Last weekend, the Paul Ricard circuit hosted the 2 Tours d’Horloge, the the only race in the world reserved for Historic Racing Vehicles run continuously over 24 hours. In its 33rd year, this edition confirmed the enthusiasm it generates among French and international teams, as well as the ever-growing number of spectators who attend the event.
After a 2024 edition run in ideal weather conditions, rain and fog made their appearance this year during the weekend, causing offs and spins that led to numerous changes in the overall classification, as well as two race interruptions and a breathtaking finish!
Following the traditional “Le Mans-style” starting procedure so beloved of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, the rolling start of the race was given at 15:00 on a wet track behind the safety car. This lasted for approximately fifteen minutes before the field was finally unleashed.
The dominance displayed during qualifying by the Sport Prototype category, with seven cars filling the top seven places on the starting grid, all pointed to the Chevron B19 of Côtes du Rhône Racing Team, the Equipe Europe B21, the Atlantic Racing B16 Bi-Rotor, the KMW Porsche SP30 run by Mansfeld, Atelier 43’s Crosslé 9S-Zetec, the Chateaux Sport Auto’s Chevron B16 plus another B16 from Equipe Europe maintaining their advantage in the race. However, these Sport Prototypes ultimately proved much less agile and slower on a wet track, and they were quickly overtaken and left behind by the Porsche 964s of Team Bersi driven by Damien Kohler/José da Rocha/Jean-Jacques Renaut and the 2B Autosport entry of the Vandewoestyne trio and Michel Mitieus, then that of Lionspeed GP crewed by José Garcia/Patrick Kolb/Patric Niederhauser/Andreas Bakkerud all of whom were lying in wait.
Not until the third hour of the race were the top three positions recaptured by the Chevron B19 (Côtes du Rhône Racing Team) (François Rivaz/Frank Stippler/Alexander Furiani), followed by the B21 (Equipe Europe) (Maxime Guénat/Armand Mille/Yves Scemama/Erwin France) and the Crosslé 9S-Zetec (Atelier 43) (Christian Vaglio-Giors/Gislain Genecand/Xavier Michel). The Equipe Europe B21 soon took the lead before suffering a starter problem and dropping to seventh place, six laps behind the leaders handing first place to the pole-sitting B19. The Atelier 43 Crosslé 9S-Zetec, hampered by a gearbox issue also fell down the time sheets.
The three drivers at the wheel of the leading Chevron proved to be very racy throughout the night thanks in particular to German driver Frank Stippler, a former Audi Sport factory member (3 wins in the Nürburgring 24 Hours and 1 win in the Spa-Francorchamps 24 Hours driving the Audi R8 LMS). Due to fog rolling in, the race was stopped for over an hour and then for the second time shortly before 8:00 for 2 hours and 50 minutes. At 10:45 the restart was given behind the safety car for an official start at 10:50. Four hours and ten minutes racing remained. The Côtes du Rhône Racing Team’s Chevron B19 m, driven by François Rivaz, Frank Stippler, and Alexander Furiani, continued to lead the race ahead of the KMW Porsche SP30 of the Belgian Mansfeld team in the hands of Serge Libens, Marc de Siebenthal, Henrique Gemperle, Jean André Collard, and the Chevron B21 of Maxime Guénat, Armand Mille, Yves Scemama, and Erwin France. Thus, a trio of sports prototypes led the field ahead of a trio of Porsche 964s entered by Lionspeed GP, 2B Autosport, and Salewsky.
Watch the race again on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@vdevsports3476
LEADERSHIP CHANGE!
At 11:32 the leading Chevron, with a lap in hand over its nearest rival, stopped at its pit (transmission problem) while Frank Stippler took over the wheel. He rejoined the race after losing 30 minutes and he was now seven laps behind the leaders. In the meantime, Mansfield’s KMW Porsche SP30, the Equipe Europe’s Chevron B21, the Lionspeed GP and 2B Autosport Porsche 964s had slipped past the leaders. Stippler then set a series of fastest laps getting around up to 15 seconds quicker than the leaders and clawing his way up to 4th place with 2 hours and 28 minutes remaining and then to 3rd place, three laps down, with 2 hours and 2 minutes left on the clock.
Thanks to its pit stop strategy, the Equipe Europe Chevron B21 took the lead. It capitalised on the safety car’s intervention with 1 hour and 35 minutes remaining to make its final driver change and hold on to its overall lead. The Côtes du Rhône Racing Chevron B19 also made its final stop during the neutralisation period and rejoined the race with Stippler still at the wheel, now only two laps behind the leading Chevron. With 21 minutes to go, the German driver moved into second place less than a lap behind the leader. Despite his superb comeback, the former Audi Sport ace would finally finish 1 minute 10 seconds behind the Chevron B21 entered by Equipe Europe, which went on to win the 2 Tours d’Horloge after 406 laps completed by its drivers Maxime Guénat, Yves Scemama, Erwin France and Armand Mille, who also emerged victorious in the overall classification of the 2025 V de V VHC Endurance Challenge.
Next came the Porsche 964s of Lionspeed GP (1st in its category) for José Garcia/Patrick Kolb/Patric Niederhauser and Andreas Bakkerud (a Norwegian driver, three-time European champion and runner-up in the world rallycross championship), the 2B Autosport entry for the trio Karl, Hugues, César Vandewoestyne and Michel Mitieus,followed bythe Salewski outfit’s car crewed by Maxwell Pozler/Marcus Menden/Nick Salewski/Edgar Salewski.
The GT Classic Porsche 911 3.0 driven by Philippe Baert/Stéphane Moreau/Sébastien Morales emerged victorious in the GTS 3 category after a flawless performance and also finished 9th in the overall standings.
The Caterham Super Seven prepared by Garage Delarche for Vincent Delarche/Laurent Trichet/Thierry Lortal/Nicolas Grue put on a marvellous show winning the Saloon Car category and finishing13th overall, thus demonstrating the competitiveness and reliability of a machine run on a very reasonable budget! Unfortunately, the creator of the 2 Tours d’Horloge, Eric Van de Vyver’s irreplaceable TVR Griffith 200, did not see the finish of this edition. The car which he shared with Guillaume Maillard, Patrick Brossard and Pierre-Olivier Calendini, suffered an impact in the first part of the race and was unable to restart after the second interruption.
The TC3 category saw the victory of the BMW 325i entered by Sorg Rennsport for Dirk Bierbaum/Werner Gloyna/Bernhard Wagner/Stefan Beyer, which saw the flag in 18th spot in the overall standings on their very first participation.
We would also like to underline the success of the Alpine A310 V6 shared by Jean-Charles Rédélé and his daughters Eve, Laure and Victoire, respectively son and granddaughters of Jean Rédélé the founder of the brand, who won the GT3 category as well as finishing 19th in the overall standings.
Winner of the H-TC category, Jean-Pierre Gagick, partnered with Jean-François Coget, Sylvain Tegoni, and Matteo Boulet suffered a racing incident at the wheel of the Ford Mustang GT 350 prepared by Atelier Mustang when its bonnet flew off on the Mistral straight shattering the car’s windscreen. When it returned to the pits, the tuner’s task was to find a replacement windscreen. He owed his salvation to the Arnage team, which had entered a Mustang in the ASAVE class and, out of solidarity, removed its windshield so that it could be fitted to the Mustang of the Auto Moto TV host, thus allowing the crew to rejoin the race and finish the 2 Tours d’Horloge in 20th position. Also worth noting was the performance of Team Giglio Racing (Paul Giglio/Maurizio Giglio/Denis Cartelle/Alain Verdenelli) who changed the engine of their Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM during the race hoping to be able to rejoin – but in vain.
“Les quatre fantastics,” a team comprising Lionel Vacheri/Florent Cazalot/Maxime Jouvin and Romain Lachieze, won the SP 2000 category in which it was the only entrant at the wheel of their Crossle 47S.
L’irremplaçable TVR Griffith 200 d’Eric Van de Vyver, le créateur de l’évènement, associé à Guillaume Maillard, Patrick Brossard et Pierre-Olivier Calendini ne verra hélas pas l’arrivée de cette édition. Victime d’un choc en première partie de course, elle ne parviendra pas à redémarrer après la deuxième interruption de course.
2 ASAVE GRIDS, THE LOTUS TROPHY AND NUMEROUS CLUBS
Saturday began with the first race of the Lotus Trophy in which Florent Cazalot clinched victory. The ASAVE Racing 76 grid then took to the track for its first race of the weekend showcasing Yvan Mahé’s dominance at the wheel of the Equipe Europe BMW 3.0 CSL. In ASAVE Racing 65, Maxime Guénat, who had clinched pole position and won Race 1 the previous day, repeated his success crushing the field. The second Lotus Trophy race featured a thrilling battle at the front from which Dominique Vuilliez emerged victorious. Finally, the last ASAVE Racing 76 race resulted in another win for Yvan Mahé in his BMW 3.0 CSL.
Classic and sports car clubs were once again in the spotlight this year and were able to participate in a grand parade of clubs and collectors on the famous Paul Ricard circuit on Saturday in the late morning.
Retirements in the 2 Tours d’Horloge
N°57 : De Tomaso Pantera – Atlantic Racing – Arnaud Gadais/Matthieu Gadais (engine)
N°42 : BMW M3 E30 – Wassermann Racing – Guy Burnichon/Emmanuel Cauchi (front axle)
N°16 : Porsche 964 – Team Bersi – Damien Kohler/José da Rocha/Jean-Jacques Renault (engine)
N°83 : Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAM – Team Giglio Racing – Paul Giglio/Maurizio Giglio/Denis Cartelle/Alain Verdenelli (cylinder head gasket)
N°4 : Porsche 964 – Lionspeed GP – (Timmo Mol/José Garcia/Roger Berndtson/Steven Berndtson(accident)
N°24 : BMW E30 – Équipe Europe – Dominique Guénat/Yvan Mahé/Pierre Thiriet/Hervé Ordioni (accident)
N°35 : BMW 323i – Wassermann Racing – Eric Wassermann/Charles Veillard/Bernd Smeets/Patrick Carrier (accident)
Crédits photos : Tchaul31
CONTACT MÉDIAS :
Henri Suzeau : +33 (0)6 08 26 90 56 | hsuzeau@ontheroadconsulting.net – Accréditations presse
CONTACT V DE V SPORTS :
Eric Van de Vyver : +33 (0)6 09 11 28 69 | eric@vdev.fr
Laure Van de Vyver : +33 (0)6 28 53 12 99 | laure@vdev.fr
Marion Thouroude : +33 (0)6 144 144 30 | info@laptitepilote.com
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