Season finale
A busy, action-packed Peter Auto season had its grand finale at the fifth annual Estoril Classics. Located in the beautiful Cascais region of Portugal, the Circuito do Estoril is a classic track that has become a favourite with the drivers. While we experienced the expected beautiful weather during the previous editions, the 2024 Estoril Classics had more changeable conditions with some rain showers and early morning fog. That certainly did not dampen the spirits as the busy schedule went on uninterrupted. Befitting to a season finale, the Estoril Classics included all the familiar Peter Auto grids except for Group C, which already had its last races of the year at the Dix Mille Tours. The program was completed by two further race groups; the Iberian Historic Endurance and the Classic Grand Prix for three-litre Formula 1 cars.
Undeterred by the conditions, our photographers were at the undulating Estoril circuit throughout the weekend with this 200-shot gallery as the result.

Sixties' Endurance
Being the last weekend of the season, the competitors did not only fight for individual victories but championships were also on the line. That was certainly the case in the hotly disputed Sixties' Endurance where Erwin France was leading the way going into the weekend despite having not won a race yet in his Shelby Cobra Daytona. He did finish second twice and made his intentions clear by snatching pole position during qualifying in his Equipe Europe prepared machine. He also dominated the race, leading every lap bar one due to the mandatory pit stop. His closest rival was Urs Beck in a 'regular' Cobra, who finished sixth, so the championship was also emphatically France's.
In the 2.0L Cup for short wheelbase Porsche 911s, the championship was also on the line but it was the race itself that was the most fascinating. The opening laps saw four cars running close together until the mandatory pit-stops reshuffled the field. Early leader Marino Franchitti handed over to his brother Dario but as both are 'elite' drivers, they had to add 20 seconds each to their pit-stop time. That provided Dario Franchitti with quite the challenge of catching and passing several 911s ahead of him. He did so towards the end of the 90-minute race, receiving the biggest opposition from Vincent Kolb in the 911 that had been started by Max Moritz. Franchitti got by with seven laps to go and scored another major victory with his brother, one week after winning the Spa Six Hours outright.

Classic Endurance
The Classics Endurance Racing 1 race saw the most unusual finish of the weekend. The race started with Emile Breittmayer on pole position in his Lola T70 Mk3b and was subsequently interrupted by a lengthy safety car period due to a Porsche hitting the barrier on the back straight. This helped Armand Mille, who had started from the back off the grid in his Lola T70 after his Equipe Europe team completed an engine change at the track. In the closing stages of the race he was chasing down then leader Jamie Constable in a Chevron B19. Mille looked set to snatch a stellar comeback victory when the latter spun his B19. This, however, brought out the red flag, which meant that the final result was taken from the lap before. As a small consolation, this result did mean Mille was champion, narrowly beating the Banks brothers in their McLaren M6B. They did win the new Classic Touring Challenge with their in-house, Alfaholics prepared Alfa Romeo GTA.
Qualifying for CER2 was in rather damp conditions, which resulted in a surprise pole position for Sebastian Glaser in his BMW M1. The race also started on a wet track and this allowed Tom Kristensen to showcase his skill in the Porsche 935 he shared with Zak Brown. Starting in 18th, he ran as high as 4th before handing the car over. On the drying track, it was, however, Maxime Guenat in the Cosworth DFV engined Lola T286 who returned the natural order and crossed the in first. Second was for his team-mate Yves Scemama, in a V8-engined TOJ. Later that the day, Scemama would score a win, in the Heritage Touring Cup with his Capri.

Endurance Racing Legends
One of the absolute success stories during the Peter Auto weekends is the Endurance Racing Legends grid for 1990s and early 2000s sports prototypes and GT racers. Such was the interest in securing a spot on the entry list that the ERL field was split into two during the Spa Classic and Dix Mille Tours. For the Estoril Classics, the two were combined again with a reserve list as a result. Eventually, 31 cars participated in the two qualifying sessions. Fastest of all was Sebastian Glaser in the unique Judd V10-engined Nasamax. The first of two 40-minute races was scheduled for complete darkness on Saturday evening. That did not deter Glaser, for whom it was only his second ever weekend in an LMP1 car. He won the first race with a 30-second margin over the Lotus Elite GT1 shared by brothers Loris and Mike Hezemans. Third was for Joe Macari and Dario Franchitti, who shared the former's fire belching Maserati MC12. During the second race, Glaser unfortunately could not take the start. This allowed Evgeny Kireev in another MC12 to score the outright victory after some of his rivals were slapped with penalties. Steve Brooks finished second in his Saleen S7-R, while Richard Bradley drove the small Pilbeam MP91 to the third podium position.

Classic Grand Prix
One of the Estoril circuit's claims to fame is as the host of the Portuguese Grand Prix from 1984 through to 1996. It was at a very wet Estoril that the late Ayrton Senna scored his first Grand Prix victory, back in 1985. To celebrate this part of Estoril's history, the programme included a pair of Formula 1 races and also a daily demonstration for later 3.5-litre cars.
For the single qualifying session 17 Pre-1986 Formula 1 cars lined up. These included mainly Cosworth DFV engined cars with Richard Hope's V12-powered Alfa Romeo 182 F1 being the sole exception. Fastest of all during qualifying was Mark Harrison in his Shadow DN9B, beating Soheil Ayari, who was in a later, flat-bottom Ligier JS21. During the first of two 20-minute races, it was Ayari who showed his remarkable skill by scoring the victory. His fastest lap was nearly a second faster than the time that had gotten Harrison pole position the day before. The second race was a lot messier with a lengthy red flag interrupting running. Following the re-start, it was pole man Harrison who managed to fight off Katsu Kubota in his Lotus 72 to grabbed the victory.

Final thoughts
As was the case during the previous four editions, the Estoril Classics proved a fitting finale to the Peter Auto season despite the changeable conditions. An enthusiastic crowd welcomed the racers and they were treated to a great show. All this and more can be found in our 200-shot gallery.