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V de V French Championship and VHC Endurance Challenge

V de V de Jarama 4 hours

Title-winners in 2010 in their n°1 3-litre Porsche RSR, Bernard Moreau and Miguel Langin are entering V de V again in 2011, beginning at Jarama this weekend. They will  however face competition in Group 4 as  several cars are capable of winning the series. In particular the Swiss trio of Spirgi, Giauque and Gri in their Porsche 934 which will be tackling its second season. The Chevrolet Corvette and De Tomaso Pantera of Still Racing are also ones to watch. Still in the GTs, but this time in Group 3, Eric Belooussoff and Alain Rueda in their Porsche 3.0 RS will be competing against Didier and Cédric Cruvelier in a 3.3 Turbo, whilst LD Racing is entering its n°10 Porsche 3.0 RS as it did last year.

There’s also going to be a scrap in Classic Sport Prototypes, with six entries. Michel Quiniou will be trying to win this race for a second time but he’ll have to hold off Yann le Calvez, who won this championship last year, Pierre and Laurent Dutoya, who are entering a highly effective Elva Mk8 S, Christian Perrier and Gerard Bouvet, who will be hoping for a season involving less damage, and David Ferrer and Yvan Mahé in their impressive Lola T70 Spyder, who won the event in 2010. The first two hours of the race in this class will be very tense, as another T70 Spyder (just entered for the 2-hour race) in the form of n°117 entered by British pair Jones and Adams will be mixing it with this pack.

Ante-post favourites Eric Vincenot and Jean-Marc Bachelier will have their work cut out to win their second French Championship in their 1969 Ford GT40, as they will be up against Gérard Besson, Marc Peccolo and Francis Dougnac, as well as the n°90 Corvette of Francioni and Barth and not forgetting 2009 Champion Sébastien Morales once more behind the wheel of his modest 2.0 Porsche 911.

V de V Proto Endurance Challenge

V de V Jarama 4 Hours

2010 was dominated by the Mondolot-Zollinger pairing in their n°1 Norma. At Jarama, they will be entered in the “Open” class, as their new generation Norma isn’t ready for this weekend. Overall victory should be contested by the “Elite Class” with their carbon-fibre chassis. There are  just eight entries for this first race of the season including three Norma M20 FCs entered by Palmyr (n°s 2, 3 & 4).  Last year’s runner up.  Menahem and Faggionato and an untried pairing of Fargier-Ogier brought about by last winter’s injury to Léo Van Sande. Le Corre and Beck will once again be battling against the other Gentlemen Drivers. It is also worth noting the arrival of four Wolf GB08 newcomers to this challenge, including three from Team IRS, which is the marque’s French supplier, with Italian former F1 driver Alex Caffi, alongside Maurizio Fratti. Fabien Rosier, who is entering the LMS this year, will also be there, driving a “carbon-fibre” Norma for his Extrême Limite team that has also entered two “Open” cars. Anglo-Belgian team Padmore-Rihon are now associated with TFT, who run another Norma M20 FC, driven by Thirion and Bazaud. Last but not least, the duo that finished second in 2009, Haezebrouck-Toulemonde has reformed, once again with LD Autosport.

As far as the Open class is concerned, we already know that defending champions Zollinger-Mondolot will be there, but it won’t be easy for them, as If Motorsport will be entering three Ligier JS 49s with super-talented crews. Massimo Vignali and Bryce Wilson are ones to watch. Jean-Pierre Mothe and Arnaud Violette will be driving the n°28 Norma M20 F for JMP Racing, whilst the Norma driven by the Vilarino family, who won at Jarama two years ago, will be driven by Spanish pairing, Amilibia et Pons. Yann Le Calvez will be driving his Ligier JS 51 alongside Belgian teammate Loïc Deman.

The final Challenger class is principally for Bioracing. AB Sport Auto has entered 2 cars. Wintec will be racing Funyos, but also in Endurance, as Erick Tomaszek has entered his Bioracing and will be sharing the drive with Julien Neveu.

V de V GT/Touring Endurance Challenge

V de V Jarama 4 hours

Last season, the GT/Touring Challenge was won at the wire by the Gibon-Bourret duo, in their Imsa Performance Porsche 997 RSR. This year should be just as fascinating… at every stage!

Gibon and Bourret are back, after pinching the number 1 from Jean-Paul Pagny and Thierry Perrier, who will wear number 2 for a 2011 season that sees the comeback of 2009 title-winners Mouez and Loger, in the n°3 Porsche 997 Cup S, entered in GTV2. Three championship-winning crews lining up at the start – now that’s promising!

Especially as GTV1 is packed with participants: the three Moslers: n°5 driven by Abergel and Pompidou, n°11 run by the V de V family, and Harry Teneketzian’s n°45. Milesi and Mesplomb, who got so close to the podium at Dijon last year, will be there in their powerful Porsche 993 GT2. The Polybaie crew, Bernard Moreau and Miguel Langin in their n°14 Porsche 996 RSR, are still hunting for their first GT/Touring title. Imsa Performance will be entering two other Porsche 997 RSRs, certain to be very attached to the top three places, as will their counterparts from Solution F, the brutish Touring Cup 10.

GTV2 will see Ruffier Racing entering the n°103 Lamborghini Gallardo, which will be battling the n°16 Mosler of Kohler and Salam; also there will be the Martinet-Tremblay pairing that has worked so well for several seasons with Almeras, along with the aforementioned crew of n°3.

GTV3 has the second highest number of entries after GTV1, with 8 participants, all Porsche 997 Cups. Team Sport 5 will be bringing two of their own up from Portugal, the same number as Porsche Lorient Racing, whereas RMS will have enough to fight for all three steps of the podium. A great scrap is expected, especially as Porsche Almeras is joining forces with the father-and-son Alloin team.

GTV4 is the least represented class, yet the opposition promises to be interesting, with a highly-concentrated version of the talent and performance on offer. The three cars, n°41 driven by Arezina and Burel, n°64 by Vincenot and Bachelier (reigning champions), and n°93 Decultot and Fontaine, are all assured a place on the podium, but it’s hard to predict in which order.

The new class, GTV5, is well supported, with four Ginetta G50s, entered by two Spanish, one Greek and one French team in the shape of LD Racing team with Pellerzi and Nury who drove the whole of last season; One BMW M3 GT4, and a Porsche 996 Cup complete the field.

V de V Funyo Challenge

For the first time in its history, the Funyo Challenge is preparing to take on the legendary Jarama track. With the arrival of fifteen Funyo 5’s fresh from Yves Orhant’s factory in 2011, the battle promises – as ever – to be fierce. Last year Serge Hériau often watched as his son stole the big prize from under his nose, while his comrade, Fontbonne - who will wear the n°2 again this year after a two year gap - could also do nothing but survey the wreckage and applaud François, who won the Challenge in 2010. They are back this year in the new Funyo 5, and this race will serve as a baptism for the new arrival. The Jarama track is not always gentle on mechanicals, and its technical level could lead some to make mistakes if they don’t show caution with their new mounts… What is for sure is that they all know the car as well as each other and that’s when we’ll see which of them is capable of combining a good set-up with excellent driving.

Marc-Antoine Dannielou, for example, has never been far from the podium and last year, he even made it on occasion, but never as well as the Champion. He was nevertheless a continual threat. He will be driving the lone Funyo 5 run by MSI. Desmoulin in an F5 and Lavilette in the F4 will be proudly defending the colours of Wintec in each class. Yes, there’s another novelty, with the F4 class created for Funyo 4 RCs.

Yves Orhant, who bequeathed his Funyo 4 RC to a newcomer to the discipline, will be on the grid in Funyo 5 n°35, and Yves-Henri Maillerie will be his only ally…

pics Warm-up photos