50 Years of World Champion James Hunt
Freddie Hunt to attend the 2026 Festival

It was the year in which Niki Lauda suffered a horrific fire crash on the Bergwerk section of the Nürburgring Nordschleife, but after missing just two races due to his serious injuries, he fought his way back onto the starting grid for the final races of the season.

The 1976 World Championship was a nail-biting contest between the two respectful rivals, with James Hunt winning by just a single point ahead of Lauda to become Formula 1 World Champion.

Hunt wins at the Nürburgring, where the race resumes after Niki Lauda is taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries. At the final race in Japan at the Fuji International Speedway on 24 October 1976, where Niki Lauda pits at the end of the second lap in the pouring rain for safety reasons and rightly withdraws from the race, Hunt finishes a close third.

Thanks in particular to victories in Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the USA, James Hunt is able to secure the maximum number of points and close the gap on World Championship leader Niki Lauda, who had been leading by a considerable margin.

What an exciting season, what drama, what heroes. Niki Lauda and James Hunt – heroes who seemed almost superhuman, yet were so very human, and who will never be forgotten.

James Hunt secures his first Formula 1 contract with Hesketh Racing, the British team owned by Alexander Lord Hesketh – whose full title is Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh. Baron Hesketh, who founded, managed and financed the racing team from 1972 to 1978, turned it into a particularly close-knit community as well as a team that truly embraced life within the Formula 1 circus. By signing the then relatively unknown James Hunt, Lord Hesketh enabled the young, daring driver to truly showcase his talent on the track. James Hunt’s career begins.

He eventually became Formula 1 World Champion with McLaren in 1976. And he became a legend.

We would all have loved to congratulate James Hunt in person on the 50th anniversary of his magnificent World Championship victory, but this fearless and exceptional talent died far too young in 1993, at the age of just 46, following a heart attack. He is survived by his sons Tom and Freddie and his wife Sarah Lomax.

Grand Meeting – the festival – will be welcoming the ‘Next Generation’ – the ‘Young Guns’ – to Rittergut Birkhof in 2026!

That’s why we were absolutely delighted to have been able to get in touch with Freddie Hunt last year as part of our preparations for 2026, ahead of the festival running from 31 July to 2 August 2026.

Thanks to the introduction by some British friends, we quickly hit it off, and Freddie Hunt agreed to come before Christmas 2025.

We were keen to share this fantastic news ahead of the Retro Classics in Essen, which starts today – where you can find us at Stand B10 in the gallery –: We are absolutely delighted to welcome 38-year-old motorsport legend Freddie Hunt as a special guest and driver throughout the Grand Meeting.

Freddie Hunt has been racing since he was 18, having started his single-seater career in 2007 in British Formula Ford. He also regularly drives historic cars from his father’s racing career.

The Hesketh 308, as a Formula 1 car, is of course part of the collection. After all, this is the car in which his father secured his first Formula 1 victory, when he won the 22nd Dutch Grand Prix at Circuit Zandvoort on 22 June 1975.

At the Grand Meeting 2026, Freddie Hunt will be driving this very car once again – on the Racing Legends demonstration track. A true journey through time and an experience that will be unforgettable.

Incidentally, in 2015 Freddie Hunt competed alongside and against Mathias Lauda in the MRF Challenge Formula 2000 series. That same year, he made his debut in endurance racing – for example, in the Dunlop 24-Hour Race at Silverstone in a Jaguar XKR-S – and started the Maserati Trofeo World Series from pole position.

In 2016, Freddie was involved in some thrilling battles for position – once again alongside Mathias Lauda in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series.

In 2017, Hunt won the SP3 class in the 24-hour series in a Porsche GT4.

In the “Road to Le Mans 2023” races, Freddie drove an ultra-fast Ligier JS P320. Since 2018, Freddie Hunt has regularly competed in the Le Mans endurance races and Le Mans Cups in various classes and with different cars.

Since 2022, Freddie Hunt has been driving the Ligier JS P320 for Reiter Engineering under a five-year contract in the Le Mans Cup – securing victories here, including in the LMP3 class at Portimão. Also noteworthy is his victory in the LMP3 Cup car in the “Prototypen Cup Germany” series at the Nürburgring.

In 2026, Freddie Hunt will compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans – where he will also mark the 50th anniversary of his father’s Formula 1 World Championship victory … under the title “The Hunt for Le Mans”.

The incredibly likeable Freddie Hunt is one of the special guests at the Grand Meeting 2026 and does a wonderful job of bridging the gap between the past and the present in motorsport.

Please make sure to book your tickets in advance for the Grand Meeting 2026, as ticket numbers will be limited.