Group C Racing at Spa Classic

Last weekend at the Spa Classic meeting organised by Peter Auto, the Group C racing class was one of the main attractions, reviving the golden years of sportscar racing in the 80's and early 90's. 

From 1982 to 1994, the Group C racing class led to the production of legendary cars that wrote some of the most glorious pages in the history of endurance racing and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Ford and Porsche were the first constructors to enter the new series, and were later on followed by other manufacturers like Jaguar, Mercedes, Nissan, Toyota, Aston Martin, Peugeot ... Not only the big manufacturers raced in the Group C class, as the likes of Cougar, Spice, Rondeau and other also competed and even were able to fight with the big guns due to the regulations.

By the end of the 1990's Group C was at its peak, challenging Formula 1 to be the greatest and most popular racing class. At Le Mans top speeds like a staggering 400 km/h were reached on the Mulsanne straight. A new formula and new regulations installed by the FIA made Group C racing a lot more expensive with F1 based engines. Manufacturers and privateer teams left the class due to the high cost. The 1992 championship was the last one, at Le Mans the Group C cars would race until 1994.

Over the years, the magic of the Group C racing cars stayed in the heart of sportscar fans, while more and more cars were being raced again in classic racing events. In 2016 the Group C Racing came under the Peter Auto banner, joining in several classic racing events by the French organiser.

The full gallery can be viewed on the link below.



Kristof Vermeulen.

Le Mans 2017: Official entry list revealed

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest, creator and organiser of the Le Mans 24 Hours, has revealed the official list of the 60 cars and full driver line-ups who will take part in the pinnacle of the FIA World Endurance Championship on 17 - 18 June.

While many teams had already communicated their drivers for the different Le Mans-type championships, they had until 11th May at midnight to send in the final line-ups for the Le Mans 24 Hours. After carrying out the usual checks, this list now has been officially revealed today by the ACO. 

The last announcement came from Toyota as Argentinean José-Maria Lopez, who was initially down to drive no. 7, has moved across to no. 9 and exchanged his seat with Stéphane Sarazzin. The only team which has not yet finalised its third driver is Proton Competition entered in LM GTE Am. The Mentos-Proton Racing Porsche 911 RSR is the only car remaining on the reserve list, should there be a last minute withdrawal from the race by another team.

The 179 drivers which have been announced so far have licences issued by 31 different countries, and the 60 cars represent 41 teams and 16 nationalities. Cars running under American licences are the most numerous, while France and Britain supply the most drivers with 34 each. 

This year there will be only one woman driver at the start, 25-year-old Christina Nielsen from Denmark, back for her second outing in the Le Mans 24 Hours in the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari 488 in GTE Am. 

The list of entrants breaks down as follows: 6 cars in LM P1, 25 in LM P2, 13 in LM GTE Pro and 16 in LM GTE Am. Mentos Proton Racing is still on the reserve list should one of the official entries withdraw.  

Download the entry list here

We will take a closer look into the entry list in the run up to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Kristof Vermeulen.

Le Mans 2017: Toyota Gazoo Racing announces driver line-up adjustment

This morning, Toyota Gazoo Racing confirmed a modified driver line-up to optimise its competitive level in next month’s Le Mans 24 Hours, the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC).

Mike Conway and Kamui Kobayashi will now share the #7 TS050 Hybrid with Stéphane Sarrazin for Le Mans, recreating the line-up which finished second last year at La Sarthe on its way to third in the drivers’ World Championship.

José María López has been able to complete only a handful of racing laps in WEC following his accident at Silverstone and resulting injury, which prevented him driving at Spa. He will now team up with Nicolas Lapierre and Yuji Kunimoto in the #9 car.

The line-up of the #8 TS050 Hybrid remains unchanged, with Sébastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Kazuki Nakajima competing together at Le Mans for the third successive year.

After Le Mans, the team reverts to a two-car entry and José María will return to the cockpit of the #7 car, alongside Mike and Kamui, for the remainder of the season.

Toshio Sato, Team President: “Our circumstances have changed over the last few weeks as a result of the injury to José María. He is in the unfortunate position of having completed very few racing laps this year in WEC, so we all felt it was appropriate to adjust the driver line-up. I am very confident that Stéphane will fit well into a #7 line-up which can fight for the win. José María, like Yuji, will learn a lot at Le Mans this year, familiarising himself with the track and the event in general, and this is an important step for the future as well.”