5th LEG (Valence-Marseille)
The 24th Tour Auto Optic 2ooo ended Saturday afternoon on the old port of Marseille in front of thousands of spectators. The drivers left Valance and covered 384 km by way of Mount Ventoux crossing pine forests in the Sainte-Baume Massif before catching their first glimpse of the Mediterranean around a curve. They then headed for Marseille, the ambience of its streets redolent of the South, the port and the MuCEM (Museum of Southern and European civilization) esplanade.
On the final day’s programme was the Colombier timed stage and the races on the Paul Ricard circuit.
The hotly-contested battle for first place in the VHC category was played out between the British crew of Shaun Lynn-Kevin Kivlochan in their AC Cobra and the E-Type Jaguar driven by French duo Jean-Pierre Lajournade-Christophe Bouchet. The Frenchmen, who were in the lead at the end of Friday’s leg after Ludovic Caron’s (winner of 8 stages out of the 13 in the Tour Auto) off, were hit by a penalty that deprived them of victory, which went to the British drivers. Lajournade won the Colombier stage, and at Paul Ricard it was Jean-Marc Merlin in his AC Cobra who came out on top.
Roman Rocher-Jean-François Penillard in their Porsche 906 won Group G from the Ford GT40 driven by Philippe Vandromme-Frédéric Vivier. Victory in Group H went to Christophe Van Riet-Kristoffer Cartenian’s 2.7-litre 911 RS Porsche, which led home Didier and Barbara Denat’s 3-litre version. The racing classifications were completed by the triumph of Christophe Grenier-Guillaume Puget in their Gr IV Ferrari 308 in Group I.
In the Regularity section victory went to the Franco-Swiss pairing of Georges-Henri Meylan-Julien Stervinou in an Alpine A110 1600 S, while the Index of Performance was won Pierre Le Gloahec-Henanff-Alexandre Brasseur in a Jaguar Mk1.
The 23rd Tour Auto Optic 2ooo was again marked by the overall beauty of its innovative route, the presence of 25 nationalities and well-known drivers like Olivier Panis, Erik Comas, Emanuele Pirro (5-time winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours), Jürgen Barth, Armin Schwarz, Rauno Altonen, Pierre Ragues, Christian Balas and Jean-Claude Basso. Also taking part were numerous personalities like actors Arsène Jiroyan and Alexandre Brasseur, Gérard Holtz (France Television) and his wife Muriel Mayette (General Manager of the Comédie Française), Grégory Galiffi (D8) and Michelin chef Michel Rostang. An even-bigger crowd than in 2013 lined the route and flocked to the circuits to see more than 200 historic cars passing by ranging from the very popular Renault 4 CV to prestigious makes like Ferrari, Aston Martin and Porsche prototypes among others.
Rendezvous in 2015 for the 24th Tour de France Auto Optic 2ooo which will be run over a new route with just as many surprises
