As part of the support programme of the Bosch Hockenheim Historic, the BOSS GP Racing Series will present the brand new Aston Martin Valkyrie to the public.
BOSS GP driver Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) will contest a couple of demo laps in the Aston Martin Valkyrie on Sunday, 7 May 2023. Visitors to the Bosch Hockenheim Historic can follow the hypercar premiere from 9:35 am.
The impressive technical specifications of the all-new Aston Martin Valkyrie make a track record for road-legal vehicles seem possible: The naturally aspirated V12 engine from Cosworth in combination with an electric motor produces over 1,100 hp. The seven gears of the dual-clutch transmission are engaged sequentially, and the unladen weight of the mid-engine sports car is less than 1,400 kilograms.
Tickets for the historic racing highlight of the season at the Hockenheimring, including the BOSS GP Racing Series races, are available at www.hockenheim-historic.de/en/info/tickets and at the box office.
In the longer race on Easter Sunday, Ingo Gerstl, Antonio Pizzonia and Henry Clausnitzer were able to add a second victory. Simone Colombo takes revenge in the FORMULA class.
In front of thousands of spectators and once again in the best spring weather in Le Castellet, Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) in the Toro Rosso STR1 continued his winning streak. As Didier Sirgues (FRA, LRS Racing) could not start the Jaguar R2 today, Gerstl and Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) remained among themselves in the BOSS GP F1 Class. Gerstl therefore took a more relaxed approach and left the fastest lap to another driver. With 50 points from the first two races, the Austrian is already setting the path for the next title. Who can challenge him at Hockenheim?
The runner-up, Benetton driver Ulf Ehninger, was pleased to be able to present Jean Alesi’s former car to the fans twice over the full BOSS GP F1 race distance. Next up is his home race at the Hockenheimring.
Former Formula 1 driver Antonio Pizzonia (BRA, HS Engineering) put the pedal to the metal again today and set the fastest lap time of 1:47.991 (lap average 194.7 km/h). Towards the end of the race, the OPEN driver made his pit crew sweat again as he allowed the FORMULA group’s gap to melt down to 0.8 seconds. Pizzonia will be racing the entire season for HS Engineering.
Pizzonia leads the second group, behind are Faggionato, Colombo and Ghiotto
In the FORMULA class, today was the day of Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International). After a turbulent duel with compatriot Marco Ghiotto (Scuderia Palladio) in the first race of the season, the order was quickly sorted this time. At the start Ghiotto tried to overtake Colombo, but this was not successful and as the race progressed the lead increased to around five seconds. Finally, Colombo crossed the finish line 2.5 seconds ahead of Marco Ghiotto and 24.7 seconds ahead of « Checco » Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio). Malavasi thus repeated his podium finish from yesterday.
Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) fought his way to a great fourth place. For a long time he was involved in a duel with David Moretti (FRA, Griffith’s), who delivered an excellent performance today. Until the last lap he was on course for fourth place before he had to park his car on the Mistral straight. Marc Faggionato (MCO) in the MM International GP2-Dallara was also out of luck: After the Monegasque had competed in no less than three races at the Grand Prix de France Historique yesterday and took victory in all of them – including the BOSS GP – he had to retire early today in both the Formula Ford race and the second heat of the BOSS GP. Faggionato was thus denied the chance of another double victory after Brno 2018.
Fourth place in FORMULA class for GP2 driver Thomas Jackermeier, who supposed to be in his Toro Rosso ST3
Rookie Henry Clausnitzer (GER) and his team WF Racing celebrated another finish at their first BOSS GP race weekend. He was rewarded with another 25 points for the class win in the SUPER LIGHTS six-cylinder class.
The next opportunity for teams and drivers to take to the track in their Big Open Single Seaters is in Baden-Württemberg in just four weeks’ time (5–7 May). Traditionally, the BOSS GP Racing Series competes there at the Bosch Hockenheim Historic in honour of Jim Clark.
Anglo-American Peter Mann’s Formula 1 Ferrari F2008 led the BOSS GP Racing Series field into the first race of the season. This was just one of many highlights at the Grand Prix de France Historique on Saturday.
Once again, both Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) and his Toro Rosso STR1 Formula 1 car kept a « cool head ». The record-breaking champion secured the winner’s trophy at the first of 14 races of the 2023 season. The Salzburg native was presented with his winner’s trophy by French racing legends Jean Alesi, Rene Arnoux and Franck Montagny in the atmospheric setting of the paddock. Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) in second place and Didier Sirgue (FRA, LRS Racing) in third place in the BOSS GP F1 Class also enjoyed the applause of the fans.
At the grid walk the spectators got a closer look to the BOSS GP jewels
Antonio Pizzonia (BRA, HS Engineering) was busy handing out autographs before the start, before he burned lap times under 1:50 minutes into the asphalt a few minutes later. Finally, to the delight of his team, he set an impressive best time of 1:47.092 in the World Series car – victory in the OPEN class was only a formality. It was the first victory for Pizzonia in a single-seater car since his triumph in the AutoGP championship eight years ago.
The FORMULA class was explosive: Pole setter Marc Faggionato (MCO), wearing the MM International colours for the first time, stalled at the start of the warm-up lap and had to take the flying race start from the back of the field. However, after just a few corners, the Paul Ricard specialist was back in the leading pack. There, the duel between Simone Colombo (ITA, MM International) and Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) in their GP2 Dallara cars resumed on the first lap. After a mistake by Colombo and a subsequent collision between the two Italians, the race was over for Ghiotto, Colombo on the other hand had to pick up a new car nose in his pit. All this helped Faggionato overcome the incident at the pre-start and race towards victory. The Monegasque took his third BOSS GP win today after double victory in Brno 2018, while Colombo was similarly rewarded for a race to catch up, taking second. Unimpressed by the duels around him, « Checco » Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) remained successful with third place. Giancarlo Pedetti (ITA, Nannini Racing) in a strong fourth place was unfortunate to just miss the podium. Jean-Christophe Peyre (FRA, Zig-Zag) finished fifth in his home race in the only AutoGP car on the grid.
Rene Arnoux (l.) with the successful BOSS GP drivers
Due to the incidents in the FORMULA class, SUPER LIGHTS driver Henry Clausnitzer (GER, WF Racing) was also able to finish the race in the top-10 and take a class win in his very first BOSS GP race.
The second race over 25 minutes starts tomorrow at 15:15 local time and can again be seen with extensive pre-race coverage in the livestream.
The BOSS GP Racing Series gets going! At the Grand Prix de France Historique, the first qualifying session of the new season already brought a few surprises.
On Easter Saturday, numerous spectators made the pilgrimage to the Circuit Paul Ricard early in the morning to listen to the sounds of the Big Open Single Seater. With a lap average of over 200 km/h, Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) set the best time (1:40.923 min) in his Toro Rosso STR1 in the morning qualifying session. The reigning champion of the BOSS GP F1 Class will lead the field into the first race of the season this afternoon (start: 15:15 CEST). The grid of Formula 1 cars is completed by Ulf Ehninger (GER, ESBA Racing) and Didier Sirgue (FRA, LRS Racing). Ehninger, who also adorns the official event poster with his Benetton B197, improved his time in today’s qualifying compared to yesterday and hopes for a trouble-free race. Jaguar driver Sirgue is hoping for the same. A technical problem prevented him from taking part in qualifying, but the car will be ready for the race.
Former Formula 1 racing driver Antonio Pizzonia gave the first indication of what he is capable of. The Brazilian is making his BOSS GP debut for HS Engineering this weekend. How close can the OPEN driver get to the Formula 1 cars with his upgraded World Series bolide?
As expected, the FORMULA class was already exciting to watch in qualifying: Marco Ghiotto (ITA, Scuderia Palladio), Simone Colombo (ITA) and Marc Faggionato (MCO, both MM International) swapped the lead in classement several times. In the last attempt, Colombo improved his time, Ghiotto was unable to do the same, while Faggionato was even faster, beating Colombo by less than seven hundredths of a second over the 5.8-kilometre distance. In the analysis, Colombo quickly found the missing time – a braking error on his fastest lap was too much of a good thing.
Class « pole » for the Monegasque Marc Faggionato
In Q2, the second group from the cumulative Friday practice sessions, Francesco Malavasi (ITA, Scuderia Palladio) alias « Checco » was clearly fastest. It will be exciting to see whether « Checco » can follow the « big three » Faggionato, Colombo and his team boss Ghiotto in the races. Thomas Jackermeier (GER, Top Speed) qualified sixth in the FORMULA class. Because his Toro Rosso STR3 is not yet ready for the start, he had to switch to the GP2 racer at short notice. Frenchman David Moretti (Griffith’s) followed in 7th place, ahead of his compatriot Jean-Christophe Peyre (Zig-Zag) in the only AutoGP car.
BOSS GP debut for the German Henry Clausnitzer
Pole position in the SUPER LIGHTS category goes to BOSS GP newcomer Henry Clausnitzer (GER, WF Racing) in the World Series racing car with a V6 machine.
Both races start today, Saturday, and tomorrow, Sunday, at 3:15 pm. Before that there will be a VIP grid walk and an autograph session with French racing legends and BOSS GP star Antonio Pizzonia.
The BOSS GP Racing Series is the prime attraction at the Kennol Grand Prix de France Historique from 7 to 9 April 2023 at Circuit Paul Ricard. Formula 1 cars and a former F1 driver will enrich the programme for the season opener.
Legendary cars and drivers come together on the Côte d’Azur at Easter to enjoy racing and reminiscing about the « good old days ». Together with thousands of spectators, they celebrate racing from different eras, including the modern Monposto bolides of the last 25 years from the BOSS GP Racing Series. That racing series that gathers cars of immense material and emotional value and presents them to the spectators in action. All this will happen at the season opener in Le Castellet in front of the eyes of numerous French racing legends. Rene Arnoux, Yannick Dalmas, Jean-Pierre Jarier, Eric Helary, Gerard Larrousse, Franck Montagny and Jean Alesi have announced their participation. The latter will meet his 1997 race car, the Benetton B197 of German Ulf Ehninger (ESBA Racing), at the BOSS GP « Grid Walk ».
Entries
Divided into four classes (BOSS GP F1, OPEN, FORMULA, SUPER LIGHTS), 20 drivers and their teams head to Le Castellet for the season opener. There, the first championship points and trophies are at stake. Among them are defending champion Ingo Gerstl (AUT, Top Speed) in his Toro Rosso STR1, his team-mate Thomas Jackermeier (GER) in his STR3 and Frenchman Didier Sirgue (LRS Racing) in a Jaguar R2. A dozen GP2 cars (now Formula 2) and AutoGP cars will also try to conquer the notorious Signes bend at the end of the Mistral straight as quickly as possible. However, all eyes will be on the surprise comeback of ex-Formula 1 driver Antonio Pizzonia (BRA). The Austrian team HS Engineering has scored a coup by signing the former Jaguar and Williams driver: « It’s been almost eight years since I last drove a single-seater when I raced in AutoGP with Zele-Racing, and I can’t wait to get the feeling of pushing a single-seater car to the limit again, » says Pizzonia ahead of the season opener. The Brazilian will drive the modified World Series car with a Gibson V8 engine in the OPEN class all season long.
Timetable
For the BOSS GP Racing Series, there will be two practice sessions on Friday, qualifying and a race on Saturday and another race on Sunday. The races will start after the VIP Grid Walk at 15:15. The race duration on Saturday (20 minutes) differs from that on Sunday (25 minutes) – however, the same number of points will be awarded for both races. But apart from the points and trophies, the main focus of this spectacle is fun, adrenaline and the enthusiasm of the drivers and the fans.
Friday, 7 April 12:20–12:45 Free Practice 1 16:10–16:35 Free Practice 2
Saturday, 8 April 09:35–10:05 Qualifying (divided in two groups) 15:15–15:35 Race 1 (20 minutes)
Sunday, 9 April 15:15–15:40 Race 2 (25 minutes)
all times CEST
Tickets and live stream
Tickets can be purchased online or at the box office. Access to the paddock is included in the ticket price, and the pit lane is open for a pit walk during the lunch breaks on Saturday and Sunday. The supporting programme includes a Formula 1 exhibition and two concerts by the AC/DC cover band « Rock to Hell ». Those who cannot be there have the opportunity to follow a large part of the programme via livestream.
Support events
On the racetrack, which was used by Formula 1 until recently, other legendary racing cars will be on display in addition to the BOSS GP Racing Series. Among them are Formula 1 and Formula 2 racing cars from the 1970s and 1980s. They will be joined by the FIA Historic Formula 3 European Cup, Formula Ford with cars from before 1993, the Lotus Trophy and endurance racers. The latter will tackle a 6-hour race on Saturday evening.
Pictures: Jean-Marie Biadatti/HVM
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