Racers with Peter Auto kicked off their 2023 season final week at Italy’s iconic Mugello Circuit located north east of Florence. Over 280 automobiles have been available to take full benefit of the quick sweeping corners on provide from the three.26-mile circuit.
2.0L CUP
There was ferocious competitors among the many short-chassis Porsche 991s during which solely the drivers could make the distinction. On this explicit sport, #99 pushed by James Thorpe and Phil Quaife stood out this weekend in qualifying on Saturday afternoon by clinching pole place for the race.
The beginning was given early on Sunday afternoon and Thorpe in #99 instantly hit the entrance adopted by George Gamble (#77), Christian Coll (#53), Lukas Bucher (#411) and Bonamy Grimes (#116). Thorpe and Gamble broke away from the remainder of the sphere and opened up a spot. The 2 drivers had 45 minutes to safe first place earlier than handing over to their respective team-mates. Coll and Jürg Aeberhard (#22) have been locked in battle for third place. The latter managed to tug away and ate into the hole separating him from the front-running duo earlier than handing over to his team-mate through the pit cease.
The race was turned on its head with solely two minutes to go to the checkered flag! #99 got here into the pit lane with a technical downside leaving the monitor clear for David Verzijlbergen in #41 who bagged second place together with his team-mate Lukas Bucher. They have been surrounded on the rostrum by Bonamy Grimes in third in #116 and the very fast and constant victorious pairing Seb Perez and Georges Gamble on the wheel of #77.
Traditional Endurance Racing I
For the primary time, open automobiles monopolized the highest locations firstly of the CER1 race with Max Banks on pole in his #89 McLaren M6B intently adopted by the attractive – and really fast – #4 Porsche 908/03 pushed by Henrique Gemperle.
Armand Mille within the #35 Lola T70 began from the again of the grid as a result of technical points in qualifying. After a brand new engine was put in through the evening, he made a spectacular comeback ending simply shy of the rostrum after gaining greater than 40 positions. The ultimate classification of the race was Max Banks (#89) who emerged victorious adopted by the Lola T70s pushed by David Hart (#34) and Toni Seiler (#7)!
Traditional Endurance Racing II
The second to final race was led by Maxime and Dominique Guenat who had simply received the Heritage Touring Cup adopted by Yves Scemama on the wheel of his TOJ SC304 (#52) duking it out with the TOJ SC303 (#49) pushed by Dominique Guenat.
Within the P-2L class Franck Morel fought his method up by the sphere in his #131 TOJ SC206 ending fourth general and first in his class. However there was an surprising twist when Guenat went off in #49 placing an finish to the TOJ SC303’s race! Diogo Ferrao seized this surprising alternative to grab third place.
With fifteen minutes to go the checkered flag, Maxime Guenat seemed unbeatable on this race-packed Sunday in Tuscany. The French driver dominated adopted by Morel (#1031) and Diogo Ferrao’s team-mate Martin Stretton, who had taken over. For the second time, Guenat received the race. Franck Morel got here dwelling second and Stretton third.
Endurance Racing Legends
The beginning of the primary race of the weekend for the ERLs was a reasonably hectic affair. The 2 LMP1 prototypes pushed by Christian Gläsel (#16) and Christophe d’Ansembourg (#17) stuffed the primary two locations. Behind them, a duel for third raged between the #88 GT1 Aston Martin within the arms of Philip Kadoorie and the #37 Braveness C65 pushed by Briton Harvey Stanley.
Twenty minutes earlier than the top of the race the #25 MG EX264 took the lead. This didn’t destabilise the LMP1s of Gläsel (#16) and d’Ansembourg (#17) who completed in first and second locations on the rostrum with Mike Newton in his #25 MG EX264 third.
The Endurance Racing Legends introduced down the curtain on Mugello Traditional. GLÄSEL (#16), winner of the earlier race made it a double because of his victory in race 2 adopted by David Hart (#34) and Stanley/Littlejohn (#37).
Fifties’ Legends
The Fifties’ Legends took to the monitor for a 1 hour and 20 minute race. This collection welcomes the oldest automobiles of the collection by Peter Auto. Yvan Mahe shot into the lead in his #20 Lister Chevrolet adopted by Man Ziser on the wheel of his #77 3.8 E-Kind Jaguar. The Mahe/Scemama duo had dominated the weekend within the qualifying periods.
The inexperienced mild went on and the automobiles have been unleashed. The English automobiles have been redoubtable. In second place was the #7 Austin Healey 3000 Mk I pushed by Eugène Deleplanque and Romain Guerardelle completed simply shy of the rostrum in his #34 MG B. Victory went to Mahe-Scemama in #20.
Group C Racing
This class was one of the eagerly-awaited because the Group C laws in drive from 1982 till 1993 led to the development of legendary automobiles, which wrote a few of the most superb pages within the historical past of the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Endurance World Championship.
Christophe d’Ansembourg on the wheel of the highly effective #17 Jaguar XJR-14 set the tempo and made an awesome begin from Ivan Vercoutere in his #7 Porsche 962 C. The primary 5 minutes of race 2 supplied a powerful spectacle. The #7 Porsche 962 C, the #2 Jaguar XJR-9, the #17 Jaguar XJR-14, the #8 Spice SE90C and the #6 Jaguar XJR-8 thundered down the principle straight nose-to-tail at over 300 km/h as they fought for the lead. After 20 minutes racing d’Ansembourg (#17) took benefit of the slipstream of the Spice SE90C (#8) to tug off an excellent move on the straight and drove on to victory. On the second step of the rostrum was one other Jaguar, Richard Meins’ XJR-9, and on the third, Franck Morel in his Spice SE90C.
The Biggest’s Trophy
The Biggest’s Trophy or relatively the Biggest’s “Dream“ Trophy introduced collectively a large number of legendary automobiles from a few of the biggest constructors.
The #14 Lister Jaguar Knobbly was significantly fast over the weekend clinching second spot in qualifying and successful race 1 pushed masterfully by Anthony Schrauwen from Germany. Carlos de Quesada’s #94 Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS in third place within the first race had a no-holds-barred duel with the #11 Cooper T38 crewed by Wakeman/Blakeney-Edwards. De Quesada tried to move within the first nook however went huge letting the Cooper T38 draw back.
It proved to be a deadly error though he nonetheless completed first in his class in GTP11. The checkered flag was proven to the Cooper T38 of Wakeman and Blakeney-Edwards adopted by de Quesada-Catesby Jones in #94 and Carlo Vögele (#4).
Heritage Touring Cup
Maxime Guenat emerged quickest in qualifying on the wheel of his #50 Ford Capri RS 3100. He received the race with two seconds in hand over Emile Breittmayer in his Ford Capri RS 3100 Cologne (#123). Armand Mille was third in one other Capri RS 3100 Cologne (#60).
The beginning of the final Heritage Touring Cup race noticed the tightly-bunched pack led by the Ford Capri RS 3000s blast off adopted by a trio of BMW 3.0 CSLs. On the primary lap, the three main Fords have been damaged up by Nicolas d’Ieteren (#25) who took the lead. The 2 Ford Capris (#50 and #123) and the #49 BMW 365 CSi fought for locations in every nook. With 35 minutes to go to the end, hassle hit the Ford Capri RS 3000s.
Olivier Breittmayer in #22 overcooked it and fell down the time sheets, whereas Emile Breittmayer in #123 suffered technical glitches that prevented him from rejoining. For over 40 minutes battle raged for the third step of the rostrum between d’Ieteren in #25 and Dominique Guenat within the #49 BMW 635 CSi. In the long run, Maxime Guenat went on to win the race adopted by Mille and d’Ieteren who managed to fend off Dominique Guenat.
Sixties’ Endurance Racing
There was only a single 2-hour race on the schedule for Sixties’ Endurance Racing reserved for pre-1963 sports activities automobiles and pre-1966 GTs. This endurance occasion acquired off to a hard-fought begin with a battle for pole between the #51 Shelby Cobra 289 and a brace of three.8 E-Kind Jaguars (#9 and #43). The 62 automobiles within the race have been unleashed and a ding-dong battle developed between the 2 E-Varieties pushed by Maurizio Bianco and James Thorpe in third and fourth locations.
Maxime Guenat made an excellent begin on the wheel of his #51 Shelby Cobra 289 and snatched the lead by slicing previous Thorpe in #43. Yellow flags in a number of sectors set the tone for the race, which didn’t fear Thorpe who weaved his method by the technical corners. With an hour to go, Harvey Stanley in #72 was in third place battling with Maxime Guenat in #51. The duo Thorpe-Quaife in #43 received the Sixties’ Endurace race whereas into second and third got here Mille-Scemama in #3 and Prepare dinner-Harvey in #72.
Up subsequent for Peter Auto is the famed Spa-Traditional, Could 12-14. Extra data could be discovered HERE.
Sights and sounds from the weekend could be seen on this 13-minute video:
