Tag: French Historic Grand Prix

Report: Le Castellet Race 2

Rene Arnoux presents the winners’ trophies to Gerstl, Schlegelmilch, Chovanec-Lopez and Geier.

The atmosphere at the third event of the 2022 BOSS GP season was unique: visitors had the opportunity to buy tickets for the grid walk and thus get close to Big Open Single Seater and experience the tension before the start at first hand. Not only hundreds of fans took advantage of this, but also the French racing legends Jean Alesi, Rene Arnoux and Jean-Pierre Jarier. They were on hand for souvenir photos, as were the BOSS GP cars and their current drivers.

BOSS GP F1 Class

Toro Rosso, Benetton and Jaguar in a joint race – this unique picture was delivered by the BOSS GP Racing Series in Le Castellet. The legendary Formula 1 cars completed the first laps of Sunday’s race in formation, but in the end the same result as the day before was in the books: Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) took the win ahead of Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) and Didier Sirgue (FRA, LRS Racing).

Didier Sirgue showed at the home race that a twenty-year-old Formula 1 car is far from old hat

BOSS GP OPEN Class

Once again Harald Schlegelmilch (LVA, HS Engineering) was chasing the Formula 1 cars in the World Series car with an improved V8 engine. With the fastest race lap, the Latvian won the OPEN class, which was newly introduced this year for cars without a displacement limit. To the delight of the fans who held out in the heat, he did some donuts after the race, immortalising himself at the Circuit Paul Ricard.

Schlegelmilch pushes as hard as possible to catch the F1 cars from other generations

BOSS GP FORMULA Class

The Portuguese Zdenek Chovanec-Lopez (MM International) was unbeatable again today, Sunday, in a race that was 5 minutes longer than the day before. Again MM International team mate Simone Colombo (ITA) was involved in a thrilling fight for position 2 behind Chovanec-Lopez. This time, however, he defended the position in the last third of the race against Marc Faggionato (MCO, Zig-Zag). With degrading tyres towards the end of the race, Colombo kept his nerve and thus also second place. Faggionato managed a conciliatory result with third place after retiring early yesterday after a spin. Once again, Francesco Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) was left without a place on the podium. With a further improvement in performance, however, he was ultimately only a good seven seconds off the podium. His team boss and racing colleague Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) retired already in the early stages. This means a setback for the overall standings. The defending champion is now already 47 points behind Chovanec-Lopez and 35 behind Colombo.

The best Frenchman in this class was Alain Girardet (FRA, GDL Racing) in his World Series car in the second race. Luca Martucci (ITA, MM International) finished in sixth place. This is remarkable, because the Italian had to fight his way back to the front from the end of the field after a spin in the early stages. The fights for positions behind were also worth seeing, among others with David Moretti, Walter Steding and Thomas Jackermeier.

Dominates the FORMULA class this season so far: Zdenek Chovanec-Lopez

BOSS GP SUPER LIGHTS Class

Alexander Geier (AUT, Geier Racing) sensationally managed to do the double at his BOSS GP race debut: The only 16-year-old Austrian in the V6 World Series car did a good job today as well and even dueled with the faster FORMULA cars at times. With two race wins and the full points tally this weekend, he was able to make up some points on the first-placed driver in the overall standings, Andreas Hasler (AUT, Hasler Motorsport).

Alexander Geier delighted the French spectators in the retro colours of the Renault World Champion cars of 2005 and 2006

The BOSS GP Racing Series now takes a summer break. Nevertheless, there is still work to be done, because the teams are using the time to revise the high-end racing cars and make them ready for the second half of the season. In twelve weeks, Europe’s fastest racing series will continue this year’s championship. At the traditional Masaryk Racing Days in Brno from 9 to 11 September, races 7 and 8 of the season will be held.

Pictures: Jean-Marie Biadatti/PhotoClassicRacing.com, SMW MEDIA

Preview: Le Castellet

The BOSS GP Racing Series is coming to Le Castellet with a top-class starting field for the French Historic Grand Prix (June 17-19, 2022). Racing legends await teams and drivers there.

Just two weeks after the races at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the BOSS GP Racing Series continues its European tour in France. The fourth edition of the Grand Prix de France Historique at Circuit Paul Ricard provides the ideal setting to bring the past back to life. Located near the sea, between Marseille and Toulon, fans and drivers can expect an event full of awakened memories.

With a bombastic grid of over 25 cars, including Formula 1 race cars from Toro Rosso, Jaguar and Benetton, IndyCars and monopostos from Formula 2, GP2, World Series and Auto GP, Europe’s fastest racing series will contest rounds 5 and 6 of the season at Le Castellet. Also taking part are four Frenchmen: Didier Sirgue (Jaguar R2), David Moretti (GP2), Jean-Christophe Peyre (Auto GP) and Alain Girardet (WSbR), joined by Nicolas Matile (Auto GP) and Marc Faggionato (GP2), who will be competing under a Monegasque license.

Entry list:

Race Track:

The 5.8-kilometer Circuit Paul Ricard is a track that is demanding from a driving point of view and at the same time has some high-speed passages to offer. Well situated climatically, with around 180 different track variations and extremely safe, the circuit is a paradise for test drives for good reason. The Big Open Single Seater’s last race here was held in 2017.

Timetable (CEST):

Friday, 17 June 2022
11:00–11:25     Free Practice 1
15:45–16:10     Free Practice 2

Saturday, 18 June 2022
10:10–10:40     Qualifying
15:30–15:50     Race 1 (20 minutes)

Sunday, 19 June 2022
09:35–09:45     Warm-up
15:30–15:55     Race 2 (25 minutes)

Supporting program:

The fourth edition of the event is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the FFSA (French Automobile Sports Association) and the fabulous history of Formula 1. In addition to the BOSS GP Racing Series, the program includes races with legendary cars from the 1970s (Historic F1). Furthermore, there will be races of the Historic Formula 2 (built before 1979), Formula 3 and Formula Renault Classic and Formula Ford 1600 with no less than 45 starters. Under the title “100 km du GPFH”, older and younger GTs and sports prototypes will also be competing.

A total of twelve races, spread over Saturday and Sunday, are on the racing program. Numerous other Formula 1 vehicles will be on display in the paddock. Fans can also do their own laps in F1 simulators or learn something new at the F1 technology exhibition. The paddock is freely accessible to visitors. No wonder that this also attracts numerous French motorsport stars to the Cote d’Azur. Jean Alesi, Rene Arnoux, Yannick Dalmas, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Patrick Tambay, Pascal Fabre, Jean-Marc Gounon, Patrick Gaillard and others have announced their visit.

Tickets & TV broadcast:

Tickets are available from 25 euros, for more details visit www.gpfrance.com/en/french-historic-grand-prix/ticketing

Admission is daily from 9 am.

The program on Sunday will also be broadcast on French television, on the channel Automoto La chaîne.

Pictures: Angelo Poletto/BOSS GP, Jean-Marie Biadatti, Bernard Canonne