Still celebrating the success of an emotional presence at the Estoril Classics weekend, Iberian Historic Endurance heads to Spain this weekend for two 50-minute races at the state-of-the-art Circuito de Navarra.
More than fifty drivers to race at Los Arcos
Return to a circuit that was part of the calendar in 2018
Race Ready takes the HGPCA Pre '66 GP to Navarra
Located near the town of Los Arcos, some 20km from Logroño, a town known for its gastronomic tourism and as the centre of the famous Rioja wines, the 3.933km FIA Grade 2 circuit is known for its fast turns 1 and 4, followed by long, hard braking. More than 50 drivers took up the challenge of travelling to northern Spain, including several French teams, as well as a number of championship regulars and a number of high-profile rookies.
For Diogo Ferrão, CEO of Race Ready, this return to Navarra "shows the strength of our competition in Spain, where there are fantastic circuits. We have once again put together a diverse and very interesting grid of cars, which guarantees two very competitive races with cars that will be attractive for fans and spectators".
PREVIEW
The Gentlemen Driver Spirit (GDS) category, which encompasses all cars equipped with engines up to 1,300cc and all Touring Cars up to 2,000cc, sees the return of several well-known racing figures, such as Estoril round winner Michel Mora of France in one of the four Porsche 911 SWBs entered, Luís Sousa Ribeiro (Ford Lotus Cortina) or the Iberian duo Guillermo Velasco/Filipe Freitas who will swap their usual Porsche 365 for a Datsun 1200. Also returning to the racing scene, where she made one-off appearances in 2018 and 2019, will be Ellie Birchenhough, who along with Nick Topliss, returns with her Austin Mini Cooper S prepared by Dorset Racing, the team that forty years ago went through the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
In the H-1965 category, Estoril Circuit winner Carlos Barbot will try to repeat his good performance with his Lotus Elan 26R, a car almost identical to the one entered by Robin Ellis, but the latter uses a rare Shapecraft version of the English model. This, in a category that will also feature the Porsche 356 Speedster of Frenchman Vincent Tourneur, a serious contender for victory in the Index of Performance, which this weekend rewards the winner with a Cuervo Y Sobrinos watch.
The H-1971 category once again attracts a large number of entries and, as usual, a wide variety of cars. The three Porsche 911s of Franck Biraben, Jordi Prenafeta and Vincent Jiménez will be joined by the Alfa Romeo GTAm of the Germans Volker Hichert and Björn Ebsen. As this is a competition governed by the Relaxed Historic Racing spirit, we highlight the presence of Jorge Guimarães' Volvo 121, the Swiss Guillaume Huber, who will drive a Breda Motorsport BMW 1600 ti, and Bruno and Paulo Lima, who will once again line up in their imposing Ford Mustang. However, the fact remains that everyone who enters the field is aiming to win and, on paper, the favourites in H-1971 are still Joaquim Soares (Lotus Elan) and the Domingo Sousa Coutinho/Rui Maia duo (BMW 2800 CS).
In H-1976 there will be a tug-of-war between the Ford Escorts and the Porsche 911s. On the Deaborn car drivers' side are Nuno Breda/Ricardo Pereira and Paulo Vieira, drivers with a regular presence in Portuguese Group 1, as well as the Vizela duo Carlos M. Santos/Carlos A. Santos, who continue to make progress, and Swiss Max Huber, who returns after his participation in a Mustang in 2021.
On the German "machinery" side, L'Ecurie Classic's Porsche 911 2.7 RS will be driven by Rémi Guillot/Mathieu Izidi, and a 911 2.8 RSR will be driven by British driver Paul Daniels, who in the recent past has competed in the FIA WEC World Endurance Championship. They will be joined by two very competitive local 3.0 RSs - Eduardo Davila has already won this season and the Spanish duo Juan Alonso/José Antonio Zorrilla are looking for their first podium finish in the category, having been on the podium in this year's Los 80s race at the "Supercars en Jarama" weekend.
Finally, Paulo Rompante's Alfa Romeo Ti Super will have stiff competition in the GTP & Sportscar category, with the return of the two Lotus Seven of father and son Savinien and François Legeleux and a third to be driven by François Cazalot, the French driver who won both races on the streets of Pau. Two other cars will animate the starting grid: the eye-catching Ford GT40 of Jordi Puig and Fernando Navarrete, a duo that had no problems arriving at Jarama in 2021, and a Crosslé S7, a small prototype built in the 1960s in Ireland, for father and son, Stéphane and Mathias Rey.
Jorge Cruz's BMW 323i and Toni Garcia's Porsche 924 will also be invited.
TIMETABLE (GMT+2)
SATURDAY 22 OCTOBER
FREE PRACTICE | 08:30 - 09:10
QUALIFYING SESSION | 12:15 - 12:55
RACE 1 | 16:15 - 17:05
SUNDAY 23 OCTOBER
RACE 2 - 12:53 - 13:43
TO WATCH...
In this return of the Iberian Historic Endurance to the modern Circuito de Navarra, in Spain, the most prestigious classic car competition in the Iberian Peninsula will once again feature the HGPCA Pre '66 GP.
Also from Race Ready, in collaboration with the Historic Grand Prix Car Association, the HGPCA Pre '66 Grand Prix, a competition for cars that participated in Grand Prix events up to 1966, will make its debut at the Spanish circuit. It will be the first time that the Navarra Circuit will host these Grand Prix-winning racing machines, which celebrate the glamour of motor racing in the 50s and 60s, an era of innovation that helped to boost the new generations of motoring fans.
