The Grid.co.uk    the national & club motor racing website - est1998          

  ^News

 mail your news to editorthegrid@yahoo.co.uk   

V de V ENDURANCE BARCELONA

Circuit de Catalunya

6-hour Proto Endurance – 6-hour GT/Touring Endurance

V de V Funyo Challenge - V de V Single-seater Challenge

30th March – 1st April 2012

The GT/Touring season is getting underway with almost forty cars entered for the first race at the Circuit de Catalunya. First of all, there are four Ferraris in action, including two F458s. One a GT2, bearing the number 2 and entered by the Visiom team that is doing everything to give itself the best possible chance of bringing home the title this season.

Alongside them, will be Jerôme Policand’s Team Sofrev ASP with a GT3 - n°84 - driven by Mike Savary, Maurice Ricci and Gabriel Balthazard.

There will also be four Audi R8 LMS, entered in GTV2, including two from WRT, with Vincent Vosse considered as one of the “A” drivers, and JWS Racing entering n°38. “A” drivers, considered as Professionals, are becoming commonplace in raising a team’s performances this season.Xavier Pompidou, who has supported Gabriel Abergel in a Mosler over the last two years, will continue in the Porsche 911 GT3 R maintained by Ruffier Racing.

Among the larger engined-cars are four Mosler MT900s starting with the one from AB Sport Auto, driven by Harry Teneketzian, Michel Wegelin and professional driver Julien Jousse, and the new machine from Escuela Española de Pilotos with Lorena, Bastos and Ben Clucas – the “A” driver – behind the wheel. The two Moslers from the Van de Vyver family, starting with n°11, driven by father and son Eric, and his two companions, Thierry Proust and Philippe Baudinière. Son Guillaume - Team Manager and driver for V2V Energy Racing – will be accompanied by the experienced and rapid Manuel Ferreira and by the young Cyril Raymond as “A” driver. Bernard Moreau and Miguel Langin will be giving their all to defend the colours of Charente in their Porsche 996 RSR, n°14.

It will be business as usual for Imsa Performance following their two titles in the past two seasons with Porsche 997 RSR n°52 driven by Patrice Milesi and Richard Balandras.

Now on to GTV2 where the Audi R8 and Porsche 997 Cup S’s that delivered entertaining battles last year. There will be three of them, with two entered by the very effective Porsche Lorient Racing team, featuring Benjamin Roy, Jean-François and Alain Demorge in n°36, and the magical threesome of Polette, Lelièvre and Neyrial in n°63. The third crew will be just as dangerous as the first two, with Pierre Martinet, Gérard Tremblay and Anthony Beltoise – as “A” driver - in n°65.

Two Italian machines will fight it out with the Germans: the Lamborghini Gallardo n°45 of Thybaud, Wolf and Choukroun, and the Ferrari F430 n°83, driven by Ricci and Petit.

GTV 3 promises to provide us with great entertainment again this season with RMS at the forefront, entering four 997 Cups, including that of reigning champions in the class, car n°56 driven by the Twin Thierrys - Stepec and Prignaud.

Up against them will be Porsche Lorient and 007 driven by Fréderic Ancel and Gilles Blasco, Jean-Louis and Jérémy Alloin alongside their “A”, Philippe Almeras, in car 67 from Porsche Almeras, and finally TFT with n°69 featuring Cahaupe, Dupuy and Pla. Decultot and Fontaine will line up in n°93. Note that in the off-season, the Racinet-Provins crew moved from RMS to Imsa with car n°53.

GTV 4 will be shaken up this year with the arrival of the Ferrari F430 Challenge of Eric Vincenot and Jean-Marc Bachelier, the Lotus 2-eleven of Pierre Nicolet and Guy Lacroix for Oak Racing and the Fretin brothers returning in their 996 Cup, all scrapping with 41 from Team Polybaie with Burel, Arezina and Kohler. Lastly, the quick Ginettas including Greek driver Kanaroglou and Spanish “A” team-mate Oliver Campos, and the LD Racing car driven by Pellerzi and Nury.

The Silhouettes will include some bigger motors, such as the two GC 10 – V8, driven by the very quick Gomez brothers alongside Eric Poitevineau as well as the two aggressive SFV8s of Charriol and Yacouba in the first and Chaix, Pourquie and De Lesseps in the second. In the middle will be a GC 10.2 with a 3.5-litre engine and three drivers: Balas, Cimadomo and Seveno.

V de V Proto Endurance Challenge - The V de V Catalunya 6-hours

The Protos will be facing a proper Formula 1 track for their season opener, the grid will be less full than usual, with around 20 entries, including title-holders Mondolot and Zollinger in Norma n°1, their Palmyr team only entering two cars this year,instead of the four they ran all last season.

TFT will be bringing three crews, including Bazaud, Caillon and Médard (n°69), who seem  capable of rivalling the n°1 reigning triple Champions for pace, and who will have Rihon, Padmore and Phillips alongside them in n°34 - a trio that finished third in the class last year.

Another crew to watch out for will be that of youngster Marc-Antoine Dannielou, who dominated the Funyo season last year, and who will be partnering Jean-Claude Poirier in Norma n°19 for the Extrême Limite team, who also run a very quick pair of Gentlemen Drivers in Da Rocha and Lafargue in n°17.

Claude Dégremont and his CD Sport team won last year at Paul Ricard with Sébastien Dhouailly and this year he will start the season alongside Thomas Accary in n°26, whereas the equally quick Mathieu Lecuyer in car 25, will team up with Kevin Bole Besancon.

Still in the Elite class, we will be lucky enough to see two new Ligier JS53s, including the n°7 of Philippe Haezebrouck and Damien Toulemonde, who will be hoping above all for a good start to the season to banish the gremlins that haunted their pits last year. If they get that good start, we may get the mouth-watering duel we have been waiting two years to see with the n°1 team.

The other JS53 is that of the Spanish Baporo Motorsport team, driven by Rosell and Azor. Definitely another one to watch.

Worth noting is the appearance of two brand-new Normas - n°67 from Team One, driven by Rémy and Grégory Striebig alongside Rémy Kirchdoerffer and JRT’s n°56 driven by Jorge Domingues and Christophe Tardieu, together with the all-Catalan machine featuring Angel Amilibia and Xavier Cazabon.

Finally, we come to the Open class, with Extrême Limite’s n°20 Norma team, led (as is becoming a tradition) by Philippe Papin, who will be mentoring Léo Roussel, the teamowner’s nephew, with Max-Cohen Olivar. Their work will be cut out up against Schell and Caussanel who return in their Ligier n°27 from Pegasus Racing. Norma n°75 from Sébastien Giltaire’s SKR will feature its usual crew of Adler, Abramczyk and Henninot.

It all promises some interesting strategy battles ahead!

Pic : Hugues Laroche