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| Category | Ice racing |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Inaugural season | 1990 |
| Official website | www |
TheAndros Trophy (Trophée Andros) was theFrench nationalice racing championship.
The championship held its 35th and last season in 2023/24.[1]
The idea of an ice racing series first became an idea when professional racerMax Mamers (FrenchRallycross Champion 1982 and 1983 withTalbot Matra Murena) and the owner of theAndros company (jam and compote producers), Frédéric Gervoson, met as rugby fans in 1985. They spent the winter racing with friends on ice circuits.
On 27 January 1990, the idea of a series came to life atSerre Chevalier with the first round of four.
The series quickly grew, with a round atParis (Pelouse de Reuilly) in 1991 creating a five round series; and a seven round championship in 1992.
In 2003, the trophy gained an international aspect with a race atSherbrooke inCanada, a race that was held for three seasons. For the 2005-06 season, the trophy remained mainly national, the exception being one round held inAndorra.
The championship made a switch to full electric cars for the 2019-20 season.[1] The 2023-24 season will be the last, in part due toglobal warming making it harder and harder to find predictable ice and snow in France.[2][3][4]
The series now runs with a number of different races and classes.
This is the original and highest class, featuring the most prominent names.
Starting in 1994 (named Promotion), this class is for the smaller teams, encouraging them to take part in the Trophée Andros. To partake in this class, there are three conditions: the drivers cannot have finished in the top 20 over the general classification; must never have participated in the Elite Pro Class; and cannot be a professional driver.
The motorbike races for the Andros Trophy first appeared at the 1996 championship final atSuper Besse, after an idea of Mamers andClaude Michy. It became a series in its own right in the 1997/98 season with a race at every round from that point.
Created in 2002, this series combined two categories. The 600cc 6-speedbuggy-styled car was shared between a female driver and an experienced driver, who also was the instructor for the female driver. They competed in two different races at each weekend they attended. The Féminin trophy was discontinued as of 2011, with some of the female drivers from the series moving into other categories of the trophée including the main series and the electric cars.
The driver with the most championship wins in the history of the series isYvan Muller, who has won the championship 10 times with 48 race victories.Jean-Philippe Dayraut holds the record for the most race victories with 54, having taken the championship 6 times. Another multiple championship winner isAlain Prost, with 3 championships and 38 race wins.[5]
The series always attracts names who were famous in other series before moving to ice racing – includingFormula One driversOlivier Panis,Romain Grosjean andJacques Villeneuve.
On 14 February 1999, the series held a "Superfinal" at theStade de France inSaint-Denis, on the outskirts ofParis. Using 700 tonnes of ice, an oval track was established around the edge of the stadium, allowing for racing in front of around 60,000 people, with no championship points at stake.
The Superfinal was held at the Stade de France for three years, before moving to an oval track atNœux-les-Mines in 2002. No Superfinal was held in 2003, but returned to the Stade de France in 2004.
In 2005 the races were held atSaint-Dié-des-Vosges, and once again at the Stade de France in 2006, 2008 and 2011. Various other locations have been used, but in recent years the Superfinal was almost always raced at Clermont / Super Besse.
The title for the dame was awarded in to best women in a selected class in each season.
