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3rd Sahara Challenge
After 4,500 difficult kilometres the 2022 HERO-ERA Sahara Challenge reached its end on 30 September with the Bentley 3-4½ of Bill Cleyndert victorious again, repeating its 2015 triumph, but this time with daughter Georgia in the navigator’s seat, on her first ever rally. Following the Cleyndert’s home were Swiss couple Pierre Gerber and Alice Leuenberger in their 1946 Ford Coupe with Jorge Perez Companc and Jose Volta from Argentina in a 1938 Chevrolet Coupe taking third.
Tour de Corse Historique
Over the last 22 years the Tour de Corse Historique has become an unmissable event on the European historic rally calendar, and many drivers, some with prestigious CVs, return to its mythical stages each year. If proof be needed, this year Jose Andreani and his team received more than 500 requests for entries, of which only 380 could be accepted. These represented 12 different nationalities, with 196 cars running in the competition category and 169 in regularity.
Modena Cento Ore
With a new date, moved from June, the Modena Cento Ore set out from the Adriatic resort of Milano Marittima on October 3 for the start of four days comprising competition on ten hillclimbs and the circuits of Mugello and Misano. This year, instead of traversing Italy to Liguria, the Cento Ore returned to Milano Marittima for the first two nights, with a stop in Florence on the third day of competition before the traditional finish in Modena.
XXXIV Rallye Elba Storico – Trofeo Locman
This year saw the largest number of entrants for the Rallye Elba Storico ever recorded – to the point that many alterations to the programme were required, including a change in the location of the main parc fermé and re-grouping points and a change in the location of the finish. One hundred and eighty-three crews ran concurrently in the eighth round of the 2022 FIA European Historic Rally Championship and the seventh of eight rounds of the Campionato Italiano Rally Auto Storiche, as well as the A112 Abarth Trophy and the Michelin Historic Rally Cup.
Les Legend Boucles @ Bastogne 2023
Having formalised a Classic 65 category – with mandatory roll bar – instead of the usual Classic 60, the Royal Automobile Club de Spa, organisers of the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne have confirmed the event will be back in its traditional format on 3-5 February 2023 with a highly anticipated return to Place McAuliffe…
Winter Marathon
Entries for the 2023 Winter Marathon open on Saturday 1 October (with the usual 10% discount for those entering by 31 October) and will close on Sunday 18 December. This will be the 35th edition of this popular winter event based in the Dolomite ski resort of Madonna di Campiglio.
Watch Out! Here comes the Neige et Glace
With one of the hottest summers on record coming to an end, it’s time to think about snow and Ice. Known as France’s ‘little Siberia,’ the area on the edge of the Swiss border, between the Doubs and the Jura offers everything necessary for a successful winter rally, where slipping and sliding is guaranteed.
East Africa Safari Rally
First run in 2003, the dates for the next East African Safari Classic Rally for pre-1987 cars have been announced as 9-18 December, 2023. Entries open on 3 October 2022.
The nine-day event will cover some 4,000 kilometres of rough terrain that include 2100kms of timed special stage sections. Starting and finishing in Mombasa, after a hiatus due to COVID, the route will again take competitors for stages in Tanzania. Previous winners of the Classic include motor sport legends, the late Björn Waldegård, Ian Duncan, Stig Blomqvist, Rob Collinge, Carl Tundo and most recently, Baldev Singh Chager.
Historic Irish Tarmac Rally Championship
The seven-round Irish Championship series was decided on 19-20 August with the double-points Ulster Rally. With four of the leading contenders still in the running, Neil Williams and Anthony O’Sullivan started at the top of the leaderboard in their RS 1800-spec Ford Escort after a perfect performance on the Cork 20 in July, their third top-score of the season.
Winter Romania Historic Rally
The seventh Winter Romania Historic Rally has been announced for 19 to 22 January 2023, as in past years, on the same forest roads of Comandaü, in Transylvania, in one of the coldest regions of Romania. For this seventh edition Paul Lacombe and his team are concocting a route to include four days of racing, traced in a loop, around the city of Covasna.
FIA Historic Rally Championship – Round Seven – Rally de Asturias Histórico
Northern Spain was the setting for the seventh round of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship on 1-2 September with most of the front-runners in the various Categories present. Unpredictable weather saw tyre choice play a large part of the first day’s stages, when heavy rain started on the second stage and continued intermittently throughout the day. Italian driver Zippo in his Audi Quattro, this time navigated by Nicola Arena,led the way overall and in Category 3, winning all the day’s stages outright to end the leg with an advantage of over a minute and half to the rest of the field.
HERO Challenge Two
Alistair Leckie and Matt Outhwaite were the relieved winners of the HERO Challenge Two on 23 July after finally climbing to the top of the podium in their SAAB 900 Turbo from a field of over 90 cars. Despite winning the 2021 HERO Challenge Championship through a string of podiums, including many second places, a HERO-ERA overall win has eluded them until now.
Rallye Monte-Carlo Route Revealed
The Organising Committee of the 25th edition of Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique has re-instated five authentic concentration routes for the 2023 event, starting from Bad Homburg, Oslo, London, Torino and Reims, making five itineraries with the common destination of Monte-Carlo over a route that incorporates many of the stages used by…
Eifel Rally Festival
After a COVID break of two years, the participants, the organisers, the many volunteers and the numerous fans were glad to be back in Daun on 21-23 July for the 10th edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival. Only the weather turned a new page, as if it wanted to compensate everyone for the missing years and the weekend passed without rain.
Tour de Corse Sold Out
Proof, if proof be needed, of the fame and popularity of the Tour de Corse Historique in France and internationally, came when it took only a few weeks for the organisers to reach a maximum number of entries in three categories: VHC (Historic Competition Vehicles), VHRS (Historic Sporting Regularity) and Legend (exhibition without timing). Thus, 380 cars and their crews (out of 530 applications), a record number, will be at the start in Porto-Vecchio for the 22nd edition of the Tour de Corse Historique on 2-8 October. Among them, drivers and co-drivers of 21 nationalities. Many are gentlemen drivers and regular historic racers, but there are also a number of former professional pilots.
FIA Historic Rally Championship – Round 5 Rallye Weiz
The Rallye Weiz, a round of the Austrian National Championship that included a section for the FIA Historic Rally Championship for the third time, celebrated its 13th anniversary this year with a hearty opening party that on Thursday, 14 July. For the historic cars, this preceded two days and 13 stages, covering 147kms, in the foothills of the Styrian Alps.
FIA Historic Rally Championship – Round 6
A month after Zippo’s triumph in Austria, competitors were back in their cars for round 6 of the Championship, this time in Finland on 11-13 August. The Lahti Historic Rally is the only gravel event on the FIA calendar and evokes the spirit of the iconic 1000 Lakes Rally. It promised 12 special stages, totalling 150kms. Amongst a 49-car entry were 15 full season EHRC cars competing for championship points.
Third Romania Historic Gravel Rally Postponed
Only two weeks before the start date the organisers have reluctantly had to postpone the rally until 1-5 November after it became clear they would not get the required authorisations from the tourist district authorities. This event which comprises 1200 km in total, includes 430 km in 29 timed special stages and normally compliments the Winter version in January. Previously run in mostly warm, dry and dusty conditions through the remote forests, it could take on a different character during the new late autumn dates. Info at www.romania-historic-rally.com.
Midnattssolrallyt
The ‘Midnight Sun’ of Sweden’s summer was one of the iconic names of 1950s and 60s rallying, held on mostly forested dirt roads closed to the public, combined with some tarmac tests often around race circuits. The 2022 event was no exception and incorporated some iconic stages dating from events as far back as 1951. It is the country’s largest historic rally, attracting crews from across Scandinavia and 5000 spectators gathered to watch the start.
FIA Mecsek Historic Rally
Round 4 of the FIA Historic Rally Championship took place in the picturesque, hot and sunny foothills of the Mecsek mountains in Hungary. Not far from the Croatian border, this remote wooded region was for a long-time part of the Ottoman Empire and after their expulsion, came under German influence back in the 18th century, before it became part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Based in the city of Pecs, it provided excitement, as no one there could imagine just how close the overall finish of the 2022 rally might be.