Gallery & Report: The Golden Age Grand Prix at Dijon-Prenois

Submitted by Marcel Hundscheid on June 24, 2025

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

One of the most beautiful old racetracks in Europe is the circuit of Dijon-Prenois, located in the stunning Burgundy region. The third event on the 2025 Peter Auto calendar took place on this fast but technical track with a lot of elevation on the 2nd weekend of June. Motorsport Retro was there and brings you all the action from the weekend, along with plenty of photos, below.

Classic Endurance Racing 1 & 2, Heritage Touring Cup, The Gentlemen Challenge, Sixties Endurance, 2.0L Cup and the Classic Touring Challenge took part in the meeting. The program was completed by the presence of the Historic Grand Prix Car Association from England.

On Saturday evening, the traditional endurance race for Sixties Endurance took place. The battle for the lead and eventual victory was between the Jaguar E-Types of Jonathan Mitchell and John Spiers/Nigel Greensall and the Shelby Cobra Daytona of father and son Hart. Heavy rain was the ultimate spoilsport in this entertaining race, with the race management eventually deciding to wave the red flag. David and Olivier Hart triumphed.

Unique is the Heritage Touring Cup for touring cars from the sixties and seventies. In this series, the public is treated to a revival of the European Touring Car Championship from that period. Just as it was close to 55 years ago, the battle for victory often takes place between the Ford Capri and the BMW CSL.

Although the CSL often had the advantage back then, this time it was the Ford Capris that had the final say. The Capris of Maxime Guenat and Armand Mille fought a beautiful duel with the CSLs of Emile Breittmayer and Michael Kammermann. After 60 minutes of racing, Guenat crossed the finish line convincingly as the winner.

Fans of the Lola T70 were treated to a considerable number of these iconic sports cars from the sixties and seventies in Classic Endurance Racing 1. The party was completed by the presence of two Porsche 917s in Gulf livery, to name just a few from the large field of participants.

After an intense battle between the Lolas of Emile Breittmayer and former F1 driver Jan Magnussen, the Porsche 908 of Marc de Siebenthal and the T70 of father and son Hart, it was the Harts that were victorious once again.

In Classic Endurance Racing 2 it was Maxime Guenat who was in a class of his own. Immediately after the lights went green he took off in his Lola T286. Even after the pit stop the Frenchman appeared to come from another planet and a time penalty of 24 seconds for overtaking during a yellow flag did not prevent him from taking home the victory.

Two races were scheduled for the Gentlemen Challenge. On Saturday it was John Spiers/Nigel Greensall and David and Olivier Hart who played the lead role. Olivier Hart seemed to be on his way to victory, but a minute before the finish the Dutchman parked the Lister in the pit lane. Spiers and Greensall thus inherited the lead in the race and the eventual victory.

During the second race the battle for the lead was between the family Hart and Guillaume Mahe, after John Spiers spun during the opening lap. As the race progressed Nigel Greensall worked his way back to the top three after he switched seats with John Spiers. As Olivier Hart controlled the race and pace, Greensall could only follow. Two minutes before the finish flag, the race was stopped due to stranded drivers and Hart took the win.

The 90-minute race for the 2.0L Porsche 911s was a true Kyle Tilley and Oliver Bryant show. Tilley dominated the race before the pit stop, while behind him it was mainly a fight for second place between the combination Jussi Itavuori and Risto Virtanen, Seb Perez and Sennan Fielding and David Danglard. After the mandatory stop Bryant took the lead at the expense of Juan Pablo Orjuela and David Danglard. Bryant and Tilley won the ninety-minute race with a lead of more than eleven seconds.

Two twenty-five minute races were scheduled for the single-seaters of the Historic Grand Prix Car Association. Will Nuthall started from pole for the first race on Saturday with his Cooper T53, but got off to a bad start. The Briton however fought his way back to the top until a few minutes before the chequered flag, when he had to retire due to mechanical problems. Tim Child inherited the lead and grabbed the win..

Child started the second race on Sunday from pole, ahead of Kuiper and McCarthy, while Nuthall started from the last row. Child led the field and was able to create a gap, while Kuiper retired due to a broken driveshaft. Without doubt Will Nuthall was the man of the race as he drove from the last row to victory in 25 minutes, at the expense of Child.

The Classic Touring Challenge concluded an epic race weekend on Sunday with a 1-hour race. Pole sitter Kyle Tilley took the lead with his Ford Cortina ahead of Abraham Bontrup’s Ford Mustang. Mark Drain (Ford Cortina) and Jean-Marc Merlin (Ford Falcon Sprint) followed in third and fourth place. A tasty battle for the lead then developed between Tilley and Bontrup. This battle continued without delay after the mandatory stop and at that moment no one could have predicted who would take home the win. However, it was Bontrup who ultimately came out on top. Tilley had to settle for second place but won the 2L class. Jean-Marc Merlin completed the podium.

The Grand Prix de l’Age d’Or proved once again that this is a must-see event for fans of historic motorsport. We are looking forward to the 2026 edition with great interest.