Masters Races thrill the crowd at the 2024 Silverstone Festival!

The 2024 Silverstone Festival was held over a typically dry-wet-dry weekend at the Northamptonshire circuit. However, even Saturday’s adverse weather couldn’t stop the Masters grids from delivering some exhilarating on-track action throughout the weekend, which was topped off by the brilliant finish to the International Trophy (Gentlemen Drivers) race, as Olivier Hart and Julian Thomas thrilled the crowd which was in Ron Maydon's opinion 'the best Masters race in the last 20 years'. Along with Hart Jnr, father and son Christophe and Werner d’Ansembourg also completed the double at Silverstone, with the remaining biggest trophies going to Sam Tordoff, Stuart Hall, Matt Wrigley and Jon Minshaw.

Masters Racing Legends for 1966/1985 F1 Cars

Matthew Wrigley and Stuart Hall seemed to be a step above the competition throughout the weekend, dividing the spoils in the two Masters Racing Legends races for 1966-’85 Formula One cars. In a very wet first race, Hall’s Rofgo-prepared March 821 took two corners to steal the lead from polesitter Wrigley, whose Tyrrell 011 remained glued to the March’s Hewland gearbox until the finish, while on a dry Sunday, Hall once again passed the Tyrrell in the early stages, but this time Wrigley bounced back to reclaim the lead as they both scythed through the field from their reversed grid positions. Jamie Constable in another Tyrrell 011 starred on Saturday by clinching third from sixth on the grid, while special mention must be made of Mike Cantillon’s heroic surge from 26th to the final step of the podium in race 2 – not your regular Sunday drive in the Williams FW07C! In the pre-78 class, Peter Williams mastered the wet conditions best in his Lec CRP1, but in the dry second race Carlos De Quesada’s McLaren M26 rose to the top.

Masters Endurance Legends

Father and son team of Christophe and Werner d’Ansembourg gave their Pescarolo-Judd 01 a dream debut by bagging a pair of convincing wins in the two Masters Endurance Legends races. While challenges from several pre-race favourites faded, the returning Stuart Wiltshire got into his stride in a Peugeot 90X he hadn’t race since October to claim two runner-up spots, although a full-course yellow infringement in the second race eventually demoted him to third. Shaun Lynn twice hit the top in the hotly contested LMP2 class, his BR Engineering BR01 surviving the wet on Saturday. While a post-race penalty for the Yutaka Toriba/Alfie Briggs BR01 in Race Two resulted in a loss of postion. In GTs, Cor Euser also did the double in his roaring Marcos Mantara LM600evo.

Pure Michigan Mustang Celebration Trophy for Masters Pre66 Touring Cars 

Meanwhile in Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars, Sam Tordoff made the Pure Michigan Mustang Celebration Trophy his own by winning from pole, maintaining his perfect 2024 record. He was made to work for it, though, as Nigel Greensall in John Spiers’ Mustang kept Tordoff’s Falcon honest in the opening half of the race. In his second stint, Julian Thomas powered through to make it a Falcon 1-2, while ‘Brustang’ duo Jann Mardenborough and Jimmy Broadbent pipped the Spiers/Greensall Mustang to claim third. Jake Giddings and Paul Streather stormed to victory in the Cortina class, while Dan Wheeler took Mini class honours following the demise of Phil Bullen-Brown’s similar Cooper S.

Masters GT Trophy 

The sensational 46-car Masters GT Trophy was forced to deal with the fickle final stages of Saturday’s inclement weather, resulting in numerous additional tyre stops to cope with the wet, then dry, then wet conditions. In the subsequent chaos, Jon Minshaw’s BMW Z4 GT3 came out on top for the first overall win for a GT3 car in the series, backed up by Nick Maton Lamborghini Gallardo GT3. In third, the Bonamy Grimes/Johnny Mowlem Ferrari 458 Challenge vanquished all the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo cars to win the Corse class, while Ray Harris stormed to a stunning GT4 class win, netting a sensational fourth overall in the Ginetta G55 GT4.

Masters Sports Car Legends 

Saturday’s finale repeated last year’s Ferrari glory in the Masters Sports Car Legends bout, but this time father and son David & Olivier Hart lifted the trophy, as the youngster came back to pass 2023 winner Alex Brundle who this time raced Gary Pearson’s Lola T70 Mk3B. As Hart stormed off to the win, Brundle was pipped on the line by a resurgent Gonçalo Gomes in the Lola T296. Fourth overall went to John Spiers and Nigel Greensall, whose McLaren M1B blitzed the pre-66 Hulme class.

International Trophy for Classic GT Cars (Gentlemen Drivers) 

Hart and Thomas then went on to shine in Sunday’s final race, producing a sensational battle for victory that raged on all the way to the chequered flag. The two Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupés went side by side on many occasions, but once Hart had muscled his way back to the front, his brilliant defensive driving delivered the young Dutchman a well-earned win. It was ‘inch-to-inch brilliant gentlemen driving’, beamed Thomas, who was equally jubilant about his second place, especially as he went straight from his Falcon in the Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race. Harry Barton drove a well-judged race to third in the first of the Griffiths, while Dan Eagling slayed a fair number of giants for Monday breakfast, as the nippy Ginetta G4R danced to a stunning fourth overall.