The 2023 Historic Tour season drew to a close on Sunday evening on the Val de Vienne circuit. It was the final day of racing for three of the four categories in the French Historic Circuit Championship. 

See you at the Dijon-Prenois circuit on 3, 4 and 5 May 2024 for the start of the next season!

A DAY IN NUMBERS

11: The number of races on Sunday.

144: the number of laps completed today.

0.332 of a second: the smallest gap of the day between a winner and the next closest competitor (François BELLE on Gislain GENECAND in Formula Ford Historic).

1'42.313: the fastest time achieved in the race, all platforms combined (Gislain GENECAND in F3 Classic).

THE FINAL WORD ON THE FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIP

The 2023 French Historic Circuit Championship drew to a close at the Val de Vienne circuit on Sunday evening. No fewer than 315 drivers took part! Each of the day's races was the tenth and final of the season. In other words, it was a decisive day for establishing the championship's final standings and crowning its four new winners.

In the 'GT/Tourisme pré 90' category, the season ended with a first place shared by Philippe Gandini, competing in the Maxi 1300 Series aboard his Mini Jem, and Emmanuel Brigand, competing in Racing Over 2L with his Porsche 930 Turbo and his 1973 Porsche 911 RSR. The former, aged 61, is a regular on the Historic Tour, which he has attended regularly since its inception. The second, aged 55 and a rookie in the championship, made no secret of his delight at winning this prestigious title. They finished tied on 360 points after a near-perfect season which included 9 wins out of 10 races and a second place in race 2 and race 1 respectively during the final weekend. Dominique Vulliez rounded off the top 3 with 355 points.

In the 'GT/Tourisme post 90' category, Laurent Fresnais, competing in the Roadster Pro Cup, won ahead of Fabrice Lefebvre in the Saloon Cars. The two men have 335 points at the end of a hotly contested season at the head of the field, with Lefebvre winning 6 of the season's victories to Lefebvre's 4. Steeve Hergault in the Roadster Pro Cup took third place. 

In the 'Single Seater/Proto' category, the standings are provisional for the time being, subject to ongoing checks. Antoine Robert finished the season at the top of the championship after dominating his last 2 Formula Renault Classic races in his Martini MK48. His final score of 360 points puts him ahead of Matthieu Midy and François Belle, who both finished on 355 points. Finally, in its first season, the French Historic Endurance Championship saw the duo of Eric Martin and Laurent Vallery-Masson take the title with 166 points, well ahead of Jean-Michel Villot with 128 points and the duo of Jean-Pascal & Pascale Roche with 102 points.

THEY SAID

Antoine Robert (FRenault Classic), French Single-Seater/Proto Champion (provisional standings, subject to ongoing checks): "I'm really pleased to be back in the title chase this year, even if there were some less positive moments with a retirement in one of the two races at Magny-Cours. The 25 minutes of race 2 were the longest of my career and I'm really happy to be champion here this year!

Emmanuel Brigand (Racing Over 2L), co-leader of the Pre 90 GT/Tourism Championship: "Last weekend was thrilling because I had a penalty yesterday which cost me first place and then on the other grid, Gandini was second so I had to win this race and we did it, it's extraordinary!"

Philippe Gandini (Maxi 1300 Series), co-leader of the Pre 90 GT/Touring Championship: "I've been racing for a very long time, it wasn't a great last race but it's been a good season. I'm delighted to win the French Championship title again!

Laurent Fresnais (Roadster Pro Cup), French GT/Tourism Post 90 Champion: "It's a really nice one-design discipline, and I hadn't followed the championship standings, so it just came naturally.  It all went really well.

PODIUMS OF THE DAY

SportProtosCup :

- Race 1: 1 Josserand DE MURARD, 2 Louis KOLLY, 3 Dominique VULLIEZ

- Race 2: 1 Stéphane NGUYEN, 2 Josserand DE MURARD, 3 Louis KOLLY

Youngtimers GTI CUP: 1. Franck QUAGLIOZZI, 2. Julien PIAU, 3. Fabien AUMARD

Superberline 2.0l : 1. Florian POZZOBON, 2. Philippe GOSSET, 3. Paul-Jean GIRAUD

GT Classic: 1 Mathieu SEBASTIEN, 2 Jean-François BESSON, 3 Jean-Pierre GAILLARD

Saloon Cars: 1 Julien GRENET, 2 Fabrice LEFEBVRE, 3 Vincent DELARCHE

Formula Ford Kent Trophy: 1 Matthieu MIDY, 2 Gislain GENECAND, 3 Jo ZOSSO

Lotus Trophy: 1 Dominique VULLIEZ, 2 Nicolas BELOOU, 3 Eugène DELEPLANQUE

F3 Classic Trophy: 1 Gislain GENECAND, 2 Laurent VALERY-MASSON, 3 Alexandre FAUCHER

Formula Renault Classic Trophy (Turbo): 1. Antoine ROBERT, Lionel ROBERT, 3. Jean-Charles MONNET

Formula Renault Classic Trophy (Atmo): 1. Denis EMPOIS, 2. Georges TOMSEN, 3. Benoit BAGUR

Maxi 2L Classic: 1 Jean-Pierre RICHELMI, 2 Damien SIONNEAU, 3 Antoine BENNE

Maxi 1300 Series: 1 David BARRERE, 2 Philippe GANDINI, 3 Laurent PUGET

Formula Ford Historic Challenge: 1 François BELLE, 2 Gislain GENECAND, 3 NELSON

Roadster Pro Cup: 1. Mathis VISENTIN, 2. Laurent FRESNAIS, 3. Steeve HERGAULT

Racing Over 2L: 1 Emmanuel BRIGAND, 2 Sébastien CALAS, Olivier DUSAILLY

THE REST... NEXT YEAR

The Historic Tour 2024 calendar

Historic Tour Dijon : 3 to 5 May

Historic Tour Charade : 31 May to 2 June

Historic Tour Magny-Cours : 5 to 7 July

Historic Tour Nogaro : 6 to 8 September

Historic Tour Val de Vienne : 18th to 20th October

Find all the results of the weekend on : www.its-results.com

Keep up to date with the Historic Tour on Facebook (Historic Tour) and Instagram (hvm_racing).