« The last meeting organised this season on French soil, before the Endurance Proto and GT/Tourism finales take place mid-November at Estoril, will mark the final round of the Challenge Funyo, Monoplace and VHC categories. These three highly successful platforms that give us many superb battles, will decide the first winners of the 2015 championships in the V de V Endurance Series. The setting is idyllic; Magny-Cours is a magnificent circuit with an interesting variety of very technical sections: the corners of Estoril; Nürburgring and Imola to state just a few… The track has featured on the V de V calendar for more than 20 years and is not too far from Paris. Burgundy, a beautiful French region, has an amiable population, to which I feel quite attached. It’s a pity that it no longer hosts the Formula One round, as it was well deserved. Serge Saulnier, long-term circuit managing director at Magny-Cours, continues to devote time and effort to developing the site and perpetuating the quality of the venue. The team at the track, led by Philippe Decharne, is very professional and we always find it a pleasure collaborating with them. It has a feel-good factor. Once again this year, as it’s the last occasion to unite the different classes, we’ll be organising a huge event on the Friday night that generally welcomes around a thousand people. Present at the soirée will be our loyal partners, who’ll be offering up some excellent prizes, all accompanied by an orchestra and country music. The sort of social event V de V knows only too well how to stage… So don’t miss it this year! We’ll be expecting you! »
Eric Van de Vyver
The 6 Hours of V de V Endurance Proto: An open race…
The first five meetings of 2015 have seen four different teams take the lead in the race for the title: a statistic that proves just how impossible it is to predict the next result. At the top is trio Dannielou/Maulini/Wolff in the no.33 car, who earned their place thanks to two victories, the second of which was obtained at the 12 Hours of Le Castellet, scoring them double points. Another team flying high in a Norma M20 FC CD Sport is that of drivers Accary, Bole Besançon and Foubert (no.31) who currently occupy the third step of the podium, which is stretched over just 13.5 points. The second spot belongs to German driver Petersen, who teamed up with Gachnang and Faggionato at Paul Ricard behind the wheel of the no.41 Norma, prepared by Palmyr. The first Ligier JS53, of Patrice and Paul Lafargue, sporting the colours or IDEC Sport Racing can be found in fourth place. Finally, dominating the Prestige category is Team One and its drivers G. André and R. Striebig.
Challenge Funyo V de V: An endurance race to finish off the season!
With 11 victories this year, against 4 by his closest rival – Gwénaël Delomier, Romain Houllier seems to be going straight on the road to winning the championship. Despite his 69 point lead however, his closest rival can still take the title. Moreover, the final podium is far from being decided, as Cédric Gardin and Cyril Denis can mathematically still be crowned vice-champion. 45 points separate the drivers in second and third place and there are still 90 to play for. The day after the season finale, which will line up a booming grid of 35 Funyos, will see around twenty of these teams battle it out in an exclusive one hour endurance race, some of which will have two drivers and an obligatory pit stop of five minutes. A final extravaganza for our loyal competitors of the category before the season comes to a close!
Challenge Endurance VHC V de V: Porsche? Chevron?
After a season that will have lead competitors of the Historic class from Barcelona to Magny-Cours draws to an end, Porsche is looking like the favourite to win. Franck Thybaud, who’s been a regular candidate since the beginning, goes into this last round at the top of the leader board in the seat of his Porsche 994 Cup, run by AB Sport Auto. Bernard Moreau is however to be watched out for, as his superb Porsche 911 3.0 RSR trails by a mere 17.5 points. Didier Cruvelier is also aiming for the top 3 with his 911 3.0 litres.
4 Hours of Endurance GT/Tourism: The need to gain an advantage before the finale…
The trio of Jean-Paul Pagny/Thierry Perrier/Jean-Bernard Bouvet (Ferrari 458 GT2 – VISIOM) made the most of the current title holders’, Patrice and Paul Lafargue’s (Porsche 911 GT3-R – IDEC Sport Racing) unlucky races at Dijon and Le Castellet; allowing them to extend their lead ahead of AF Corse and Montermini/Cordoni/Zanuttini (Ferrari 458 GT3), who recently moved up to second place. Fourth overall and first in the GTV2 race is the duo Kanaroglou/Campos (Mosler – Escuelas Espanola de Pilotos), while Calari/Alexander David (GC10-V8 – GC Automobile) continues to dominate the class S1, reserved for Silhouettes. However, concerning the victory in Burgundy, the LMP3s aren’t to be ruled out, especially after lighting up the last round, where Ginetta and LNT had their first win.
Challenge Monoplace V de V: It’s becoming a bit of a habit for Droux
If the points system at the last round of the Challenge Monoplace championship weren’t to be multiplied by 1.5, David Droux would have already been crowned at the end of the last race at Paul Ricard, having only missed one win this season. Riccardo Cazzaniga is thus the only remaining candidate with hope to be able to steal it from him; while Oscar Arcila, Gilles Heriau, Jules Falchero and Pietro Peccenini (leading Gentleman driver) can all still make it onto this season’s podium.