw practice, qualifying and both races at the 2023 Pau Classic Grand Prix and pictures from them are shown below.  

The HTCC field heads up the straight after turn 1 in Sunday's race.  A BMW M3 E36 leads a Ford Sierra Cosworth.  The BMW M3 driven by Benjamin Munsch won both races.

This Ford Sierra Cosworth driven by Jean-Paul Guerdoux finished second in Saturday's race.

Alexandre Lang in his Alfa Romeo 75 turbo finished second on Sunday and third on Saturday.

This BMW 633 CSi driven by Florian Sanchez finished third on Sunday.

A BMW 325i traverse the chicane.

Fiat X1/9 follows a VW Polo through the chicane.

Honda S 800 in the chicane.

Ford Escort RS2000 Mk2 descends after Poeymirau.

Renault Clio 16S in the Hoch chicane.

A BMW 325i E30 leads the Escort through the Hoch chicane.

Renault Super 5 GT Turbo.

Renault R5 Alpine leads a BMW E36 out of Parc Beaumont.

Peugeot 505 V6.

A Honda makes a lunge but gets cut off by the BMW.

BMW 2002 Ti.

Spectating from the Boulevard des Pyrénées.

A battle for the podium positions between Alfa and Sierra Cosworth.

Wide angle view of the HTCC cars.  Peugeot 505 leads the BMWs.

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.

Ford Escort RS Mk2 leads a Renault Clio.

Honda S 800.

Pau Classic Grand Prix 2023, Ferdinand Cup

The first corner of the first lap of the first Ferdinand Cup race of the weekend.  Swiss driver Cédric Torres leads in his Porsche 964 RS but eventually had to settle for second place.

One of the categories racing at the Pau Classic GP was the Ferdinand Cup, a French Championship for mainly classic road going Porsches manufactured before 1997.  They race at a lot of classic circuits including Spa, Pau, Charade, Dijon and Magny-Cours.  The cars are relatively unmodified except for safety equipment and a variety of different Porsches take part in four classes depending on power.  30 cars were taking part at Pau.

A Porsche 924 enters the Virage Pont Oscar.

Christophe Terriou leads the field on the first lap of Sunday's race.
Photo taken from the Boulevard des Pyrénées. 
He won both of the weekend's races in his Porsche 911.

Gillian Garret in his Porsche 964 RSR takes a tight line at the Hoch chicane..  He was to take a second and fourth place in the weekend's two Ferdinand cup races.

Damien Kohler in his Porsche 911 3.0 RS heads into the chicane.  He came third in both races.

Porsche 911 SC in the chicane.

Christophe Terriou chases Laurent Girardier through the Hoch Chicane.

A Porsche 968 CS leads a Porsche 924S through Parc Beaumont.

A Porsche 944 Turbo entering Virage Pont Oscar.

A nice view from the Boulevard des Pyrénées as a Porsche races past.

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.

Another classic Pau view as the cars descend through the park back towards the start finish line.

A Porsche exiting Pont Oscar.

A view from the top of the small stands at the exit of Pont Oscar.

17ème Course de Côte de Bournezeau, 2023

The Course de Côte de Bournezeau runs through a cutting up the D7 and thus spectators can see the cars safely from high up a bank.   The car is a Speed Car GTR.

Romain Letouzé in a F2 LRJ Garance

The Course de Côte de Bournezeau is a regional hillclimb run in the Vendée (85) department of France.  Although this is the seventeenth running organised by the Bournezeau Sports Méchanique it is the 52nd edition overall and has quite a history.  Early winners included Yves Martin driving the ex-Jody Scheckter F2 McLaren M21 in 1974, Yves Courage driving a F2 Surtees TS15 in 1977 and Hervé Bayard driving a Ralt RT1 in 1978.

The course runs up the D7 public road towards the small town of Bournezeau and is 1,360 metres long with a course record of just under 34 seconds set in 2022.   It is a very well run hillclimb and obviously popular with the locals who pack the sides of the course and fill up the beer tents on Easter Sunday.  This was my first visit but I hope to be back in the future.  The entry is restricted to 80 drivers but there is a strong contingent of sports cars and single seaters and old Simcas to give the event some interest.   This is a regions with few hills and there are no other hillclimbs in this department. Entry fee was seven euros on the Sunday but you got a free programme with a list of the runners.

Spectators are allowed into a single area in the middle of the hill but one can get close to the cars safely from the high banks that line the course.  The only bad thing about the hill is that the paddock is a long way from the spectator area but otherwise a very nice hillclimb with an excellent commentary easily heard along the course.

This is a hill that favours the Norma sports cars but a F3 car did beat them in 2017.  Last year's winner Anthony Le Beller did not come back to defend his title and hill record of 33.78 seconds.  However, there were a few of the French National Championship runners present.

All of the top ten finishers plus the Group and Class winners plus a few other of the more interesting cars can be seen below:

Overall winner was Fabrice Gallo in his Norma M20 FC in a time of 34.5 seconds.  It was his first win in this event.

Second overall was the Norma M20 FC of Julien Bost. He was 0.63 seconds slower.  He had won here in a F3 car back in 2012.

3rd overall and first of the single-seaters was Benoît Taviaux in  Dallara F305 evo 307.  Here he is seen on his fastest run of 36.03 seconds.

Fourth overall was Dallara F301 of Vincent Rannou.

Fifth overall was Sylvain Moyon in his Norma FC Honda.

Sixth overall was Julien Petit in a Dallara F399.

John Nicol was seventh overall and won his class in this Dallara F392.

Eighth overall and winner of its class was this Dallara F304 driven by Michaël France.

Ninth overall and fastest lady driver was Pauline Berton in this Norma M20 FC.

Tenth overall was Sébastien Tourillon in his Norma M20 Fc.

Eleventh fastest in the same Norma M20 FC was Robert Tourillon.

Twelfth fastest overall and a class winner was Bruno Beauvoir in a Tatuus.

Winner of the CM class for motor cycle engined sports cars was Frédéric Rousseau in a Speed Car GTR.

Second in the CM class was this good looking TracKing RC01B driven by Marc-Antoine Blanchemain.  

Stéphanie Tordeux was second fastest lady of the weekend in her Tatuus Formula Renault.

Winner of the FC Group was this very fast Simca Rallye 3 driven by Romain Richardeau.

Second in its class was this good looking Reynard "F2" driven by Sébastien Frémont.  F2 is an old French hillclimb category.  I assume this is an ex-F3 car from the early nineties or thereabouts.

Second in the FC Group and winner of its class was this Simca S 1000 Turbo driven by Patrick Ramus.

Winner of its class was this Dynatmo PHC 3 Evo driven by Yann Marchand.

Winner of the important Group A/FA was Jean-Jacques Maurel in this Peugeot 308 Racing Cup.

Winner of Group F2000 was this Honda Civic Type R driven by Ferdinand Loton.

Winner of its class A3 was this Renault Clio 3 Cup driven by Jimmy Rousseau.

Winner of the GT Group was this Lotus Exige Cup 260 driven by Bernard Morilleau.

Winner of the F2000/2 class was this Honda Civic driven by Cédric Bouffeteau.

Winner of its class A/2 was this Citroën Saxo VTS driven by Jacques Tkatchenko.

Winner of the Group N was Olivier Hronik in this Renault Clio Williams.

Winner of class FC/2 was this Simca Rallye 2 driven by Maxime Chevallereau.

Winner of class N/2 was this Citroën Saxo of Frédéric Michaud.

Winner of the GTTS Group was this Tork Mitjet 1300.

Winner of class A/1 was this Citroën Ax GTi driven by Adrien Barranger.

Winner of class N2S was this Citroën Saxo GTS driven by Sébastien Peninou.

This Talbot Samba was the last classified finisher but won its class FC/3 driven by Lionel Rataud.

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.

Other Runners

This Porsche 996 GT3 Cup was disappointingly slow.

This Simca Rallye 2 had interesting aerodynamics.

This artisanal single seater called a F2 LRJ Garance was disqualified.

Tony Pasteau's Speed Car GTR was also disqualified.

This Simca Rallye 3, seen here in practice, left the course on its first run and lost a wheel.

A BMW drift car driven by Swiss driver Marc Fleury gave exhibition runs all day to keep the crowd entertained.

Also giving demo runs all day were these "voiturettes en folie" which can be translated as crazy karts.