French Historic Tour Championships Shake-up

In a recent meeting of the Steering Committee of the FFSA, it was decided to create a new French historic championship, splitting in two the current Championnat de France FFSA Historique des Circuits GT/Tourisme.  Back-dated to the beginning of this season, there will be two French GT/Tourisme champions, one for drivers of pre-1990 cars, and one for drivers of post 1990 cars, leaving competitors in the GT Classic, Saloon Car, Roadster Pro Cup and Youngtimers GTI Cup to fight for their own title, while the Racing 65, Racing 81, Maxi1300 and Lotus Trophy drivers will compete for a separate championship.  The title for single seaters and prototypes (Championnat de France FFSA Historique des Circuits Monoplaces/Protos) will remain unchanged.

“Last year, nearly 250 drivers were classified in the GT/Tourisme category, which included all the periods from 1950 to 1997, not without some disparities between the number of entries for the various series concerned,” commented Laurent Vallery-Masson of HVM Racing, the promoter of the French Championship.  “Splitting it into two will separate the oldest cars, which correspond to the reference period of the HTP (pre 1990), and which we wish to promote, from the most recent.  More generally, with the number of drivers close to 120 in each of the three championships, this will also rebalance everyone’s chances.”

Over and Under 2-Litre

In a further revamp of the Historic Tour, after discussions with the drivers, HVM has announced that starting from next season, the GT-Touring cars of the ‘60s and ‘70s will be split by capacity rather than by age.  So, there will be distinct grids far all cars up to 1980 under two litres (Maxi 2L Classic) further split into over and under 1600cc, and all cars up to 1980 with a cubic capacity greater than two litres (Racing Over 2L) with classes for cars under and over 3-litre.  The race format will be 2 x 20-minute races for each grid at each meeting and all cars will need to have HTPs.  Race fees will start at €690 per meeting.

2023 Calendar

HVM has announced a provisional five-event calendar for the Historic Tour in 2023, this year with a meeting at Albi replacing Nogaro.  The calendar is still subject to FFSA approval.

5-7 May Historic Tour Dijon

26-28 May Historic Tour d’Albi

16-18 June Historic Tour Charade

30 September-1 October Historic Tour Magny-Cours

20-22 October Historic Tour Val de Vienne