AGS Formule 1, which now runs a driving school and experience events, has launched the F1 '90s Time Attack Mediterranean Challenge for F1 cars built between 1986 and 2000 and 1985-2000 Formula 3000 machinery.
Four rounds are planned, starting this weekend at the Historic French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard.
The entry for Ricard includes two AGS chassis, a 1989 JH24 and a 1991 JH25, driven respectively by Le Mans 24 Hours winner Eric Helary and former British Formula Ford frontrunner Geoffroy Horion.
Ex-F3000 and IndyCar racer Laurent Redon, whose LRS organisation runs F1 driving experiences, will take part in a Jordan 197.
Later machinery in the 11-car field includes a pair of Prost AP02s and an Arrows A20, all of 1999 vintage.
Invitational entries include multiple BOSS GP champion Klaas Zwart in a Jaguar R5 from 2004 and a 2005 Dallara T05 Formula-Renault 3.5 one-make racer.
A rarity in the field is a 1989 Rial ARC2 3.5-litre F1 car.
The entry for the Time Attack contest will grow for subsequent events, AGS events manager Cedric Laurent told Autosport.
He explained that a minimum of 16 cars are expected for round two at the Charade circuit in France in July and as many as 20 for the finale in November at the Morocco Historic GP on the Circuit Sidi Daoui, which will be co-organised by AGS.
“We only announced our series in February at Retromobile in Paris [the classic car show], so time was short and some cars were not ready in time for Paul Ricard,” he explained.
Potential entries for later in the season include the Leyton House CG901 owned by Richard Hope, which was demonstrated at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
Also due out in the series is the Peugeot-engined Jordan 195 that Steve Griffiths ran at the Goodwood circuit in the F1 demo in 2022.
AGS, which also restores and runs historic cars including the JH24 and JH25 competing at Ricard, has launched F1 '90s in response to demand from its customers, according to Laurent.
“There have been demos for these cars,” said Laurent in reference to the events put on by Peter Auto, Masters Historic Racing and the Officina Caira.
“But some of our clients were asking us if there was anywhere they could compete in their cars rather than just doing demos.
“They weren’t keen on racing, because there is always a risk, so we started thinking of some other kind of competition and came up with the idea of Time Attack.
“The good thing is that these cars are back out on track competing, which I think people want to see.”
Laurent didn’t rule out running races for the cars in the future, however.
“We will ask our competitors what they want to do: do they want to continue with Time Attack or do they want races?” he said. “We will follow what they want to do.”
Points will be scored for every thousandth of a second a driver improves a three-lap average between qualifying and the Time Attack final.
The difference between the times in the qualifying session and the final cannot be more than 103-110% depending on the circuit.
“We knew we didn’t want to have people sand-bagging and then we remembered that the 107% qualifying rule was introduced in the 1990s," said Laurent.
