This Saturday the French Historic Tour Championship announced the first winners of 2022 on the Nevers Magny-Cours track. The promising "season 8" is now launched and will continue with 14 other races on Sunday.

A DAY IN FIGURES

10: the number of races contested on Saturday.

356: the number of drivers confirmed to start the weekend's races.

39: the number of cars in the most crowded field (the Lotus Trophy).

20°: the almost summery temperature at the hottest point of the day!

333/1000 of a second: the smallest gap of the day between a winner and his immediate following (Anthony Delhaye and Dominique Vulliez in the Lotus Trophy)

1'44''200 : the best time achieved in the race, all platforms combined (Stéphane Nguyen on a Lucchini SP94 in SportProtosCup at an average speed of 152.3 km/h)

THEY SAID

Anthony Delhaye (winner of the Lotus Trophy): "After having missed my qualifying session, I started from a distance but I managed to climb back up and pass Dominique Vulliez on the last lap. He and Florent Cazalot also had a great race and I always enjoy fighting with them.

Frédéric Lajoux (winner of the F3 Classic Trophy): "I didn't necessarily expect to finish ahead of Davide Leone and Frédéric Rouvier. Davide made me suffer, but after spending most of the race behind him I found the opening in the penultimate lap".

François Belle (winner of the Formula Ford Historic Challenge): "Because of Gislain Genecand's collision at the start, I quickly found myself alone, then I managed a good recovery after the Safety Car. My prediction for Sunday is 50/50 against Gislain".

UPDATE ON THE FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP

Before the real kick-off of the 2022 French Historic Circuit Championship, it was necessary to close the previous year. This was the case on Friday evening during the prize-giving ceremony for the 2021 season, organised for the occasion in the Visiocenter of the Nevers Magny-Cours circuit. A highly anticipated evening during which the best presenters of the championship, but also of each of its trophies, were successively honoured.

Now it's time for "season 8" of the Historic Tour, which started on Saturday with a first day that was already rich in information. The good news is that the two reigning French champions, Lionel Robert (Single Seater/Protos) and Sébastien Mathieu (GT/Touring) are on hand to defend their crown. At the wheel of his usual Martini MK48, the former started this new campaign with a victory in Formula Renault Classic, while the latter had to be satisfied with second place in GT Classic aboard his Porsche 964 RSR.

For the rest, Saturday was prolific for Stéphane Nguyen, Patrick Delannoy, Julien Grenet, Anthony Delhaye, Frédéric Lajoux, Franck Quagliozzi, Jean-Charles Valinho, François Belle, Laurent Fresnais and Philippe Gandini, all of them winners in their respective categories. This is enough for them to share, very provisionally, the first place of the French Championship in Single Seater/Proto or GT/Touring.

We will see them all in action on the Nivernais track this Sunday.

THE PODIUMS OF THE DAY

French Championship

SportProtosCup: 1.Nguyen (Lucchini SP94 Alfa), 2.Rossi Di Montelara (Osella PA1 Abarth), 3.Boch (Lucchini P3 BMW).

GT Classic Trophy: 1.Delannoy (Porsche 964 RSR), 2.Mathieu (Porsche 964 RSR), 3.Roche (Porsche 996 Cup).

Saloon Cars Trophy: 1.Grenet (Dodge Viper), 2.Lefebvre (Audi Quattro), 3.Desmaele (Porsche 996).

Lotus Trophy: 1 Delhaye (Lotus Seven), 2 Vulliez (Lotus Seven), 3 Cazalot (Lotus Seven).

F3 Classic Trophy: 1.Lajoux (March 793), 2.D.Leone (March 783), 3.Rouvier (March 783).

Formula Renault Classic Trophy: 1 Robert (Martini MK48), 2 Gobba (Martini MK54), 3 "Nelson" (Martini MK48).

Youngtimers GTI Cup: 1.Quagliozzi (Honda Civic), 2.Gimonet (Honda Civic), 3.Hawes (Golf GTI).

Racing 81 & GR 1: 1.Valinho (Datsun 240Z), 2.Excoffier (Chevrolet Corvette), 3.Faure (Porsche 930)... 1st Gr.1 : Bourguignon (BMW 530 iUS).

Challenge Formula Ford Historic: 1.Belle (Lola T540E), 2.Genecand (Crosslé 25F), 3.Faggionato (Lola T540E).

Roadster Pro Cup: 1.Fresnais (Mazda MX-5), 2.Dubelly (Mazda MX-5), 3.Castillou (Mazda MX-5).

Maxi 1300 Series: 1.Gandini (Mini Jem), 2.Gruelles (Mini Marcos), 3.Timonier (Austin Mini).

Outside the French championship

YTCC : 1.Andriessen (Alpine GTA V6), 2.Steffen (Triumph Spitfire GT8), 3.Veldhuis (Porsche 911).

6 hours V de V : arrival Saturday night at midnight.

TO BE CONTINUED ON SUNDAY

14 other races, from 8h30 to 12h40 and from 13h50 to 18h05