The Group C Racing Series begins its 2014 season this weekend, with two 30-minute races that form part of the Catalunya Classic Revival. This will be followed by the Spa Classic (May 16th-18th), the Le Mans 24 Hours (June 12th-15th), the Silverstone Classic (July 25th-27th), the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort (29th-31st August) and the Dix Mille Tours Paul Ricard (October 3rd-5th).
The Le Mans race is certainly being viewed with much anticipation by fans of this hugely popular class of sportscar racing – more than 30 cars likely to take the start at La Sarthe – but the variety and quality of cars that will be on display throughout year is arguably at a high point.
There has been a revision to the class structure since last season and the field will be separated into the following classes for 2014:
Class 1
A: For all Group C C1, IMSA, GTP cars 1987-1990 specification cars.
B: For all Group C C1, IMSA, GTP cars pre-87 specification cars (i.e. ’82-’86).
Class 2
A: For all Group C C2, Junior, IMSA Light cars 1986-1990 specification cars.
B: For all Group C C2, Junior, IMSA Light cars pre-86 specification (i.e. ’82-’85)
Class 3
A: For Japanese sportscars, IMSA, Group C cars running in ‘91-‘93 specification.
B: ‘Special Invitation’ – For any Group C/GTP car or any other car considered by the Club to be of a) Special Historical interest to the Club or Promoters of any of the Clubs races, or, b) be of particular benefit to the Club.
All divisions except Class 3 B will be eligible to score points.
Ten C1s make the trip to Barcelona: four Porsches, three Nissans, a Mercedes, a Spice and a Cheetah, with drivers from eight different countries. Gareth Evans returns to defend his title in the Mercedes C11 and will have Bob Berridge alongside him once more for the full season, although it is likely that they will have separate cars for the Le Mans race – we’ll have to wait and see on that one.
Other returnees are Adrian Watt in the Applebee’s Spice SE89, Kent Abrahamsson and Katsu Kubota with their R90CKs, Henrik Lindberg’s Tic Tac Porsche 962 and Eric Rickenbacher’s unique Cheetah G606. Pierre-Alain and Erwin France made a one-off appearance at the end of last year in their Alpha Porsche 962C, and the good news is that the father-son pairing reunite this season for all races except Le Mans.
We also have two Porsches fielded by Australian entrants: the ISEKI 956C from Russell Kempnich and a recently-acquired Jägermeister 962 from Peter Harburg – an ex-Brun Motorsports machine, but not the car recently raced by Christophe D’Ansembourg, who still owns his. Finally, we have a Nissan NPTi90 from Stefano Rosina.
The class is expected to grow in future rounds, with Max Werner’s Mazda 767B, Tommy Dreelan’s Leyton House Porsche 962 and a third car to be announced soon amongst those joining the series at Spa.
Class 2 has a quiet start to the season with just one representative at Barcelona – the Rexona Spice SE88 of defending champion Mike Donovan.
This won’t bother Mike much, as he is usually to be found dicing with the C1 machines, but is something of a mystery given that there have been quite a number of cars changing hands over the off-season. Again, numbers will grow through the season.
The new Class 3 sees four cars for the season opener. Christophe D’Ansembourg has made the switch from his trusty Porsche to the Peugeot 905 he raced at Paul Ricard last year and is intending to campaign the full season in the French machine.
Whether or not he will be joined by fellow Belgian Hervé Regout depends largely on the logistics of the timetable at each meeting, as he is also racing in Masters F1.
The Peugeot will be joined by Peter Garrod’s Intrepid RM1 – fully restored by Phil Stott after its fiery demise at the same meeting last year – the Jaguar XJR16 of Richard Eyre, and the newly-acquired Gebhardt C91 of Frank and Michael Lyons.
No sign yet of the XJR14 that wowed the crowds at the Silverstone Classic last year, but don’t rule out that car making an appearance at some point this season in Class 3.
Barcelona entry:
| No | Class | Driver | Car | Year | CC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | C1 | Peter Harburg | Porsche 962 | 1988 | 3200 |
| 2 | 12 | C1 | Russell Kempnich | Porsche 956C | 1984 | 2649 |
| 3 | 15 | C1 | Adrian Watt | Spice SE89 | 1989 | 6133 |
| 4 | 25 | C1 | Katsu Kubota | Nissan R90CK | 1990 | 3500 |
| 5 | 28 | C1 | Kent Abrahamsson | Nissan R90CK | 1990 | 3500 |
| 6 | 31 | C1 | Gareth Evans Bob Berridge | Mercedes C11 | 1989 | 5000 |
| 7 | 33 | C1 | Henrik Lindberg | Porsche 962 | 1989 | 3000 |
| 8 | 45 | C1 | Pierre-Alain France Erwin France | Porsche 962C | 1990 | 3200 |
| 9 | 60 | C1 | Eric Rickenbacher | Cheetah G606 | 1989 | 3500 |
| 10 | 84 | C1 | Stefano Rosina | Nissan NPTi90 | 1990 | 3000 |
| 11 | 111 | C2 | Mike Donovan | Spice SE88 | 1988 | 3900 |
| 12 | 3 | C3 | Richard Eyre | Jaguar XJR16 | 1991 | 3000 |
| 13 | 17 | C3 | Christophe D'Ansembourg Hervé Regout | Peugeot 905 | 1992 | 3500 |
| 14 | 29 | C3 | Frank Lyons Michael Lyons | Gebhardt C91 | 1991/92 | 3500 |
| 15 | 72 | C3 | Peter Garrod | Intrepid RM1 | 1991 | 6500 |
We’ll have a full report from Barcelona next week.
MH
