Racing's greatest exhaust note sets the tone as Le Mans Classic Series opens in Barcelona

Sponsored by Peter Auto

To the roar of Cosworth DFVs, the grunt of Chevrolet V8s, and even the shrill wail of that greatest of racing exhaust notes, the Matra V12, Europe’s premier historic car racing championship, now rebranded as the Le Mans Classic Series, opened its 2026 season at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend.

The series, run by the Peter Auto organisation, has new management brimming with fresh ideas, including an intriguing new handicapping system enacted at pitstops.

This year the series will have eight rounds around Europe, still centred on France, with 10 categories for sports, GT and touring cars. The different series are rotated so not every competitor races at every track, and there are even a couple of “flyaways” — to Qatar and Daytona — for select classes.

The opening event at Barcelona, known as the Espíritu de Montjuïc, is now in its 12th year and is very much that — an event — with a mini-Goodwood-style festival in the paddock featuring dodgems, music, displays of American hot rods, Vespa scooters, SEAT’s historic display and even a stunt plane. The centrepiece, however, was a tribute to former Aurora F1 Series champion and sports car race winner Emilio de Villota, with three of his cars on display: a McLaren M23, a Lotus 78, and the one-off Lyncar-DFV.

They weren’t the only Formula 1 cars on display. French composite magnate Mr John of B (aka Jean-Rémy Guittard) brought along two Ligiers and two Matra MS120Cs, and Team Breit added to the show with a neat McLaren M26. The cars were given a decent 15-minute demo run each day, and the sound of those V12 Matras stirred the memories of many an enthusiast.

On to the crowded racing programme, with some categories getting two races and others one. Peter Auto ran a tight ship — no sooner was one race finished than the next was on the grid. It all kicked off with what carries the title Gentleman’s Challenge, which is effectively the class for the oldest cars at the meeting: late-1950s and early-1960s sports, sports-racing and GT cars. Usually the domain of the Listers, there were few surprises as both this race and the Sunday follow-up were won by Nigel Greensall and car owner John Spiers in his very original Costin-bodied, Jaguar-powered car, prepared by CKL Engineering.

They had a post-race scare when a penalty was imposed in Race 2 but then rescinded. Saturday’s win came over last year’s winner, biscuit maker Jean-Luc Verquin in his Chevy-powered Lister, with Dutch shipowner Bram Bontrup third in his recently acquired Lister Costin Jag. Behind the Listers on day one was German plastic surgeon Dr Aslef Fatemi in an original Porsche 904/6 Carrera GTS. On Sunday, the similar Porsches of Florida pair Carlos de Quesada/Catesby Jones and Mr John of B took the other podium places after Fatemi received a 30-second safety-car infringement penalty.

Also on the bill with two races was the Group C event, which attracted a rather sparse grid as owners are finding these iconic sports cars increasingly expensive to run. That said, there was real quality, and it was wonderful to see a Silk Cut Jaguar back on track, as Dubai-based Olivier Galant substituted his factory Nissan for his XJR12. There was drama for the pole-sitting Galant in Race 1 when the starter motor jammed and the Scott Sport crew had to lift the rear bodywork, giving the dreadlocked cosmetics executive a 30-second penalty.

Nevertheless, he raced to the flag untroubled to win by 34 seconds from the pink RLR-chassised Porsche 962 of Hong Kong hotel CEO Philip Kadoorie. However, young Galant then discovered he also had a five-second penalty for a jumped start, handing the win to Kadoorie. Race 2 was trouble-free and Galant took the win from another carbon-tubbed Porsche 962, driven by German meatball king Klaus Abbelen — consolation for the Frikadelli team owner, who had non-started with electrical gremlins the previous day.

Both Kadoorie and Galant also topped the podium in other races. Kadoorie won the last race of Sunday in Endurance Racing Legends (ERL) 2 for GT cars, with an ex-Team Modena Ferrari F430C fending off a stern challenge from young Olivier Hart — the Dutchman having taken over from his father David — the gap just 0.164sec. Saturday’s race had been won by the Ferrari 458 Italia of another father-and-son pairing, Pierre-Alain and Erwin France. But they ran in an invitational class – the car is too modern – so the official winners were British pair Phil Quaife and Goodwood executive James Thorpe in their Aston Martin Vantage.

The two ERL 1 races were sadly rather poorly supported. Saturday’s race was won at a canter by the Pescarolo-Judd V10 of Olivier and David Hart, with Mike Newton finishing second in the MG EX264. On Sunday, David Hart retired with a transmission issue, handing Newton, who raced this car at Le Mans in 2005, a popular victory.

The two biggest names at the meeting were five-times Le Mans 24 Hours winner Emanuele Pirro, making his debut in the series, and former Stewart F1 and Corvette ace Jan Magnussen, a regular last year and back with a new and ultra-competitive Lola T293 from the Chris Fox-run Classic Outlaws team.

Pirro competed in one of Peter Auto’s most enduring and popular series, simply known as the 2.0 Litre Cup, reserved for 1964-era early Porsche 911s. Series founder James Turner has handed the running of the series over to Peter Auto so that he can not only compete again himself but also share a drive with Pirro in a car known as Stripey, thanks to a livery courtesy of famous clothes designer Paul Smith.

Ultimately, the race was one of those where the result is skewed by a full-course yellow, with several front runners making the wrong call and losing over a lap in the pits. Reigning and multi-series champion Oliver Bryant was co-driving and coaching a rookie in the series-winning ERA Motorsport car; Bryant has clashes this year with his modern racing schedule. Likewise, double former champion Andrew Smith had also changed teams, joining German Johannes Stengel, a seasoned gentleman driver in the Nürburgring 24 Hours.

The safety car helped Jürgen Rudolf, a 2.0 Litre Cup regular, to his first-ever win, and the first in the nine-year history of the series by a Gentleman driver as opposed to an Elite driver. He just held off the Stengel/Smith car by a few lengths, with US kart-centre entrepreneur and last year’s runner-up David Danglard third.

Pirro much enjoyed his race but was caught out by the safety car and finished eighth, while co-driver Turner managed to jump into a second 911 and also finish ninth. But the biggest loser of all was 21-year-old series debutant Mattis Pluschkell, who put the car he was sharing with Juergen Westphal on pole and looked certain for victory until being held up by the yellow. He had the fastest lap, and it looks like the Mucke Motorsport LMP3 racer will be the man to beat this year.

Meanwhile, after practice, Magnussen looked the strong favourite for both the Classic Endurance Racing 1 and 2 categories, which cater for two legendary periods of World Endurance Championship sports car racing. In CER 1, he shared the South African-owned Classic Outlaws team’s Lola T70 Mk3 with Chris Ward. In practice they chased a misfire but were still on the front row alongside the similar car of Belgian racer and rallyist Emile Breitmeyer.

However, in a race affected by safety cars and various penalties, the ultimate winner was Armand Mille – son of upmarket watchmaker Richard Mille – in his T70 GT. Earlier in this topsy-turvy race came the glorious sight of Monegasque Claudia Roddaro leading in an ex-Gulf Porsche 917. Serial successful historic racer Nick Padmore raced a T70 for the first time, sharing Carlos de Quesada’s car to take third place. The under-two-litre class went to Nigel Greensall, co-driving with another of his pupils, Swiss racer Rolf Sigrist, in his Chevron B19.