THE 6 HOURS OF PAUL RICARD (JUNE 20 - 21): TEAM EUROPE'S CHEVRON B16 SCORES A DOMINANT VICTORY!

The Chevron B16 prepared by Equipe Europe and driven by Didier and Julien Gruau/Armand Mille won the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard after leading the race from start to finish! Following his victory in the 6 Hours of Magny-Cours in April, Mille secured his second consecutive win and took the lead in the VHC Endurance Challenge.

Fans of endurance races reserved for Historic Racing Cars met up last Saturday at the Le Castellet circuit to watch the second race of the VHC Endurance Challenge season. On this occasion, nearly twenty teams took the start of this 6-hour race, the final preparation for the famous 2 Tours d’Horloge, which will be held on the Provençal track on October 31/November 1-2.

After setting pole position the previous day, the #100 Chevron B16 confirmed its dominance in the 6 Hours of Paul Ricard by never relinquishing first place to its rivals. After 6 hours racing and 139 laps completed, the driver lineup comprising Didier and Julien Gruau/Armand Mille took the checkered flag with four laps in hand over the Pascalou Racing Porsche 930 Turbo of Pascal Duhamel/Sébastien Crubile, which finally finished second after a series of unexpected twists. Starting from the front row of the grid, Duhamel spun at the first corner and tumbled down the order. He then began an incredible fight back to the top of the time sheets setting the fastest lap of the race. After the first hour, the Porsche also suffered significant damage to its left-hand rear tyre caused by the high temperatures. This unusual degradation would be repeated on the next three sets of rubber, but would not prevent the drivers from taking second place on the podium in the general classification as well as winning the GTS category.

Third place was also fiercely contested, finally going to a very rare Elva MK8 entered by Classic Garage for Yann Le Calvez/Marc Alloend- Bessand, who gradually worked their way up into the top three after starting from eighth spot on the grid. After a remarkable first outing in VHC Endurance at the 6 Hours of Magny-Cours, the quartet of Vincent Delarche /Laurent Trichet/Thierry Lortal/Nicolas Grue at the wheel of the Garage Delarche Caterham Super Seven put on a superb performance, finishing fourth overall thanks to the exemplary consistency of its drivers on the track. The small English roadster also pocketed victory in the Saloon Car category ahead of the Wassermann Racing team’s BMW 323i driven by Eric Wassermann/Charles Veillard. Second in the Nièvre round, the Bavarian saloon was in third place overall when it ran out of fuel in front of its pit! By the time it had been pushed to the fuel station located at the entrance to the pit lane it had dropped back to 5th place overall.

FROM LAST TO SIXTH!

Sixth place went to the Porsche 944 S2 entered by the Cudini Racing Team for Arnold Noret/Jacques Colibet/Philippe Vigneron who made a stunning comeback after starting in last place after being unable to participate in the qualifying session due to a gearbox change. The car also won the 944 category ahead of the Turbo version of the AM25 outfit entrusted to Philippe Achard/Philippe and Edouard Martin. Another performance to the credit of the Cudini Racing Team was the eighth place achieved by its Jaguar Type E driven by Jean-Paul Petit/Jacques Roucolle/ Xavier Cazabon.

Third on the podium at the start of the season at the wheel of an authentic Porsche 944 Turbo Cup, the trio comprising Franck Thybaud/Patrick Brossard/Sébastien Chardonnet (grandson of the famous Lancia importer who founded the Chardonnet Compétition team in the 1970s/1980s) was entered this time in a Jaguar Type E prepared by AB Sport Auto. For their first race with the British Coupe, they achieved a promising 9th place at the chequered flag despite brake problems at the end of the race.

Pascalou Racing’s second Porsche, a 2.8 RSR entrusted to Philippe Duhamel (Pascal Duhamel’s twin brother) and Sylvie Duhamel (his wife), coached by Cathy Briffa (their instructor driver),who were taking part in their first car race, completed the Top 10 after a brilliant drive.

Note the retirement due to a gearbox problem of 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. And also that of the JPS Racing Lotus Elan 26 R driven by Philippe Gache, Jean-Pierre Richelmi and his son Stéphane who, while trying to avoid Pascal Duhamel’s spinning Porsche 930 Turbo in the first corner, made contact with the Lola T492 prepared by TDACOUSTIC for Eric Baumard/Thierry Mathez. The damage caused by this racing incident led to the retirement of both cars.

Finally, on their return to VHC Endurance after having participated in the first editions of the 2 Tours d’Horloge, Alfa Romeo tuners Paul and Maurizio Giglio had to withdraw due to an exhaust manifold problem on their superb 1750 GTAM version.

Now, all eyes and hopes for podiums are turned towards the 2 Tours d’Horloge, the only 24-hour uninterrupted race in the world for Historic Racing Cars, which will take place on October 31, November 1 and 2 on the Paul Ricard circuit.