KENNOL Grand Prix de France Historique 2025: Masters Group C

Celebrating the Golden Era of Group C & IMSA GTP from 1982 to 1993!

Race 1

Fässler/Lopez grab the glory in first Masters Group C race at Paul Ricard

The Porsche 962C shared by Marcel Fässler and Gérard Lopez took a comfortable win in the first race of the new Masters Group C grid, as the Swiss/Luxembourgian pairing fought off a challenge from David & Olivier Hart in the 3.5-litre Lola-Judd T92/10. Hart Sr briefly led at the start before Fässler took over, but the Dutch father-and-son challenge evaporated when the Lola ground to a halt just after Olivier had taken the wheel from his father.

“Yeah, it was quite entertaining in the beginning”, said Fässler about his fight with David Hart. “Unfortunately, he had an issue quite soon. Obviously, I was trying to push to overtake him as soon as possible, but he was a little bit faster. Especially also, we had problems with the gearbox. We had to change to another one, which was not the best one in terms of gear ratio. But after that, I was just taking my rhythm, bringing the car home. It was a bit of a shame [that the Lola was forced to retire] because I think it would be fun to have a big battle for the spectators. It’s the first time I’m here and it’s really a great event with a lot of spectators.”

“It was difficult in a different way because I heard on the radio that the Lola was out”, said Lopez. “So I had to lift to make sure there were no issues. But when you lift your focus is not the same. You start thinking about other things and so on. But at the end it was more about keeping it safe. But it was a good race.”

Somehow appropriate given Group C’s history, the first Masters Group C podium would consist of a Porsche, a Jaguar and a Lancia, as Zak Brown and Richard Dean took their Jaguar JXR-9 to second ahead of Thierry Boutsen’s Lancia LC2. Boutsen briefly led the Jaguar after the stops but Dean soon set things straight, while the Lancia dropped back into the clutches of Daniil Kvyat in the Spice SE89C.

“Pretty straightforward”, was Dean’s judgement of his race, as his team mate was unable to push through the crowd to get there in time for the podium. “Zak did all the hard work. At the beginning he hung on to Daniil and dropped away from Boutsen, so I think he’d be quite pleased with himself. For me it was just trying to maintain the position. So yeah, pretty pleased, car ran faultlessly and we’ve had a lot of fun.”

“It was a lonely race, but the car was very good”, said Boutsen. “I was driving like it was my grandmother, you know. Taking it easy and getting to the end of the race, that was the most important. Finishing third is a good place, so I’m very happy. It’s a very old car from 1983, so you cannot attack too much.”

“It was fun, and I was getting used to the heel-and-toe technique today”, said a happy Kvyat. “Zak and I were really close in the first laps. I think Zak was doing a good job, it was not easy to keep him behind. But it was cool, it was good job by everyone. I’m very happy to be part of it. Really cool event, honestly.”

The former Red Bull F1 driver had been a strong third in his opening stint but would drop down to fourth to his elite driver time penalty at the pitstops. His Spice was still consummately the fastest C2 car in the field, with Jeremy Loisel (Spice SE86C) and Alejandro Chahwan (Spice SE88C) creating an all-Spice C2 podium.

“It was so much fun, but very difficult”, said Loisel. “I can’t believe it’s only 40 minutes, but believe me, it’s hot. And what I loved today was the fight because you have some races in which you are alone, but this has been a real race with three cars together and it was respectful, with gentlemen. This is what we want to do.”

“I came so far away from Argentina for this, and it was my first race with the Spice!” said a jubilant Chahwan. “I enjoyed it a lot.”

On a sunny Saturday morning in the south of France, a bright new Masters grid left the pitlane to line up for its first-ever start in history. The colourful array of Group C cars was led by the polesitting 3.5-litre Lola-Judd T92/10 started by David Hart, flanked by Marcel Fässler in the Alpha Porsche 962C, each heading their respective Dalmas and Bell classes. Daniil Kvyat was up next in the leading C2 Spice, with McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown also lining up on the second row with the Silk Cut Jaguar XJR-9, which was second in the Bell class for ’87-’90 cars.

The third row was shared by Thierry Boutsen in the gorgeous Lancia LC2 in Martini colours (first in the Ickx class for ’82-’86 cars) and Xavier Micheron in the ex-works Nissan R90CP (another Bell class car), with Jack Fabby in the Tiga GC286 (another C2 car in the Spice class) and Jann Mardenborough in the Toyota 86C (Ickx class) in their wake as they attacked the Verrerie corner. Eric Rickenbacher’s Cheetah G606 (Bell class) and Alejandro Chahwan’s Spice SE89C (Spice class) formed the fifth row ahead of another former F1 star, Stefan Johansson in the Cougar S28S (Dalmas class), but he would start from the pitlane. Former French F3 star Tristan Gommendy, a last-minute replacement for Stéphane de Groodt in the Rondeau M382 (Ickx class) shared with Julien Fébreau, would need to come from the back as well, chasing Richard Hope in the EMKA C83 (Ickx class) and Jeremy Loisel in the Spice SE86 (Spice class).

In the opening half of the first lap, Fässler was immediately pushing Hart Sr but once the Dutchman had his tyres properly heated up, he managed to pull a small gap, as the two leaders left Kvyat and Brown trailing. Further back, Hope had to abandon his race, as the EMKA stumbled slowly into the pits. Behind Boutsen in fifth, Mardenborough had made up a place to Micheron, while Chahwan was up into eighth ahead of Rickenbacher and a charging Gommendy. Also, Jack Fabby’s Tiga had failed to complete a lap.

Lap 2 done, with three purple sectors to his name, Hart now led Fässler by 1.7 seconds, with Kvyat keeping Brown behind 15 second down the road. Now Mardenborough’s Toyota was seen slowing too, as Micheron, Chahwan and Rickenbacher all went past in quick succession. In the pits, it transpired that the 86C’s engine had expired. At the front things had changed as well, with Fässler having needed some more time to bed in his tyres, as he grabbed the lead from Hart going into lap 3.

On lap 4, Fässler still led, the Swiss sportscar star now 1.4 seconds in front of Hart whose task was to hang on as much as he could before handing over to son Olivier. One lap later, the gap had increased to 4.9 seconds as Fässler now really put his foot down. Kvyat’s gap to Brown had stabilised at some two seconds, with Boutsen’s Lancia a further seven ticks away. At the back, Stefan Johansson’s race was over too, the former Ferrari and McLaren F1 driver bringing in a Cougar crippled by engine issues.

As we approached the 15-minute mark of the 40-minute race, Fässler had amassed a lead of 8.3 seconds, while Kvyat in the ATS-liveried Spice continued to perform miracles to keep the C2 car ahead of Brown and Boutsen. In sixth, Micheron trailed the Belgian by half a minute, with Chahwan a further 20 seconds away and the first car lapped. Rickenbacher, Gommendy and Loisel rounded out the top ten for now, the latter two involved in a big fight.

The pit window now open, Hart, Rickenbacher and Loisel were all in at their first opportunity, Hart Sr handing over to Hart Jr, who would suffer a 10-second elite driver time penalty at the stops. Fässler’s penalty, however, would amount to 20 seconds, as the Swiss driver continued to get the most from his stint. On his out lap , though, Hart Jr added to his penalty by a wild oversteer moment and a resulting spin, but he was able to continue with the Lola unscathed. Kvyat, Brown, Boutsen and Chahwan were in next, followed on the next lap by Fässler and Micheron. Now, former Lotus F1 owner Gérard Lopez would take over in the 962C vacated by Fässler, and everyone was curious to see what lap times the man from Luxembourg would be able to produce. At the back, Gommendy extended his stint to the absolute maximum before handing over to French F1 commentator Julien Fébreau.

More trouble then awaited Hart Jr, as the Lola T92/10 ground to a halt at Bendot corner. This changed the entirely complexion of the race. Now Lopez led by a massive 47 seconds over Boutsen, who had passed Richard Dean, the United Autosports boss now in the Jaguar vacated by Zak Brown. Due to a 40-second elite plus driver time penalty at the pitstops, Kvyat was fourth and lapping similar times to Dean. Micheron was fifth ahead of Loisel, Chahwan, Rickenbacher and Fébreau.

Going into lap 15, Lopez set a reasonably conservative pace to get the Porsche to the chequered flag, but the race was still on behind him, as Dean closed on Boutsen to make his way past into second place. In fourth, Kvyat was too far away to be a threat for the overall podium but was still handsomely the quickest C2 competitor in the race.

At the chequered flag, Lopez had 20 seconds in hand on a fast approaching Dean, with Boutsen crossing the line in third, 16 seconds down on the Jaguar. With remarkable late-race pace, Kvyat almost caught the Belgian but the Lancia held on to third. Kvyat still won the C2 race ahead of Loisel and Chahwan, who made it an all-Spice C2 podium as they trailed home Micheron in fifth. Behind Chahwan, Rickenbacher and Fébreau were the remaining finishers.

Race 2

Fässler/Lopez go two for two in second Masters Group C race at Paul Ricard

Marcel Fässler and Gérard Lopez ran out to a dominant victory in the second Masters Group C race at Paul Ricard, their Alpha-liveried Porsche 962C never threatened following a monster opening stint by Swiss sportscar ace Fässler. Despite the arrival of light rain, former Lotus F1 owner Lopez kept his cool to win by 13 seconds over the Jaguar XJR-9 shared by Zak Brown and Richard Dean.

“I was missing the fight with the Lola [of David & Olivier Hart] a little bit, for sure”, said Fässler. “We made some big changes on the setup, which suited the car well. But then it started drizzling, but I knew I had to push because of our 20-second [elite driver] time penalty. On the other hand, you don’t want to take risks with these cars. The conditions were tricky but still OK to drive with slicks. We were super happy that the rain didn’t become any heavier, because we stopped quite early to give Gérard some time in the car. But everything good.”

“It was a bit slippery, especially on the kerbs”, said Lopez. “The rest was OK, the car was really good. I was just taking it home, not doing anything stupid, and really taking the time to pass the backmarkers.”

The McLaren F1 CEO had run close to Daniil Kvyat in the C2-class leading Spice SE89C during his opening stint, but as a result of Kvyat’s longer elite-driver pitstop, Dean vaulted the Spice and then increased his lead on it during the remainder of his stint that all runners needed to race in drizzly conditions.

“It was good fun”, said Brown. “I was able to hang with Daniil, who is an awesome driver. So I was pleased with that until I spun! Missed the heel-and-toe in the downshift and just had a bit of a lazy spin, but it was a fun race and good to finish second. The raindrops are always a bit bothersome because you never know how bad they are. I lost a bit of grip but not too bad.”

“I had a halfspin on my outlap just to get a feel of the conditions, but then it was OK”, said Dean about his stint. “You need to hustle it to keep tyre temperatures up, so apart from my little power spin it was uneventful. It’s nice to hear that I ran away from Dani, though.”

“It was fun”, said Kvyat, “especially working on the heel-and-toe technique under braking. I think by the end I was getting better and better. There was a little bit of a drizzle, so it was a tricky race. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to keep it on track. So yeah, an interesting experience. I’m very happy I came here.”

In his Spice SE86C, Jeremy Loisel completed a fighting drive in fourth to take second in the C2 class ahead of Alejandro Chahwan in the Spice SE88C. The two had battled with Xavier Micheron’s Nissan R90CP and the Tiga GC286 shared by Jan Magnussen and Jack Fabby, with the Nissan eventually holding on to fifth ahead of Chahwan and the Tiga that in Magnussen’s hands had run fourth before it was pushed down the order through its longer pitstop time.

“It was a super race”, said a happy Loisel. “I had lots of overtakes, just like yesterday. It’s so much in historics, as there is a lot of respect between the drivers. With the rain, we didn’t know if we had to change tyres, because I’m no expert in the wet, but in the end it went well.”

“I was still struggling with the gearbox”, said Micheron about his first weekend out with the Nissan. “It was also a bit slippery, so with the turbo lag you have to be really careful. But the podium was the first target and I got that!”

“It was a long trip coming over here from Argentina”, said Chahwan. “We had to fight a lot of cars to get there, so I’m really happy with third position.”

However, after the race, the Spices of Kvyat and Chahwan failed post-race conformity checks, leading to their exclusion from the results. This handed Loisel the C2 class win and promoted the Magnussen/Fabby pairing to second in class.

An overcast sky greeted the Masters Group C grid on the Sunday morning of the Grand Prix de France Historique, with a slight threat of rain. The cars lined up in their finishing order of the previous day, with the Gérard Lopez/Marcel Fässler Porsche 962C on pole and the Zak Brown/Richard Dean Jaguar XJR-9 sitting besides it. Former Arrows, Benetton and Williams F1 driver Thierry Boutsen would occupy the second row in a Lancia LC2, along with Dani Kvyat in the C2-class leading Spice SE89C, but when the cars appeared a gap materialised where the Lancia was supposed to be. Next up were Xavier Micheron in the ex-NISMO Nissan R90CP and Jeremy Loisel in the second of the Spices, his an SE86C example, just ahead of Alejandro Chahwan in an SE88C, with Swiss driver Eric Rickenbacher next to him in his bright green Cheetah G606.

Then followed the cars that had struck trouble on the previous day but were patched up and ready to go again: the Rondeau M382 shared by Tristan Gommendy and Julien Fébreau, Jann Mardenborough in the Toyota 86C, Richard Hope in the EMKA C83 and the Jack Fabby/Jan Magnussen Tiga GC286, the latter the fourth C2 car on the grid. Sadly missing was David & Olivier Hart’s Lola-Judd T92/10, as Saturday’s pole-sitting machine could not be fixed in time for another start after its demise in the first race, the same applying to the Cougar C28S raced by former F1, IndyCar and sportscar star Stefan Johansson.

Off the line, Fässler, who would once again do the opening stint in Porsche, vaulted into the lead of the second 40-minute race of the weekend. Brown, Kvyat and Loisel gave chase, followed by Micheron and Chahwan, while Gommendy produced a monster opening lap by getting up to sixth halfway aroud the first tour and then also passing Chahwan and Micheron. Fässler’s first time around was equally impressive, as he was no less than six seconds clear of Kvyat, who had managed to pass Brown for second place. In similar form to Gommendy, Jan Magnussen also powered through and was ahead of Micheron into the second lap.

On lap 2, with Fässler producing purple sectors all round, the Swiss driver had built a lead of ten seconds over Kvyat, with Brown hanging on third. A big gap then opened up to Loisel, who valiantly defended against former French F3 champion Gommendy, with Micheron, Chahwan and Mardenborough all in the same train. Rickenbacher and Hope were further behind.

On lap 4, as Fässler continued to increase his advantage over Kvyat and Brown, Loisel had been caught by Magnussen in the Tiga, both having created a small gap to the group led by Micheron in the Nissan, and soon enough the Dane moved into fourth place in the car that formed the main opposition to the Spices in the C2 championships of the time. Behind Micheron, they went three abreast with Gommendy, Chahwan and Mardenborough, as the Rondeau began to drop back. On lap 6, the Spice and the Toyota were both past.

Then the first umbrellas went out on the grandstands, adding a new challenge to all the runners. Indeed, Mardenborough was the first to fall foul of the rain, as the Toyota missed its braking spot for the chicane on the Mistral straight. We were 15 minutes into the race, which meant that the pit window was now open. It was still much too dry for wet tyres, though.

Eight laps gone, Fässler continued to lead imperiously, now with 41 seconds in hand over Kvyat and a further 11 ticks over Brown. Magnussen was fourth ahead of Micheron who had passed Loisel for fifth, with Chahwan and Gommendy next up. Rickenbacher had profited from Mardenborough’s detour to snatch ninth from the Toyota, while Hope’s EMKA was the first to pit, followed soon by Brown and Gommendy. Richard Dean would take over from the McLaren F1 CEO while Gommendy made way for French F1 TV commentator Julien Fébreau.

On lap 10, Fässler came in to hand the Alpha Porsche to Gérard Lopez, while Magnussen finished a demon stint before being relieved by young Jack Fabby. However, with Magnussen and Fabby both deemed elite drivers, their pitstop penalty would amount to 60 seconds, as opposed to Fässler’s 20 seconds and Kvyat’s 40 seconds. At the end of lap 10, Micheron, Chahwan and Loisel also made their stops while Kvyat and Rickenbacher left it to lap 11 to come in.

After all stops had cycled through, the worst rain had subsided, allowing the cars to find some more speed again. Lopez still held the 46-second lead that Fässler had built, now ahead of Dean who had vaulted Kvyat because of the former Red Bull F1 driver’s longer stop. Micheron was fourth, while the Spices of Loisel and Chahwan fought over fifth. Rickenbacher had jumped Fabby for seventh, but soon the Tiga had regained the spot, while Fébreau and Hope rounded out the top ten. Sadly, Mardenborough’s Toyota 86C hadn’t made it past the stops.

With Lopez nursing his car and his lead, the fight was on for second place overall, as Dean and Kyvat were lapping similar times. Would Dean be able to use the Jaguar’s excess power to maintain his five-second lead over the Russian? Micheron was a lonely fourth, but behind the Frenchman the gloves were off the second place in the C2 class. In fact, as the Spices continued to do battle, they both closed up on the Nissan ahead of them, so soon it became a three-way fight towards the chequered flag. With five minutes remaining on the clock, Loisel found a way past the Nissan to gain fourth.

In the dying minutes, Dean indeed managed to increase his lead over Kvyat to some 11 seconds, as he trailed Lopez home across the line by 13 seconds. Micheron in fifth was sandwiched by the two Spices of Loisel and Chahwan, with the Magnussen/Fabby Tiga in seventh ahead of the Gommendy/Fébreau Rondeau, Hope’s EMKA and Rickenbacher’s Cheetah that was forced to retire on the final lap.

Several hours after the race, however, the results were shaken up when Daniil Kvyat’s Spice SE89C and Alejandro Chahwan’s Spice SE88C were disqualified for technical non-conformity. Their exclusion from the results presented the class win to Jeremy Loisel while the Tiga of Jan Magnussen and Jack Fabby moved up into second place in class.