The second automobile race in France was not organised by a newspaper, but by a racing committee set up for this purpose, which then became the Automobile Club de France. The task that the participants had to face from 11 to 14 June 1895 was far more ambitious than eleven months earlier and the overall distance was almost the same as the Paris - Brest - Paris cycle race down to the last kilometre. The route was from Paris to Bordeaux and back, a total of 1192 kilometres, with the journey from Paris to Versailles taking place as a non-classified parade. In the end, the decisive factor was the speed or rather the time of arrival in Paris. Of the 46 vehicles entered, 23 started in Versailles, including 6 with steam engines and 1 with electric drive. Of the 16 vehicles with petrol engines, 3 were motorbikes, and of the 13 petrol-powered cars, 8 had a "Système Daimler" engine and 2 were Roger-Benz. Compared to the previous year, Emile Levassor had two trump cards up his sleeve: This time, not all of his vehicles were equipped with the two-cylinder V-engine, which was also available to Peugeot: In addition to the two cars that had already travelled from Paris to Rouen, he equipped a two-seater, which he drove himself, with the new, lightweight and powerful Daimler-Phoenix engine. Gottlieb Daimler contributed an 8 hp four-cylinder engine, originally designed as a boat engine, for a heavy five-seater that weighed 1800 kg. This was probably the first use of a four-cylinder petrol engine in an automobile.
Within the limit of 100 hours defined in the regulations, 9 participants reached the finish line – 1 steam car and 8 petrol-powered cars, including the two Roger-Benz's and 6 vehicles with Daimler or Daimler licence-built engine. The first was Emile Levassor after 48 hours and 48 minutes. However, since his Panhard & Levassor, as a two-seater, did not fulfil the entry conditions, he only received the second prize of 12,000 francs despite a six-hour lead over the – also two-seater – Peugeot of Koechlin. The first prize of 30,000 francs was awarded to Louis Rigoulot's four-seater Peugeot, also equipped with a Daimler licence engine, which had crossed the finish line more than eleven hours after Levassor – incidentally almost five hours ahead of the first Benz, which had again started under the name of the French sales partner Roger. The Bollee steam-powered bus was the last of the nine vehicles to reach the finish line after a time of just over 90 hours – 41 hours and 15 minutes after Emile Levassor's arrival. Another thirteen and a half hours later – and thus almost four hours over the 100-hour limit imposed by the regulations – the Michelin brothers' car with pneumatic tyres arrived in Paris.