FROM PARIS TO CANNES IN 5 STAGES
The next edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo – from April 18 to 24 – will be an anniversary event, and as such will offer the 230 participating crews an unprecedented route, ending with a night round on the famous rally roads of the Côte d’Azur hinterland. For the occasion, the cars that have made the Tour a legend will be in the spotlight: Ferrari 250 GT Competizione, Jaguar 3.8 l MKII, Ligier JS2 and Matra MS650…
As tradition dictates, the 2016 edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo will kick off on Monday, April 18 with a car exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. The following day (Tuesday, April 19), competitors will leave the capital in the early hours of the morning for the official start at the Château de Courances. They will then take to the roads of France to compete in timed events (Competition or Regularity) on 4 circuits (Dijon-Prenois, Bresse, Lédenon, Paul Ricard) and 11 special events on closed roads.
The Tour Auto Optic 2ooo route, which is renewed every year, will include stops in Beaune, Lyon and Valence, before heading for the Mediterranean coast. Marseille will be the scene of the finish of the 4th stage. Then, at the end of a journey of some 2000 kilometers, the competitors will reach the Croisette, in Cannes, where the finish of the 25th edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo will be judged.
Two night special stages
To ensure that this “Anniversary” edition is one to remember, Peter Auto has included a night special stage on the program for the first time. As a result, competitors arriving in Cannes on Saturday afternoon will not be finished just yet. Indeed, after a few hours’ respite, all the crews will take to the roads of the Côte d’Azur hinterland for a night drive punctuated by two special stages and a celebrated finish on the Croisette, on Saturday night, which will bring this 25th edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo to a close.
Two top-notch official ushers
Ari Vatanen. World Rally Champion in 1981 on a Ford Escort RS 1800, four-time winner of the Paris-Dakar on a Peugeot 205 T16 Grand Raid (1987), Peugeot 405 Mi16 (1989, 1990) and Citroën ZX (1991), the Finnish driver also made a name for himself in 1988 by setting a new record for the Pikes Peak climb on a Peugeot 405 T16 GR, a feat immortalized in the film Climb Dance. At the end of his sporting career, Vatanen became involved in politics and was elected Member of the European Parliament in 1999 and 2004. As a BMW ambassador, he was an official opener on an M4 Coupé.
François Chatriot. A brilliant performer in the French Rally Championship in the 80s, with two titles in 1989 and 1990 on a BMW M3, François Chatriot, nicknamed Le Chat, will also be the new opener of the Tour Auto Optic 2ooo. A competition he knows well, having won it on a Renault 5 Maxi Turbo in 1986 (the year of the last Tour de France Automobile). François Chatriot has also distinguished himself in ice racing, winning the Trophée Andros and the 24 Heures de Chamonix in 1995 on an Opel Astra.
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