Monaco, Sunday 13th May 2012: Jaguar Heritage Racing, the new ‘works’ supported racing programme of Jaguar Cars, scored its debut win with a C-type in the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, Serie C for Pre-1953 Sports Prototypes. The prestigious FIA sanctioned race was won by Alex Buncombe, in Jaguar Heritage Racing’s 1952 C-type.
The Grand Prix de Monaco Historique is widely regarded as the jewel in the crown of historic racing. This is the 8th running of the FIA sanctioned event, which occurs two weeks ahead of the F1 Grand Prix on the exact same circuit around the streets of the principality.
The race winning C-type has an interesting history – its first owner was none other than Juan Manuel Fangio, who bought the car directly from the Jaguar factory.
Alex Buncombe commented from the podium in front of the Royal Box, “It’s a real honour to score Jaguar Heritage Racing’s maiden victory and what a place to do it, here at the most famous race track of them all, on the streets of Monte Carlo. The team and mechanics did a fantastic job preparing the car, it’s super quick and it ran like a dream throughout the weekend. In my view it’s the best C-type in the world.”
Frank Klaas, Global Head of Communications Jaguar Land Rover said: “Wow! To win the first race we entered with our new Jaguar Heritage Racing programme is a superb achievement, but to do that in Monte Carlo in the prestigious Grand Prix de Monaco Historique is a dream come true. It’s a superb showcase for the Jaguar brand across the world. My congratulations go to Alex, Derek Hood and the whole team at JD Classics for this great victory! Well done guys.”
Derek Hood, Managing Director, JD Classics added, “This was the perfect start to our new partnership with Jaguar. The whole team at JD Classics is so proud to represent Jaguar and be part of this historic debut win.”
The next event for Jaguar Heritage Racing is the legendary Mille Miglia in Italy beginning this week on Thursday, 16th May.
The Jaguar Heritage Racing programme was launched on 12th March 2012 at the RAC Club in London and is operated and managed by JD Classics, based in Maldon, Essex. An established player in the historic motorsport world, JD Classics will prepare both the C- and D-type Jaguars which will take to the track at the Nürburgring Oldtimer Grand Prix (10-12 August) and Goodwood Revival (14-16 September).The season-long programme will also see Jaguar Heritage Racing support numerous additional events on the historic motoring calendar including the Mille Miglia and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
The Jaguar Heritage Racing programme will supplement the activities of Jaguar Heritage – a charitable trust and custodians of an extensive collection of priceless models from Jaguar’s past, including the unique XJ13 prototype. Its cars are not campaigned competitively on-track, but will continue to be exhibited – and demonstrated – at a huge number of events during 2012.
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