The Paul Ricard racetrack at Le Castellet is certainly not the most atmospheric or historic of all those that hosted the Peter Auto racing series in 2017. With its striped run-off area, it certainly offers photographers interesting motifs, but it is only a limited fit for the historic racing cars of the sixties and seventies, even though the circuit was opened in 1970.
Patrick Peter, who began organizing historic racing events 33 years ago, has been running his events in Le Castellet for many years. And the entry of over 300 sports and racing cars proves that participants enjoy traveling to the south of France to drive the 5.9-kilometre circuit.
Lots of wind
Seven racing series were able to hold nine races in beautiful weather on October 19-22, 2017, with only the strong mistral wind making driving difficult. The wind blew so strongly that the pit tents had to be dismantled. However, the fine weather meant that this was possible without any problems.
Spectacular field in the classic endurance races
Several Alfa Romeo 33s, a Ferrari 512 M, a 512 S, a Porsche 917, a 910, hordes of Lola T70s, Porsche 911 RSRs and in between Chevron, Corvette, Ford GT40 or a Lotus 30 - the field in the Classic Endurance Racing 1 race was not only extensive with almost 60 vehicles, but also varied and colorful. It was somewhat reminiscent of what you could see at Le Mans in the early seventies. However, it was not the favorites of the time that set the tone, as some of the once almost unbeatable cars, such as Claudio Roddaro's Porsche 917, did not even make it to the start or, like the 1968 Howmet TX, retired after just a few laps.
In the end, Mark Piercy won in the 1970 Lola T212, followed by Nahum/Thuner in the fastest 1968 Lola T70 Mk III and Philip Brühwiler in the 1971 Chevron B19. 4th place went to the magnificent 1970 Ferrari 512 M driven by Monteverde/Pearson. With five cars within 12 seconds of each other after one hour of racing, there was plenty of excitement on offer.
The field for the 60-minute Classic Endurance Racing 2 race (1972 to 1980) was also relatively diverse. Marc Devis was once again the first to see the chequered flag in his 1978 Toj SC 303, followed by Dominique Guenat in the 1976 Lola T286 and Watson/O'Connell in the 1974 Chevron B26. Urs Beck and Patrick Simon in the 1980 Porsche 935 K3 were classified as the best GT. Unfortunately, Christian Bouriez's Ferrari 512 BB LM was unable to start and the 1974 Alf aromeo T33/TT12 only completed 15 laps, depriving the field of a few splashes of color early on.
Growing Group C
As many as 18 vehicles were entered for the two Group C races, including two Mercedes-Benz C11s for the first time, several Porsche 962s as well as a few Spice, Tiga and one March, one Rondeau and one Cheetah.
Kriton Lendoudis and Rui Aguas left nothing to chance in the Mercedes and each won by a clear margin.
Two Porsche 962s followed in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. There were also a number of retirements in Group C, with only 16 cars starting the second race, 11 of which were still classified.
Crowd for the racers of the sixties
A full starting field of over 80 cars promised plenty of excitement for the two-hour "Sixties Endurance" race, which became the Cup race for the Shelby Cobras. The first five places were occupied exclusively by cars from Carroll Shelby, followed by a Jaguar E-Type and a Lotus XV (from 1958), in turn followed by two Shelby Cobras.
Other cars also made their rounds, such as a Lotus Elan 26R, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA and a TVR Grantura from 1963. Various Porsche 911s were also at the start, as well as several 356s and a 904 GTS. Unfortunately, some of the particularly rare cars were also eliminated, such as the two Lister Knobby or the Shelby Cobra Daytona by Nahum/Thuner.
The race was won by Christian Dumolin and Christophe Van Riet in a 65-series 289 Cobra, followed by Alain Rüedi in a 427 Cobra. The fact that Dian Kremer and Benjamin Mitchell in a comparatively underpowered Lotus XV managed to stay on the same lap as the winners shows what Colin Chapman's lightweight sports cars were capable of.
Touring car spectacle
Only slightly smaller than the Sixties Endurance field was the starting list for the "Heritage Touring Cup", which held a one-hour race in Le Castellet. The old duels that could be observed in the European Touring Car Championship in the early seventies were revived here. BMW 3.0 CSL against Ford Escort RS and Capri 2600 RS.
Christian Traber managed to put a comfortable gap between his BMW 3.0 CSL from 1973 and the following Ford Escort RS Zakspeed from 1975 with David Tomlin at the wheel.
The 1972 Ford Capri 2600 RS with Stephen Dance in the cockpit followed in third place.
Maxime Guenat won the integrated Group A touring car race in his 1984 BMW 635 CSi.
Close finale for the Formula 2 racers
The Formula 2 monoposti from 1970 to 1978 contested two 20-minute races as part of the Euro F2 series. The first race could hardly have been closer, with Martin Stretton finishing just 3.6 tenths ahead of Matthew Watts in the March 772 in his March 724.
Stretton was unable to score points in the second race, which was won by Watts with a 1.3-second lead over Philippe Scemama in the March 752.
Only four cars saw the chequered flag in the second race, but Patrick Peter has already proven with other series that he can bring them to success. And there were actually enough F2 cars from that era.
Bizzarrini beats them all
Peter Muelder celebrated a double victory in the two races of the "Trofeo Nastro Rosso" with his Bizzarrini 5300 GT 1965, which was maintained by Sportgarage Graber. In the first race, Clive Joy/Jean-Pierre Malcher took second place by a respectful margin in a Ferrari 250 LM from 1964, followed by Jan Gijzen in a Ferrari 275 GTB/4 from 1966.
In the second race, Jan Gijzen had the better end for himself and took second place, followed by Marcus Lindqvist in a 1961 Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta. The 1961 Maserati Tipo 63 (Birdcage), which, like several Alfa Romeo TZs, never saw the chequered flag, did not get off to a good start this time.
Of course, the Le Castellet circuit was not just for the nine races; clubs were also allowed to drive the circuit and show off their cars.
All in all, Peter Auto can look back on a successful racing year with its various racing events.
The highlight of 2018 will once again be the Le Mans Classic on July 6-8, 2018.
