Tom Dooley’s 1982 Mirage M12 has Le Mans history, though not quite the kind one might hope for. See details in the Nov/Dec 2019 Issue. Photo: Nick Lish

Salinas, CA – Next August’s Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion announced Sunday at its post-race awards ceremony that the 2022 featured marque will be a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The event, with the Auto Club de L’Ouest’s (the Le Mans sanctioning body) approval and cooperation, will mark the kickoff of a yearlong celebration of the endurance race’s centennial culminating in June 2023 in France.

The track management also announced to a swell of cheers that next year’s Reunion races will move forward one day, with practice and qualifying sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, and races commencing on Friday and Saturday, August 17-20, an accommodation to well-heeled racers with commitments – either as entrants or spectators – to the Sunday Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Currently the Reunion races run Thursday through Sunday.

Track president and g.m. John Narigi addresses the crowd at the awards ceremony following the conclusion of racing at the 2021 RMMR. Photo: Nick Lish

Track president and g.m. John Narigi mentioned at the awards presentation that WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca plans to have the Reunion open on Sunday nevertheless with family activities and other events for local Monterey County residents, but emphasized plans are still in development. Currently, racers and race teams and their rigs are required to remain on display and in place in the paddock until the end of the Sunday races.

For the moment, it’s unknown how participants and race teams and their crew will cooperate should they have to remain on site for a full day following the end of races on Saturday next August.

Look for updates and further developments as they surface.

– Report by Mike Silverman. Look for a full writeup of the event in the Nov/Dec issue of Vintage Motorsport.