2024 Masters Race Weekend report
Donington flyers
Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- August 6, 2024
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Who?Mark Higson What?McLaren-Cosworth MP4/1B Where?Donington Park When?2024 Masters Historic Race Weekend (August 3, 2024) |
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Why?
Matt Wrigley took another step towards a first Historic Formula One title in the brace of Masters Racing Legends races at Donington Park, as the young Briton ran home to win the second race of the weekend. In fact, he would have won the first race too, had it not been for a broken driveshaft in his Tyrrell 011, so as a result, victory in race 1 went to David Shaw in the Williams FW06.
Entry lists weren’t quite booming at the Historic Race Weekend organised by Masters at the Donington Park circuit, but in a country that remains burdened by the B-word while continuing to host a plethora of events, expectations were never high. 11 Formula One cars were entered for the two Masters Racing Legends races, both on Sunday, following free practice and qualifying on Saturday. Wrigley had put his Tyrrell on pole and looked on course for victory until his car’s mechanicals failed on him. This handed Steve Hartley a golden opportunity to finally win again, but a couple of laps later his McLaren MP4/1’s engine simply cut out, forcing him to haplessly coast back to the pits. It’s the second consecutive season of ill fortune for the four-time champion, as later in the day the McLaren failed to even manage to complete the opening lap of the second race.
Matt Wrigley was the quickest man in both Masters Racing Legends races, but was rewarded with a single win. (photo 8W)
In Sunday’s morning race, Wrigley and Hartley’s demise left the lead firmly in the hands of local hero David Shaw who was back in action with Masters – apart from his Monaco appearances, which he never wants to miss. Shaw had already surprised by claiming third on the grid in his pre-78 class FW06, and followed that up with an unlikely overall win in a car from the older class. Simon Fish tried to keep up in his Arrows A4, but opted to save his tyres in the end, while Warren Briggs finished a strong third in the McLaren M29. Later in the day, Fish added another podium finish to his tally, but again was unable to stay with Shaw.
Further down the field, Peter Williams (Lec CRP1) and Ewen Sergison (Shadow DN9A) twice battled hard for the remaining podium places in the pre-78 class. Williams defended tooth and nail in the morning, but Sergison found a way past the Lec with three laps to go. In his zeal to hit back, Williams lost ground early on in the afternoon race to Sergison, who went on to take his second P2 of the day.
Two contenders for Masters Endurance Legends glory: the ex-LNT Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S shared by Lawrence and Freddie Tomlinson, and the HPD-Honda ARX-04b raced by Alfie Briggs. (photo 8W)
In the two Masters Endurance Legends races for more recent Le Mans prototypes we greeted the same pair of winners, as father-and-son duo Lawrence and Freddie Tomlinson, now known for their Ginetta empire, had brought the Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S with which the elder Tomlinson had competed in the Le Mans Series with his erstwhile LNT team. With the help of Tomlinson’s quick son, the orange LMP1 car went on to take both victories. In each race, Goodwood instructor David Brise, who is Alan Purbrick’s quick co-driver in the ex-Rebellion Racing Lola-Judd B12/60, took the lead in the early stages. However, Purbrick was unable to keep pace in the morning race while the Lola broke down with an oil leak midway through the afternoon race.
This left teenager Alfie Briggs with two second places in the winning LMP2 car – an ex-ESM HPD-Honda ARX-04b from the IMSA championship, a coupe that would be the last chassis design from Honda’s US racing department. His main opponent proved to be Mike Newton, who had brought along a Lola B08/80 that followed up the string of MG-Lola cars prepared by RML. The machine saw various engines back in the day, but today it is powered by an 3.4-litre HPD engine. In the LMP3 class, Jack Fabby in the sole Duqueine D08 (formerly known as the Norma M30) held off a gaggle of Ligier JSP3s on both occasions. Only Sennan Fielding managed to stay ahead of Fabby before the former handed over his Ligier to gentleman driver Grahame Tilley.
The Masters GT Trophy for out-of-homologation GT3, GT4 and Cup GT cars haddrew the biggest Masters field of all this weekend – an observation that would have caused great surprise only a year ago. In fact, in three weeks’ time at Silverstone there will be as many as 42 cars on the grid. But no matter how many cars were added, reigning champion Craig Wilkins remained the fastest in his Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, as he won both races despite fierce competition from fellow Super Trofeo drivers Jason McInulty and Neil Glover/Aaron Scott, as well as GT3 class winners George Haynes and Adam Sharpe in a Mosler MT900R.
Diogo Ferrão and Martin Stretton were a late entry to the Masters Sports Car Legends race but cleaned up
with their Lola T292. (photo 8W)
Masters Sports Car Legends honours went to Diogo Ferrão and Martin Stretton, as Ferrão chased Gary Pearson’s Lola T70 Mk3B during his opening stint in the BiP-liveried Lola T292. This became a battle for first when Dan Eagling’s leading Royale RP17 retired with gearbox issues. After the pit stops, Stretton was able to pull away from Pearson, who was forced to retire towards the end when he ran out of fuel. Second place went to Jason Wright in a similar T70 Mk3B. John Spiers and Nigel Greensall finished third in their McLaren M1B, in the process winning their pre-66 class.
Meanwhile, Sam Tordoff remained undefeated in Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars. Tordoff did not compete at Brno, but apart from that the former BTCC race winner has won all his 2024 races to date. Once again, the reigning champion’s Ford Falcon proved unstoppable, with the Spiers/Greensall Mustang getting closest, as Greensall’s strong final stint took him past John Davison’s Mustang and Mike Simpson’s class-winning Lotus Cortina in the closing stages. No Mini cars took part in the race as they were all competing in the Mini Festival at Brands Hatch – another sign of an overcrowded historic calendar.
John Spiers and Nigel Greensall finally won a race again in the TVR Griffith that helped them to
the 2023 Masters Gentlemen Drivers title. (photo 8W)
Davison took his revenge the next day in the HRDC Allstars guest race, which welcomed both GTs and touring cars from the 1960s and 1970s – the name of the championship says it all – as Davison in his TVR Griffith kept ahead of Mike Whitaker and Peter Thompson in similar Griffiths throughout the race. Spiers and Greensall campaigned their Mustang for the second time to finish sixth overall.
A few hours later they were all back in action, with Spiers and Greensall joining them in their Griffith. Together with Harry Barton’s Griffith, this made a quartet of four TVRs in the top four starting positions for the final 90-minute Masters Gentlemen Drivers race. At the end of one and a half hour of hard racing, the four cars still crowded the top of the results sheet, but not in the order they had started. Davison led for about five quarters of the race before the loss of second gear blunted his edge. As a result, he was unable to counter Greensall’s ultimate attack, which saw him and Spiers take victory.
This meant that last year’s champions had finally won another race, as their TVR had been among the retirements all season so far. The Jaguar E-Type of John & Gary Pearson was the only car making life difficult for the TVRs, but the latter of the two brothers went off in the second half of the race, thus restoring the TVR 1-2-3-4. The Lotus Elan of John Tordoff and Andrew Jordan won the CLP class after the rival Elan of Simon & Dominik Jackson succumbed to a collapsed rear suspension.