New 6 Hours of Donington historic race to channel the spirit of Spa

British motor sport will gain its own historic endurance race for 1960s sports cars next summer, to be run in the “spirit” of the epic Spa 6 Hours.

Equipe Classic Racing will host the enduro at Donington Park on Saturday, July 5. Dubbed the Equipe 6 Hour race, it will be run to the same format as the hugely popular Spa classic for single-car, multi-driver teams in pre-66 GT, GTS and touring car classes. But one key exception to  the Spa formula is that Ford GT40 prototypes won’t be permitted in a bid encourage overall competition and to keep to a cap on high closing speeds between the fastest and slowest entries.

“We have been working on this for some time,” said John Pearson, co-founder of the Equipe club. “We feel there is a gap for a super-long team event in the UK. We see this as the spirit of the Spa race in the early 2000s with a closely matched grid.”

“Donington is the ideal venue with the perfect mix of challenge and distance to give close racing to all classes. The event will run into the evening and will be followed by a big party. It’s a big challenge to finish and then, after that, a celebration is definitely called for.”

Open to teams of two to four drivers, the Equipe 6 Hour race will feature mandatory fuel stops with refuelling available from the garages to enable teams to execute pitstop strategies. Priority will be given to existing Equipe members, but entries – which are already a quarter full at the time of writing – will be available on a first-come first-served basis to UK  and international teams.