The demonstration was announced in the program of the 13th Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, but the content of the event had been kept secret.

Jacky Ickx‘s presence in the paddock throughout the weekend, as well as the visit of Charles Leclerc planned for this Sunday, should have served as clues for the spectators. To the delight of enthusiasts, both drivers, the Belgian with an XXL résumé, and the Monégasque from the Scuderia, offered a real journey through time, for a few minutes, at midday, as the sun shone again over the port of Monaco.

Leclerc took charge of the Ferrari 312B3 (ex-Niki Lauda) entered in the E Series for Claudia Hürtgen by the Methusalem team. In 1974, this single-seater triumphed in Spain and the Netherlands, allowing the Austrian to claim his first two F1 wins, then Clay Regazzoni won in Germany and the Scuderia finished second in the Constructors’ World Championship, behind McLaren.

“When I was four, we were playing with toy cars in a friend’s apartment, that’s my first memory of Monaco Grand Prix,” Charles Leclerc said after this very special parade lap. “I took these streets on a bus to go to school when I was a kid and I always dreamt of winning this race. It’s really exceptional to see all these old cars today, at Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, it’s fun and it’s beautiful to see“, the Scuderia driver added.

For his part, Ickx recalled some good memories at the wheel of his 312B2, registered in the D Series and entrusted this weekend to Jürgen Boden. With this car, the Belgian was on the second step of the podium in the Principality in 1971, before winning in the Netherlands and Germany later in the season.

The demonstration lasted about ten minutes, the Ferrari engines roared and many spectators were moved. Then Leclerc and Ickx posed for the official photo on the starting grid. A snapshot for history, with Charles and Jacky, worthy representatives of two generations of drivers, to the delight of many photographers.

It was the one and only race for Sports Cars of the type authorized to compete in the streets of the Principality in 1952, 70 years ago, a Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday (cars with more than 2 liters of displacement) or a Prix de Monte-Carlo on Sunday (less than 2 litres).

So it was a bit of a different race, with two-seaters with great lines, gleaming bodies wrapping their wheels. Some were in total slide mode when they arrived on Place du Casino, the noise of their engines was tremendous, the fight was fierce and the spectators were ecstatic. Eventually, a British driver won in the person of Frederic Wakeman, embarked in a 1955 Cooper Jaguar T38 Mk2. He started from pole position in this “Vittorio Marzotto” series and he managed to beat two Maserati 300S driven by Austria’s Lukas Halusa and Spain’s Guillermo Fierro-Eleta, who slightly rubbed the barrier in the closing laps. The leading quintet was completed by Niklas Halusa, Lukas’s brother, in a 1954 Jaguar D-Type, ahead of Germany’s Claudia Hürtgen, victorious of Race A2 in the morning. She had swapped her Ferrari Dino 246 for a Maserati 300S and again she did a superb job. Well done, Madam.

It was a highly anticipated duel and Briton Stuart Hall, in a 1973 McLaren M23 (ex-Jody Scheckter), won the “Niki Lauda” Race E, claiming his second win of a cloudy Sunday morning.

Starting from pole position, Hall resisted until the chequered flag te black and gold Lotus 76 (ex-Ronnie Peterson) driven by German Marco Werner, a treble winner of Le Mans 24 Hours. Placed on the front row, Roberto Moreno, the former Benetton F1 driver, slightly jumped the start, in his 1974 Lola T370 carrying the livery of Graham Hill‘s Embassy team, then he was penalized by ten seconds

The podium was therefore completed by the inevitable Michael Lyons, who had passed Moreno any way, in a McLaren M26 (ex-James Hunt). In the pack, the show was provided by the superb Shadows of Max Smith-Hilliard, Gregor Fisken and Jean-Denis Delétraz (ex-Jean-Pierre Jarier) fighting throughout the race (17 laps) with a Lotus 77 ( ex-Peterson) driven by Nick Padmore and a Penske PC3 (ex-John Watson) by Matthew Wrigley.

In Race D ‘Jackie Stewart’, Stuart Hall started from pole position in his white McLaren M19A sponsored at the time by cosmetics firm Yardley.

This superb single-seater had already won in the streets of the Principality in 2016, at the hands of the same Stuart Hall. It has not aged a bit and was only overtaken at the first corner by Jordan Grogor‘s Matra MS120C. But the South African based in Dubai was then penalized ten seconds for having anticipated the start, which did not prevent him from reaching the podium at the end. The main beneficiary of this penalty was Michael Lyons, 4^th on the grid, who finished 2^nd in his Surtees TS9. The young Briton also profited from the retirement of the BRM P153 (ex-Pedro Rodriguez) of Mexican Esteban Gutierrez, which brutally stalled at the tunnel exit chicane, for a purely mechanical reason.

A surprise guest in the A2 Series “Juan Manuel Fangio”, Claudia Hürtgen replaced Alex Birkenstock on Saturday morning, because the German driver had to return home for family reasons.

After quickly getting familiar with the front-engined Ferrari 246 dating back to 1960, she caused a sensation by achieving the best qualifying time. Starting on pole on Sunday, she resisted Tony Wood‘s Tec-Mec F415, a 1959 car, throughout the race, until it was stopped by a red flag, one lap from the finish, following a “pile-up” of three Lotus cars and a Connaught at the Antony-Noghès corner. The podium was completed by Spaniard Guillermo Fierro-Eleta (Maserati 250F).

Mrs Hürtgen had already won at the 2^nd Grand Prix de Monaco Historique, in 2000. A very experienced and eclectic driver, she won the German touring cars series twice (DTM Challenge 2003 and 2004) and the 24 Hours of Dubai in 2011. She has just relaunched her career by joining the Abt-Cupra team in Extreme E, the new category for electric SUVs racing in remote areas. What a driver!

Second race of the day and a second American victory in a row. Race A1 “Louis Chiron”, dedicated to pre-war Grand Prix cars and voiturettes, was won by Mark Gillies, the poleman in a 1934 ERA R3A, although he was overtaken at the first corner, Sainte-Dévote, by Nicholas Topliss in another ERA, a 1935 R4A.

The Briton was heading towards an almost sure win when, two laps from the checkered flag, he punctured his left rear tire when touching the Riley Dobbs driven by backmarker Thierry Chanoine. At the top of the Casino hill, he then had to park his car. Gillies was joined on the podium by Switzerland’s Anthony Sinopoli (Maserati 6CM/4CM) and above all by Patrick Blakeney-Edwards (Frazer-Nash): an amazing start allowed the British driver to jump from 12^th on the grid to 4^th at the first corner. Then 3^rd when Topliss retired.

Joe Colasacco had already won in Monaco, in 2004, at the 4^th GP de Monaco Historique.

The American did it again on Sunday morning, in Race B “Graham Hill” for single-seaters with 1500cc engines from year 1961 to 1965, starting from pole position.

In his 1964 Ferrari 1512 (ex-Surtees and Bandini), he initially got off to a very good start, running his business masterfully, but he then encountered some fierce resistance from Mark Shaw in a Lotus 21. The Briton only needed one attempt at the start of lap 8 to pass his rival, but the battle did not end there. Pressed by the Ferrari, Shaw delayed his braking too much at Sainte Dévote and his green single-seater crashed into the Tecpro barriers. End of the story. On the podium, Joe Colasacco was joined by Christopher Drake, never worried in his Cooper T71/73, and Andrew Beaumont, who saved Lotus’s honor in his Type 24.

The Formula 1 world champion, Max Verstappen, a Monaco resident, took a short walk in the pits of Grand Prix de Monaco Historique on Saturday afternoon, before the start of qualifying for the G Series, the last of the day . He spent a long time with his compatriot Frits van Eerd, entered in a 1983 Williams FW08C (ex-Keke Rosberg). He seemed perfectly rested from his triumphant weekend in Miami, concluded with his third victory of the season; He will be back in Monaco at the end of the month…

In order to pay tribute to Colin Chapman, the founder of Lotus, 40 years after his passing in 1982, the organizers of Grand Prix de Monaco Historique launched 34 cars of the legendary brand entered in this 13th edition, on Saturday, for a memorable lap of honour, after a photo shoot around Clive Chapman, Colin’s son, and several heirs of the most brilliant engineer in the history of F1.

It was a moment of grace, one more, on this circuit of Monaco where Lotus has so often triumphed: 7 wins in the most glamorous GP on the calendar, between the two initial successes of Stirling Moss (1960, 1961) and the ultimate triumph, achieved by the incomparable Ayrton Senna in 1987, with a Renault engine in his back. “It’s great to see how the Automobile Club of Monaco wishes to honor the memory of my father“, said Clive Chapman Friday in the paddock, in front of the tent sheltering his Lotus Classic Cars team.

There was no surprise and German Marco Werner, in his 1982 Lotus 87, took pole for Race G, in the “Ayrton Senna” series reserved for F1 cars produced between 1981 and 1985, but without turbo engines, too powerful and too complicated to manage on a weekend of historic races. A triple winner of Le Mans 24 Hours, Werner finally beat Briton Michael Lyons by one second, in his 1983 Lotus 92. Third place on the grid goes to David Shaw, in his 1982 Arrows A4 carrying the colors of Ragno Italian ceramics. American driver Ken Tyrrell, a namesake of famous “Uncle Ken” in the 70s, will start in the Top 10, at the wheel of his… Tyrrell 011 victorious in Detroit in 1983, with Michele Alboreto at the wheel.