After the memorable passage through the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, the Iberian Historic Endurance holds its first race on the Iberian Peninsula this season this weekend at the Jerez Circuit.
In Andalusia, the most prestigious classic car competition will be one of the "main attractions" of the Jerez Classic, with two fifty-minute races and a starting grid that has reached a record number of participants at this iconic Spanish circuit.
More than four dozen cars, which wrote golden chapters of world motorsport up to 1976, driven by seventy pilots of seven nationalities, will delight on track the many spectators who will come to the former Formula 1 circuit. The starting grid combines the elegance of the Porsche 356 and Alfa Romeo GTAm with the visual and sonorous brutality of the Shelby Cobra, one of them driven by the winner of the GT4 Winter Series AM class, Max Huber, or the three iconic Ford GT40s, one of them in the Roadster version belonging to the Macedo Silva family and the other two to our well-known Paulo Lima and Jordi Puig.
Among the curiosities that fill the entry list are the two Chevrolet Corvette C3s, one belonging to the brothers Pedro Bethencourt and Francisco Pinto Abreu and the other to Ralf Huber, two Ford Mustangs, one in the 302 BOSS version of Toni Garcia and the young Swiss Guilaume Huber, and a Jaguar E to be driven by the rookie but very experienced Laurent Jaspers.
As part of a category within the 3 Hours of Spa race, the Gentleman Driver Spirit (GDS) class returns to its normal splendor in Jerez de la Frontera for its first two races of the year, with three Porsche 911 SWBs, two prepared by Garagem João Gomes and another prepared by the former sailor and pilot Vincent Tourneur, the BMW 1800 TiSA from the Velez-Grilo family, the Datsun 1200 from TriSport, where Carlos Tavares joins João Neves in driving duties, the Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Super from the Veiga Motorsport trio, and the favorite Ford Cortina Lotus of Luís Sousa Ribeiro.
In the first race of the weekend, on Saturday afternoon, the coveted exclusive watch, with a Latin soul and from high Swiss watchmaking, sculpted and offered by Cuervo y Sobrinos to the winner of the Performance Index, will be up for grabs, the highlight classification of Historic Endurance that gives prominence to the oldest and smallest displacement cars. If the cars of the GDS class are always favorites for this coveted prize, the truth is that the Porsche 356 SC and the three very well-driven Lotus Elan 26Rs will have a say.
The second race, on Sunday, will be broadcast live on Race Ready's social media channels, on YouTube and Facebook, and will be an opportunity for those who do not have the opportunity to go to the Jerez Circuit to see machines as spectacular and diverse as the Ford Capri 2600 RS of the Rueda clan, the Porsche 914 of Manuel de la Torre, or the Lotus Seven of João Mira Gomes and Nuno Afoito.
More than 190 cars and 250 drivers are expected at the Jerez Classic, bringing with them an entourage of over a thousand people. The paddock will have various activities, as well as MINI activities and a motorsport-related parts market.
Admission to the Main Stand (X1) will be free for all motorsport fans, but access to the Paddock, where you can see all the machines up close that will be in competition, will only be possible for those who purchase a ticket.
For more information about the event and ticket purchase, visit the website www.jerezclassic.com.