Masters rounds off 2024 UK & EU Season with brilliant Italian season-closer at Mugello!

What a way to draw the curtains on a brilliant 2024 UK & European Masters Tour! Returning to Mugello after an absence of well over a decade brought smiles on the faces of everyone who had travelled down to Italy for our season-closer. The Masters Racing Legends wins were split between Tyrrell 011 drivers Ken Tyrrell and Matthew Wrigley while Christophe Bouchut and Yutaka Toriba/Alfie Briggs divided the Masters Endurance Legends spoils. Lee Mowle and Phil Keen netted Gent Drivers glory while Geoff and Alan Letts proved victorious in Pre-66 Touring Cars.

Masters Racing Legends for 1966/1985 F1 Cars

In the first Masters Racing Legends race on Saturday, outgoing champion Ken Tyrrell returned from a short break to immediately be back on the pace again. In a finely poised duel with the similar Tyrrell 011 of Matthew Wrigley, the American came out on top by inches, while Jamie Constable in third completed a remarkable Tyrrell 011 1-2-3.

The second race was poised for a similar Tyrrell podium lock-out, albeit in a different order, but while Wrigley proved unstoppable and signed off his successful 2024 season with victory from Constable, Tyrrell’s 011 broke to hand third place to a Williams driver. That looked set to be Yutaka Toriba’s FW07C but the Japanese driver was pipped on the line by the resurgent Mike Cantillon in his new FW08 mount. Behind them, Nick Padmore (Lotus 77), Lukas Halusa (McLaren M23) and Ewen Sergison (Surtees TS9B) produced a copy of the previous day’s pre-78 class podium.

Masters Endurance Legends

Former Le Mans winner Christophe Bouchut became a winner on his debut in Masters Endurance Legends by winning the first race on Sunday morning. The Frenchman led the opening part of the morning race, but had to fight his way back up from seventh to beat Keith Frieser’s Zytek 09S to the win, the byKolles-run Enso CLM-P1 only passing the Canadian two laps from the end. Yutaka Toriba and Alfie Briggs took LMP2 class honours with a close third in their BR Engineering BR01, while Afschin Fatemi’s Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 beat Victor Jabouille’s Chrysler Viper GTS-R to the GT class win.

In the afternoon race, Toriba and Briggs turned the tables on their LMP1 rival, as Briggs just narrowly held a fast-arriving Bouchut at the chequered flag, while this time Frieser took third after he lost touch with the two at the front. In GT’s, Jabouille hit back for a comfortable class win ahead of both Astons.

Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars

In the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race, Lee Mowle and Phil Keen in the Jaguar E-type battled with the Niklas & Lukas Halusa Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan’ and the invitational TVR Griffith of Italian trio Gilles & Thomas Giovannini and Vito Truglia to come through for the Gent Drivers win. When the Ferrari faltered and the TVR made another stop, Simon Jackson’s Lotus Elan was promoted to a fine second overall. Meanwhile, the Lotus Cortina of brothers Geoff & Alan Letts led the concurrent touring car race from the front.