New name, familiar grids
With the 2026 Espiritu de Montjuic, the European historic racing season kicked off with a great spectacle. Organised by the French Peter Auto organisation, it also served as the first of six rounds of the newly named Le Mans Classic Series. While the a new name was introduced to unify the Peter Auto events, the grids that made up this year's Espiritu de Montjuic were all carried over from the Historic Racing by Peter Auto events of the past. As before these brought out sports racers and touring cars from the early 1950s right through the Endurance Racing Legends of the noughties.
During the event local hero Emilio de Villota was also honoured. Brought together were three Grand Prix cars he raced during his career, which included the unique Lyncar 006 that is still part of his personal collection and the Lotus Type 78, which he used to score his biggest successes. The lunch breaks were used for F1 demonstrations and the spectators were treated to a pair of glorious Matras and a Benetton liveried and turbo-engined Toleman TG185.
Enjoying much more pleasant weather conditions than in 2025, our photographers were at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya throughout the weekend to capture all the action in this 180-shot gallery.

Fifties and sixties
The racing kicked off on Saturday afternoon with the first of the two 45-minute heats for the Gentlemen Challenge. Open to sports cars and GTs from the 1950s and early 1960s, qualifying was dominated by Listers with the Jaguar-engined, Costin-bodied example of John Spiers and Nigel Greensall grabbing pole position on aggregate. After a close fight with the Knobbly bodied and Chevrolet-engined Lister of Luc-Pierre Verquin, Greensall and Spiers grabbed victory in the first race. In the second, their main opposition came from Carlos de Quesada and Catesby Jones in a Porsche 904, who had grabbed the lead early on but ultimately had to settle for second behind Spiers and Greensall.
Just as the sun was about to set, the two-hour Sixties' Endurance race brought down the curtain on Saturday's program. It turned out to be a spectacular race with two 'regular' Cobras and a pair of Daytona bodied Coupes racing nose to tail during the opening laps. Guillaume Mahe had a great start in the Daytona he shared with Maxime Guenat to grab the lead from the fourth row of the grid. Olivier Galant nevertheless emerged from the mandatory stop in the lead in his Daytona but was caught out fighting a Cobra that was actually trying to un-lap himself. A slight drizzle at the end of the race put everyone on edge and then Guenat ran out of brakes. This brought out the checkered flag early with Galant grabbing victory ahead of the Cobra of Vincent Kolb and the Jaguar E-Type shared by James Thorpe and Ben Mitchell.

Touring cars
One subtle change to the Peter Auto roster was the Heritage Touring Cup, which in split in two from 2026 onwards. The new HTC1 will be for Group 1 and Group 2 touring cars of the late 1960s through to the early 1980s, while HTC2 will exclusively feature Group A cars with the cut off extended from 1985 to 1992. The HTC2 grid will debut at the upcoming Spa Classic, and with the Classic Touring Challenge also missing this weekend, HTC1 was the only touring car category represented during the opening round. They did put up a great show, particularly Maxime Guenat and 'Leo G.' in their Ford Capri and BMW 3.0 CSL respectively. Guenat had qualified on pole position and took an early lead. Following the mandatory stop 'Leo G.' staged a comeback and with both cars spitting flames attempted to overtake Guenat at the end of the straight. Sadly this came at a price as he lost all drive in his CSL, which allowed Guenat to grab a well deserved victory in his Capri. It would turn out to be a complete Equipe Europe podium as he was joined by Armand Mille in his Capri and the CSL shared by Guillaume Mahe and Dominique Guenat.
Although officially homologated as a touring car as well, the short-wheel base Porsche 911 used in the 2.0L Cup is more akin a GT. The battles during the 90-minute race are often door-handle to door-handle and this weekend's round was no exception. Eventually, it was Jürgen Rudolph who came out on top in his 911, ahead of the example shared by Johannes Stengel and Andrew Smith. Driving solo, David Danglard had to settle for third, having lost the lead when he was caught out immediately after the track returned to green following a full-course yellow period.

Classic Endurance Racing
Pole position for the the Classic Endurance Racing 1 race was for Emile Breittmayer, who had impressively beaten Jan Magnussen and Chris Ward in a similar Lola T70 Mk3B. During the race, Ward nevertheless grabbed an early lead but his T70 lost valuable time in the pits as Magnussen had to serve his penalty for being a professional driver. Some of the other front runners were also caught out during a safety car period by entering the pits before the window had officially opened. Staying clear of all trouble was Claudio Roddaro in his Gulf-liveried Porsche 917 and he emerged in the lead after the stops. He looked set to score a comfortable win but then, late in the race, passed the safety car, which was waving by back-markers. This caused such a delay that the race was red-flagged. A subsequent penalty for Roddaro promoted defending champion Armand Mille to the top step of the podium after a very clean race in his Lola T70.
Former Corvette works driver Magnussen was also out in CER2 with a new-to-the-series Lola T292. He showed great pace in qualifying but all his lap times were deleted by the stewards. This meant that Maxime Guenat was the pole sitter in his Lola and he immediately grabbed a comfortable lead over Equipe Europe teammate Yves Scemama in a TOJ. Magnussen showed he had not lost any of his speed and quickly moved up the order, running fourth by lap six and then grabbing the lead from Guenat by lap ten. After the pit stops the Danish driver was forced to make up ground once more and came close to grabbing the lead again but then his Lola expired. Guenat made no mistake and converted his great pace into victory.

Modern endurance racers
A fan favourite, the Group C category has been struggling for entrants for several years. Many of the reasons that make the class so popular with spectators are also the same reasons why many of the current owners are reluctant to race their very fast but also complicated and expensive to run machinery. Less than a dozen cars were entered at Barcelona. It was Philip Kadoorie in his Richard Lloyd Racing Porsche 962 that won the first heat, while Olivier Galant grabbed victory in the second 45-minute race with his beautifully prepared Jaguar XJR-12.
The Endurance Racing Legends 1 grid for GT1 cars and Le Mans Prototypes was also a little thin with just nine cars on the grid for the first race. Father and son David and Olivier Hart were in top form with the Pescarolo Courage in heat one. A mechanical issue thwarted their efforts on Sunday, which allowed Mike Newton to score a win in the very Lola LMP2 car that he raced in period.
There were no issues with the grid in ERL2 and both 45-minute races provided a great show. Defending champion Philip Kadoorie ruined the chances of starting the 2026 season with a victory by beaching his Ferrari F430 GTC in the gravel. After the subsequent safety car had pulled off the track, a fascinating sprint to the finish saw Erwin France cross the line in first with his Grand-Am spec Ferrari 458 Italia. As this car was in the invitation class, James Thorpe and Phil Quaife, sharing an Aston Martin V8 Vantage GT2, were declared the winner. After a very close battle with David and Olivier Hart in a sister Ferrari and with the tiniest of margins, Kadoorie did manage to win heat two.

Final thoughts
Run under beautiful blue skies and with comfortable temperatures, the 2026 Espiritu de Montjuic was much more pleasant than last year's edition for everyone involved. In addition to the great racing, the event also provided plenty for the spectators to do in the paddock with the Emilio de Villota display, a line-up of Seat rally cars and an even a bumper car amusement ride. It was a great start to the Le Mans Classic Series, which will continue with the Spa Classic in May. For those who want to relive the event or experience it for the first time, we have created this class-by-class 180-shot gallery.