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Poitiers, 12 April, 2011

Today the Tour Auto started with its first leg that will also be the longest of the days.
At 6:30 am the cars left the Place de la Concorde to head for Montlhery for the official start of this years edition. Some participants could not await to go on the road as several cars were waiting minutes before the start to be flagged of. Within minutes the cars disappeared in the Parisian traffic in several directions as coming out of Paris is usually the toughest part for the navigator.

At Montlhery the cars were lined up in their order by number and started with a timed lap on the track before making their way to Le Mans for the first race meeting.

Le Mans saw some interesting 8 lap races with some well known forerunners. The first grid was won by the fast Alfa GTA of the Team Wildberg/Hahne after a tough fight with the GTAM of Lembo.

The fastest car of the day was once more the Ligier JS2 driven by Paul Knapfield.
After the races and a quick lunch at Le Mans the cars had a 4 hour drive to their final destination in Poitiers. The first cars arrived at 6:40 pm giving them a 12 hour journey on the first day so now the last one was aware that this will not be a relaxing trip around France but serious competition on 5 days. The cars can be enjoyed to the fullest and drivers and cars might need some holidays after the TA as the next leg will start tomorrow at 7:00 am from Poitiers to Objat with 334 km and another race at the track of La Val de Vienne.”

Text & Images Peter Singhof www.ClassicCarPhotography.de