Peter Auto 2022 historic racing season wraps up in sunny Portugal

The Estoril circuit in the scenic Portugal municipality of Cascais hosted the October 6-9 Estoril Classics final round of the 2022 Peter Auto historic racing series. Two-hundred-fifty drivers entered the finale, many needing the Thursday, Oct. 6, practice day to learn or re-learn the challenging 2.60-mile track and its 13 corners.

Friday was qualifying for the 13 races spread over a weekend bathed in "Indian summer” weather—to the delight of the huge crowd of spectators.

A look-back at the weekend highlights:

Classic Endurance Racing II

Two Tojs were on the front row of the grid for the Classic Endurance Racing II event, but Maxime Guenat quickly slotted into first place in his 1976 Lola T-286. The result was a back and forth battle in engaged in by the lead trio until Yves Scemama was forced to retire his 1976 Toj SC304.

Guenat pulled clear and it appeared he would win in a runaway, but a sudden yellow flag—before his obligatory refueling stop—changed the script. The Lola driver chose to stay out behind the safety car while most of the others pitted, then dropped back to ninth after his mandatory stop. Undeterred, he began a great charge up through the field. On the second-to-last lap, Guenat retook the lead from a disappointed Swiss driver, Philipp Bruehwiler, who held on for second. Russel Büsst (1975 Chevron B31) was third.

Fifties Legends

The Fifties’ Legends event was marked by the storming comeback of Eugène Deleplanque (1963 TVR Grantura MK III) who started at the back and fought his way up to second place. Up front, Serge Kriknoff’s 1956 Lotus 11 1500 held on for the win, finishing 9.4s ahead of the charging TVR.

A superb Mini Cooper S battle from start to finish ended in favor of David Barrere whose 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S 1275 claimed the last podium spot.

Endurance Racing Legends / Group C Race 1

The battle in Endurance Racing Legends Race 1 raged between two MG-Lolas that started from the front row and monopolized the first two places start to finish. In the end, Christian Gläsel’s 2004 MG-Lola EX257 got the better of Mike Newton’s similar 2001 machine, which was a slightly less powerful version.

Into a well-deserved third place came Marc Jully’s 1998 Keiler KII

Endurance Racing Legends / Group C Race 2

The second race was eagerly awaited with an expected double by the MG-Lolas driven by Gläsel and Mike Newton. Thus Newton was left all alone, taking the checkered in first, with Jully (Keiler KII) clinching second place from Patrick Simon and Sébastien Glaser (1999 Porsche 993 GT2 Evo).

Sixties Endurance

Forty-seven cars started the Sixties’ Endurance event, the race with the highest number of cars on track featuring a great two-hour-long scrap between Cobras. In the end, the young driver lineup of Guillaume Mahe and Maxime Guenat in their 1963 Shelby Cobra 289 came out on top with 10 seconds in hand over Harvey Stanley’s similar machine. Stanley battled throughout the second part of the race with German journalist and driver Patrick Simon who finished third.

2.0L Cup

The spectacular 2.0L Cup event kicked off a sunny Sunday’s proceedings. This 90-minute event was marked by the retirement at the start of Mark Sumpter, central rival to the Porsche 911 2.0 L co-driven by Andrew Smith and Oliver Bryant.

After his pitstop and a tire change, Bryant would control the final laps with ease to climb up onto the topmost step of the podium in front of Matthew Holme and Bonamy Grimes.

The Greatest’s Trophy

The start of the Greatest’s Trophy race was marked by Christian Bouriez (1965 Bizzarrini 5300 GT) climbing up from the back of the grid—a spectacular, perfectly judged drive by the French driver who sealed victory from Yves Vögele’s 1964 Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS.

Completing the podium in third place was Charles de Villaucourt (1968 Lister Jaguar Knobbly) with the other members of the Vögele family finishing fourth, fifth and sixth, monopolizing several top places in the Greatest’s Trophy classification.

Heritage Touring Cup

A Ford Capri RS 3100 domination was expected as the potent English sedans filled the first four places on the grid, and they would indeed finish 1-2-3. The young generation seized power in a race largely dominated by Maxime Guenat in No. 50 who scored his third victory in this end-of-season meeting. Guenat emerged a comfortable winner from Emile Breittmayer and Armand Mille, all three members of the young generation in the Series by Peter Auto.

Classic Endurance Racing I

The Classic Endurance Racing I cars brought down the curtain on the Estoril Classics weekend and the 2022 Series by Peter Auto. It was a particularly interesting race marked by the domination of Mark de Siebenthal (1970 Porsche 908/03) in the first half.

But once the pit stop window had closed, de Siebenthal found himself in the mid-field as Armand Mille (1969 Lola T70 Mk III B) grabbed the lead he would not relinquish. Behind Mille, a great scrap for second between Emmanuel Brigand and Rolf Sigrist (both in Chevron B19s) finished in that order, though neither would take the checkered flag: A Chevron B16 runner’s blown engine spread enough oil on the track to bring out the red flag, and time ran out.

Also:

This foray to the region of Cascais was also marked by the two grids assembled by local organisers Portugais Race Ready: Classic GP Pre-1986 F1 and the Iberian Historic Endurance.

Mister John of B (1979 Ligier JS 11) and Soheil Ayari (1983 Ligier JS 21)— both regulars in the Series by Peter Auto—enjoyed a great tussle in the classic pre-'86 F1 race. The Iberian Historic Endurance race, meanwhile, attracted 44 very diverse cars including Porsche 904/6 and 911 3.0 RSs, Alfa Romeo GTAms, Ford Escort RS 2000s, E-Type Jaguars, and more.

For complete results, click HERE.

And, for weekend videos, click HERE.