The Royal Automobile Club de Spa launches a ‘Legend Boucles Series’ and announces a first event ‘Legend Boucles Rallyshow & Rallycross’ on the Circuit Jules Tacheny of Mettet!

It was the surprise of the day at the Press Conference held this Wednesday 23rd October in Libramont! Apart from the key features of the 2020 edition of the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne, Pierre Delettre revealed the creation of a Legend Boucles Series! Which implies that this top event on the historic rally front will now lead to others …

“First and foremost, the idea is in no way to devalue Bastogne, Pierre Delettre explained. Whatever happens, the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne will always remain our very own 24 Hours of Le Mans! However, for a while, the idea to set-up other events, of a smaller scale, but with an identical philosophy, was stirring in the back of our minds. Much like the longing to allow our competitors to drive elsewhere. And so today we are inaugurating the ‘Legend Boucles Series’ by formalising a first event … The aim is to draw up three events as from 2020, including Bastogne, and to bring it up to four in 2021. In other words, an event per season. And those competing in the entirety of these events will guarantee, whatever happens, their presence at the start of the following Legend Boucles @ Bastogne… “

If on the one hand this ‘Legend Boucles Series’ will not be a championship in due form, but rather a concept, its technical regulations will be identical to those of the Legend Boucles @ Bastogne, in the same way as the organising team of course. The same means will be deployed when it comes to communication, so as to ensure a maximum amount of feedback for the competitors who decide to play along in this ‘Legend Boucles Series’.

First event to be officialised: the ‘Legend Boucles Rallyshow & Rallycross’ programmed on the former WRX track of the Circuit Jules Tacheny in Mettet, on 1st and 2nd August 2020, in the middle of the summer! “It involves a meeting first and foremost aimed at all competitors of the ‘Legend’ and ‘Challenger’ categories, but we will not be forgetting the ‘Classic’ category, with a possibility for them to drive on the Mettet Rallycross track on Saturday morning, over runs of 15 minutes. There would be no sense in applying regularity in such a context, Pierre Delettre continued, but no question of leaving a category high and dry. The participants in these ‘Legend Boucles Rallyshow & Rallycross’ will be split into various groups, namely Porsche 911, Ford Escort, Volvo, and anything else one might come across according to the evolution of the entry list. The first part of the meeting will take on the form of a special show on this track mixing gravel with asphalt, with three passages for all the competitors, with the two best times being withheld. The 8 best results out of each category will continue in the adventure, with ‘Duels’ making up the eighth-finals, quarter finals, semi-finals, prior to a final per group. There will not be a grouped start, so as to avoid any contact, but the competition will take on the form of a car chase with two cars on the track, setting off from the extremities of the track. We will not have one winning team, but a Porsche winner, a Ford Escort winner, and so on. Between these different competitions, Rallycross demonstrations will be programmed, with the confirmed participation of a strong international grid resting on a French/United Kingdom association from the Rallycross Legends Show, as also several guests made up of Gr.B, Gr.4 and others performing as a curtain raiser of the World Rallycross Championship at Lohéac. In a nutshell, two full days of spectacle and a great atmosphere in the region!”

This new R.A.C. Spa organisation will first and foremost be an ode to conviviality, with on Saturday evening, in these rural surroundings, a ‘Legend Boucles Party’ which promises to be highly festive …

“Apart from Bastogne and Mettet, we are in negotiations with a view to organising an event in Germany, with an event where the ‘Classic’ category will be especially highlighted, Pierre Delettre continued. It goes without saying that the ‘Legend’ and the ‘Challenger’ categories may also participate. A fourth event will have a region of France, to be decided on, as its playground, and the aim is to bring this event to the christening font in 2021.”

With the two circuit meetings, namely Spa Euro Race and the Racing Festival, already confirmed by the Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps in 2020, the Royal Automobile Club de Spa team will not be lying idle during these coming months! When passion gets a hold on us …