January 25, 2021, Paris – From April 19 to 24, the 30th edition of the Tour Auto Optic 2000 will take place, a benchmark rally for classic vehicles. It will take the competitors from Paris to Nice, via Beaune, Aix-les-Bains, Valence and Nîmes. Driven by Victor Fernandes (Managing Director of the BRS Carrosserie Group) and co-piloted by Gaël Escribe, CEO of NEXUS Automotive International, the Lancia Fulvia in NEXUS colors is setting off to do even better than last year. Victor and Gaël had brilliantly climbed to 1st place in her category (consistency, Group G), while securing an impressive 3rd place on the podium in the general classification.
VALUES AND SKILLS
Victor and Gaël are willing to place their second participation in the Tour Auto under the banner of ‘the transmission of values and skills’. “The Tour Auto is a true ode to the automobile. Our profession lacks young talents to maintain everyday cars but also this magnificent heritage. This is why this year we are integrating young people in training into our racing team”, explains Gaël Escribe.
And these young people are not going to be unemployed! They will indeed be responsible for the mechanical preparation of the car as well as assistance during the race. Two vital activities for a regularity race behind the wheel of a nearly 50-year-old car! “We are entering this year with a new car, more powerful than last year,” said Victor Fernandes, driver and Managing Director of the BRS Group in Roissy, France. “We are going to spend the 3 very short months that separate us from the start of the race to completely dismantle the car, inspect each component, make them reliable and possibly replace them”.
The preparation will be provided by two young people, Alexandre and Théo, who are preparing a professional baccalaureate in the ECAUT garage-school in Viuz-en-Sallaz, supported by the Motul
Corazón foundation. They will be supervised by Victor and the BRS Racing Team, who successfully enter Clios and 308s on all the circuits in France.
The team is coming off a successful season which saw it win the junior category in the Coupe de France Renault Clio Cup placing 3rd overall in the Endurance Tourism Trophy in a Peugeot 308.
Specializing in fleets and B2B, BRS thus processes more than 1,000 vehicles per month on 4 sites(Roissy, Achères, Vélizy and Blyes). With its 70 employees, BRS is thus daily confronted with the
problems of recruiting young talents to support its growth.
10 MOTIVATED PARTNERS
Beyond these young enthusiasts, the team can count on particularly active and involved equipment supplier partners. These include Borg & Beck, Bosal, Bosch, Clas, Mecafilter, Motul, Koni, Osram, SKF and TMD who will provide the team with their know-how, their technicians and also their products.
“We would like to thank all of our 2020 partners who have all, without exception, renewed their trust in us. They are joined this year by Borg & Beck (clutch), Bosal (exhaust) and Koni (shock absorbers). Beyond our technical partnership, this year we will be offering them numerous opportunities to expose their brand to the tens of thousands of enthusiasts who line each of the roads making up the course”. This is obvious because “a classic vehicle deserves the quality of the original equipment manufacturers”, insists Gaël Escribe.
For the search for the rare item that is not in the catalogues of manufacturers involved, the team can count on Renovatio and its marketplace Bakelit.eu. Over the past two years, the company has formed the leading European purchasing group dedicated to classic vehicle parts. Almost a hundred brands already trust Renovatio, a remarkable figure in just 2 years of existence.
Thus, exactly 3 months before the start of the Tour Auto, the Lancia Fulvia 1.6 Rallye HF in the colors of NEXUS Automotive international and its supplier partners is already mobilizing partners and young talents determined to maintain the memory and passion of the automobile.