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DIJON MOTORS CUP 2025

Following in the Footsteps of Legends…

From October 3 to 5, 2025, the drivers of the Formula Classic Interseries contested their penultimate double round of the season on the fast and demanding Dijon-Prenois circuit. Two international grids were represented in Burgundy, with 32 competitors from seven different nations.

In F2 Classic Interseries, James Lay, leader of Category 1 (2000cc), leads with 509 points, ahead of Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera (460 points) and Laurent Vallery-Masson (385 points).

In Category 2 (1600cc), Julian Stokes dominates with 584 points, 164 ahead of Paul Bason.

In Category 3 (Atlantic), Roland Wiltschegg leads with 479 points, just 5 points ahead of Keith White (474 points).

In F3 Classic, Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera has built a commanding lead with 534 points, ahead of Davide Leone (439 points) and Frédéric Lajoux (399 points).

During this fourth round of the championship, the F3 Classic drivers had the opportunity to qualify separately for each race — a first this season —while the F2 Classic retained its traditional format.

On Friday afternoon, F3 drivers were the first to hit the track under clear and dry skies. After eight laps, Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera claimed pole position for Race 1 with a time of 1:21.121, nearly a second ahead of his compatriot Davide Leone (1:22.019). Frenchman Éric Martin completed the top three with 1:22.237.

Two hours later, under identical conditions, F2 drivers took part in their only qualifying session of the weekend. James Lay secured pole position with a 1:14.422, three-tenths faster than Mark Charteris (1:14.789). Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera was third with 1:15.486.

On Saturday morning, F3 drivers faced a soaked track for their second qualifying session. Once again, Rossi Di Montelera shone, taking pole with 1:36.201, nearly a second ahead of Monégasque Frédéric Lajoux (1:37.158), with Davide Leone third (1:37.714).

Race results

1. F2 Classic INTERSERIES : RACE 1

In the afternoon, the first race of the weekend saw the seventeen F2 cars start behind the Safety Car due to difficult weather conditions. Quickly, Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera (March 762) took second position from Mark Charteris on lap 3, while Laurent Vallery-Masson lost seven places between laps 2 and 3. In turn 4, grip became increasingly difficult to find and almost the entire grid faced loss of control issues.

At turn 9, on the exit of Pouas, Michel Lateste encountered mechanical problems and retired from the race. The Safety Car was deployed on lap 5. The Italian Stefano Rosina (Chevron B34) made a mistake by overtaking the Safety Car and the leader James Lay (March 762) on the pit straight on lap 7. He received a 30-second penalty. Lacking pace, the German driver Marc Sydow (Lotus 69) complicated the restart. The race therefore ended under Safety Car.

In the 2000cc category, James Lay won ahead of Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera and Mark Charteris.
In the Atlantic category, Martin Wood took a narrow victory ahead of Roland Wiltschegg, with Mark Goodyear completing the podium. In the 1600cc category, Julian Stokes dominated the race, well ahead of Paul Bason and Marc Sydow.

Top 5 : 1. Lay (March 762), 2. Rossi Di Montelera (March 762), 3. Charteris (March 782), 4. Vaglio-Giors (Ralt RT1), 5. Wood (March 73B).

2. F3 Classic INTERSERIES : RACE 1

Later, after moderate rain, the F3 Classic drivers started their first race of the weekend. On the first lap, the Italian Bruno Ferrari lost control of his car under braking into the first corner and hit the guardrail hard, bringing out the red flag. Fortunately, he was unharmed, though he suffered a fracture to his right ankle and was taken to hospital.

A restart was held from the pit lane before the drivers went back out under the Safety Car. After the restart, the battles really began to take shape. On lap 3, the Frenchman Laurent Vallery-Masson (Ralt RT3) briefly took 5th place from the Monegasque Fred Lajoux (March 793). On lap 4, the two Frenchmen Jean-Michel Ogier (Ralt RT3) and Bruno Houzelot (Martini MK42) fought a fierce battle. Ogier came out on top and settled into 7th position. Unfortunately, on his last lap, he went off the track at turn 7 and lost two places. Meanwhile, Lajoux didn’t give up and made a superb comeback, moving from 7th to 3rd !

Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera (Ralt RT3) crossed the finish line first, dominating the race on a wet track. He won the race with more than 30 seconds’ lead over Davide Leone and Frédéric Lajoux.

Top 5 : 1. Rossi Di Montelera (Ralt RT3), 2. Leone (March 783), 3. Lajoux (March 793), 4. Martin (Martini MK39), 5. Houzelot (Martini MK42).

3. F2 Classic INTERSERIES : RACE 2

On Sunday, Formula 2 avoided the rain for its second race. After a complicated start, an additional formation lap was carried out, followed by a third due to an off by Keith White (March 76B) at turn 5. The Briton eventually rejoined but had to stop his car at turn 9 due to a mechanical problem. The Safety Car was deployed for 9 minutes. After the restart, Mark Charteris (March 782) made a spectacular start, quickly overtaking Italian Rossi Di Montelera (March 762) and teammate James Lay (March 762) to take the lead. Over the first five laps, Laurent Vallery-Masson made a great comeback, climbing from ninth to fourth place! On lap 14, James Lay managed to retake the lead from Charteris. However, the latter received a 30-second penalty for violating the rolling start procedure. This penalty benefited Charteris, who therefore won the race ahead of Rossi Di Montelera and Lay.

In Atlantic, Martin Wood won again, taking his second victory of the weekend, followed by Roland Wiltschegg and Mark Goodyear. In the 1600cc category, Julian Stokes beat Paul Bason and Marc Sydow.

Top 5 : 1. Charteris (March 782), 2. Rossi Di Montelera (March 762), 3. Lay (March 762), 4. Vallery-Masson (March 77B), 5. Willie (Chevron B29).

4. F3 Classic INTERSERIES : RACE 2

For the second F3 race, three competitors were missing: Xavier Michel (Chevron B38), Laurent Bayers (March 763) and Bruno Ferrari (March 743).

After a shower one hour before the start, the sun came back out, allowing Laurent Vallery-Masson to make a bold bet on slick tyres. During the formation lap, Jean-Pierre Eynard-Machet stopped his Ralt RT3 at turn 1. An extra formation lap was therefore carried out. On lap 1, the German Stefan Henkefend went off the track into the gravel at turn 2. The Safety Car was deployed. After the rolling restart, the Frenchman Eric Martin (Martini MK39) made an excellent move, overtaking Laurent Vallery-Masson and then Davide Leone to move up to third place. The Frenchman continued his charge and attacked Fred Lajoux. He won the duel at turn 5. Laurent Vallery-Masson began to struggle increasingly with his slick tyres at the 13th minute of the race, dropping from 4th to 8th position. The Italian Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera extended his lead over his rivals, leaving Leone and Martin far behind.

Ten minutes before the end of the race, the rain returned. Angela Grasso chose safety and pitted on lap 7. The Italian Pietro Vergnano impressed on track, steadily climbing to fifth place through several battles. In the final laps, Fred Lajoux attacked and used Eric Martin’s slipstream on the straight to make a daring overtake around the outside of turn 1. Then Davide Leone also managed to get past Martin.

The chequered flag waved for the Italian Manfredo Rossi Di Montelera, unsurprisingly. He was followed by Lajoux and Leone.

Top 5 : 1. Rossi Di Montelera (Ralt RT3), 2. Lajoux (March 793), 3. Leone (March 783), 4. Martin (Martini MK39), 5. Vergnano (Martini MK39).

Relive the DIJON MOTORS CUP in pictures

For those who wish to relive the highlights of the weekend, several online resources offer photo and video galleries :