Bumper Masters Racing Legends grid for season opener at Paul Ricard!

Masters Historic Racing looks set to start the 2024 Season in great shape, with 31 drivers entered so far for the pair of Masters Racing Legends races that will headline the KENNOL Grand Prix de France Historique at Paul Ricard on April 19/21. Among the Formula One cars already entered from the 1966-1985 3-litre era is reigning champion Ken Tyrrell’s Tyrrell 011, along with strong representation from the hosting country, France, and neighbouring Italy.

With entry numbers likely to swell even more, a Formula One grid size showcasing no less than 14 different manufacturers, will exceed those back in the day and is guaranteed to woo the thousands of spectators expected to visit the burgeoning spring event in the south of France. Moreover, the quality is as high as the quantity, as the entrants embark on their 2024 Masters Season whilst also preparing for the blue-riband Monaco Grand Prix Historique in May.

Leading the entry along with champion Tyrrell are former champions Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C), Steve Hartley (McLaren MP4/1) and Martin Stretton (Tyrrell 012), joined by local favourite Soheil Ayari (Ligier JS21) and rapid Belgian youngster Werner d’Ansembourg (Brabham BT49) who in last season’s final two rounds at Spa and Portimão both bagged their first victories in the series. Former F3000 star Ayari will certainly aim for a repeat in front of his adoring home crowd.

Bolstering the French representation – and the constructor variety in the field – are Guillaume Roman in the Boro Ensign N175, Philippe Bonny in the Trojan T103 and Vincent Rivet in the March 811. Hopping across the border, it is great to see no less than six cars coming from Italy, too: Marco Coppini’s Arrows A1B (the first Arrows car after its founders split from the Shadow team), Luciano Biamino’s ex-Elio de Angelis Lotus 81, Marco Fumagalli’s ex-Keke Rosberg Theodore TR1, Marco Bianchini’s ex-Riccardo Patrese Shadow DN8 and Gianluigi Candiani in an ex-Jan Lammers Ensign N180. Adding yet more history to the grid, Bruno Ferrari has entered his ex-Ronnie Peterson pre-72 Stewart class March 701.

Meanwhile, Monaco-based Valerio Leone in an Arrows A6, Italian Piero Lottini in an Osella FA1 and Mark Hazell in his Williams FW08C will bring the fight to Ayari, Stretton in a busy post-82 Lauda class. Swiss driver Nicolas Matile bringing the rare March 771 to the pre-79 Fittipaldi class, taking on Roman, Fumagalli, Bianchini and Ewen Sergison in the ex-Clay Regazzoni Shadow DN9A.

Also, departing Masters boss Ron Maydon will see out his final season in charge with a bang by racing his Lec CRP1 all year. He is expected to go up against new Masters owner Fred Fatien, who is expected to bring a number of Formula One cars from his GP Extreme stable and, by doing so, lift the entry to well over 31 cars.

The Head class for 1979-’82 ground-effect cars is as healthy and varied as ever. Christophe d’Ansembourg and Yutaka Toriba will be in a pair of Williams FW07Cs, Jamie Constable in his Tyrrell 011, Alejandro Chahwan (March 811), Simon Fish (Arrows A4) and Marc Devis in the ex-Gunnar Nilsson Lotus 78 will be amongst the drivers aiming to topple pre-race class favourites Tyrrell, Cantillon and Hartley.

With four weeks to go until the action starts, the Masters Endurance Legends entry for 1995-2016 Le Mans prototypes and GT cars looks equally promising. Multiple race winner Steve Brooks will lead the busy P1 class in the diesel-engined Peugeot 90X, along with Kriton Lendoudis (Peugoet 908). The P1 class battle will also see the return of regulars such as Christophe d’Ansembourg in the Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2, Keith Frieser in the Zytek 09S, Jamie Constable in his newly prepared Zytek 04S and Steve Tandy in the Lola-Judd B12/60. Local hero Xavier Micheron will challenge them in his Elan-engined Riley & Scott MkIIIC.

French machines from Ligier, Courage and Norma will add to the smaller prototype classes, with IDEC Sport bringing two Ligier JSP2s in the hands of Jacques Nicolet and Patrice Lafargue, to add the example Michael Birch will run. Finally, the GT classes look bound to welcome a wide variety of GT1, GT2 and GT3 cars, ranging from Philippe Scemama’s Ford GT1 and a pair of KENNOL-backed Corvettes to Mario Cordoni’s Porsche 997 RSR and Kari Makela’s Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3.