This year’s Tour Auto rally on April 18th—24th commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Tour de France Automobile retrospective with a unique itinerary for its 237 participants. The route ran from the Grand Palais in Paris to Cannes with stopovers at equally beautiful sites like Beaune, Lyon, Valance and Marseille before reaching Cannes. As the first Tour under new organizer Peter Auto, the vintage cars then headed for the roads in the Côte d’Azur hinterland for a night run on April 23rd highlighted by an individual final timed stage at Les Ferres-Roquestron that carried on passed midnight.

The Parisian team of Jean-Pierre Lajournade and Christophe Bouchet grabbed their third Tour Auto victory with their 3.8-litre Jaguar Type E, while in Group G, Eddy and Jean-Jacques Benezet triumphed with their 2.5-litre Porsche 911 ST. But as always, Tour Auto Optic 2ooo is more about having the opportunity to see rare and unique vintage cars touring through dazzling French scenery than breaking records.