PARTYING AT LE MANS

Porsche, Jaguar and Alpine celebrations punctuate the on-track action at historic French circuit’s best classic event yet

’The howl of the Group C cars tussling in the early hours was deafening’

Porsche’s 70th anniversary, the biggest ever grid for the Jaguar Classic Challenge series and hours of tense on-track action which went on into the early hours made this year’s Le Mans Classic a big hit with showgoers.

The event’s flagship races were divided into six grids, ranging from one for 1922-1939 cars (complete with traditional Le Mans start) right through to Group C racers, following their popularity during their introduction to the event back in 2016.

Track time was also given over to one-make races for the Jaguar Classic Challenge, and a Porsche-only race to mark seven decades of the sports car maker’s cars, following a lunchtime parade given over to the Stuttgart sports car maker’s most significant classics.

Race highlights included a pair of Jaguar D-types beating a Maserati 250S to the top spot in the evening race for 1949-56 sports cars, Ford GT40s taking all six of the top spots in the battle of the 1962-65 GT racers, and the deafening howl of the Group C racers tussling on track in the early hours, when Michael Lyons’ 1991 Gebhardt C91 fought off a trio of Jaguars – an XJR8, XJ9 and XJ11 – for the top spot at this year’s event.

The event saw a record-breaking 135,000 visitors, while more than 8500 classics packed into club displays both on and around the Bugatti circuits, having arrived from both sides of the English Channel.

The race for the 1922-39 sports cars included a traditional Le Mans start. It’s a shame that nobody seems to have told the driver in the blue racing overalls, though…

Hugely rare Bulgaralpine – a Bulgarian-built A110 – was the star of the event’s tribute to Alpine.