THE 6 HOURS OF MAGNY-COURS (20 APRIL): ARMAND MILLE/MAXIME GUENAT CLINCH VICTORY!

The opening round of the V de V Sports 2025 season this weekend on the famous Magny-Cours circuit saw the victory of the Armand Mille/Maxime Guénat duo at the wheel of the Equipe Europe team’s Chevron B21.

For several years now Armand Mille, son of the famous eponymous watchmaker, has been a regular participant in races organised by V de V Sports. Finishes among the front-runners and category victories, as well as on the third step on the podium of the 2024 VHC Endurance Challenge, had previously rewarded the young driver’s progress. Last Sunday in race conditions made particularly difficult by incessant rain, Mille clinched his first overall victory in a VHC endurance race together with Maxime Guénat at the wheel of a Chevron B21 freshly prepared by Equipe Europe, a team that they were both driving for for the first time in a race. Ninth on the starting grid after a nose-to-the-grindstone qualifying session, the British prototype’s crew raised their game right from the start of the race to quickly take the lead and stay there until the finish, 6 hours later! The only glitch that hit the winning Chevron B21 was a cooling problem in the final hour of the race, which was quickly resolved by the team.

Running in second place during the first three hours of the race, the other Chevron entered by the Equipe Europe outfit, a B16 entrusted to the lineup comprising Didier and Julien Gruau and Pierre-Alain France, suffered accelerator cable problems first of all and then brake issues, which relegated it to eighth place in the overall classification.

The BMW 323 i looked after by Wassermann Racing and driven by Eric Wassermann (2nd in the Challenge Endurance VHC in 2024), Charles Veillard and Jean-Michel Villot crossed the finishing line in second place a lap behind the winners after running in their wake in the top 3 right from the start.

An authentic Porsche 944 Cup prepared by AB Sport Auto for Franck Thybaud/Patrick Brossard/Sébastien Chardonnet finished on the third step of the podium in the overall classification. The latter is the grandson of André Chardonnet, the well-known importer of Lancia among other brands, into France, who founded the Écurie Chardonnet Competition in the 1970s/1980s that helped Bernard Darniche to win the Tour de Corse in 1979 and 1981 in particular. Sébastien began his career on the circuits before preferring rallying and winning numerous class victories and a WRC-3 world championship title. This crew also won the category reserved for Porsche 944s ahead of the S2 version of Arnold Noret/Jacques Colibet/Philippe Vigneron (Cudini Racing Team) who were in the top 3 in the general classification for a long time; and the Turbo of the family trio of father/sons Philippe, Arnaud and Edouard Martin (Ecurie AM 25).

The Porsche 911 3.0 SC entered by GT Classic for Philippe Baert and Stéphane Moreau finished 4th overall and first in the GTS category a lap ahead of the Garage Delarche Caterham Super Seven driven by the quartet Vincent Delarche/Laurent Trichet/Michel Cairat/Nicolas Grue who, on their first participation in a VHC endurance race, demonstrated the competitiveness and reliability of a car requiring a very reasonable budget: it is also entered for the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard and the 2 Tours d’Horloge.

The Jaguar Type E entered by the Cudini Racing Team for Eric Van de Vyver (the founder and organiser of the 2 Tours d’Horloge and the concept of Endurance races reserved for Historic Competition Vehicles), Jean-Paul Petit and Jacques Roucolle, completed the Top 10 and won the Historic category after battling with the Ford Mustang of the 4 Race team entrusted to Laurent Paulus/Laurent Charbonneau before they were forced to retire (axle).

Having secured the first pole position of the season the previous day, the winning duo of the 2024 VHC Endurance Challenge, Damien Kohler and José Da Rocha at the wheel of their Porsche 911 3.0 RS prepared by Team Bersi, also had to retire (engine oil radiator).

The first round of V de V Sports season attracted a strong starting grid featuring GTs, Touring Cars, and Sports Prototypes It is expected to expand even further in the upcoming races starting with the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard (June 20-21).

ASAVE AND SALOON CAR GRIDS

The second ASAVE Racing 65 race reserved for pre-1966 GTs, Touring cars and front-engined Sports two-seaters saw the second victory of the weekend for the TVR Griffith in the hands of Didier Gruau/Julien Gruau, again ahead of Damien Kohler’s Cobra 289 and JUNIOR’s Lotus 23 B.

In ASAVE Racing 76’s second race reserved for GTs and Touring cars from 1966 to 1976, Franck Julien (Ford Escort) took his revenge on the previous day’s race by winning on Sunday ahead of Olivier Dusailly (Ford RS 1600) and Armand Mille/Jeanne Mille (Porsche 911 RS).

In race 2 of the Saloon Car Trophy with an entry of around thirty GTs and Touring Cars from the 1960s to the 1990s, victory went to Denis Empois (Porsche 997 Cup) (second the day before), ahead of Fabrice Lefebvre (Audi Quattro ) and Eric Empois (66) (BMW E36 GTR).