2024 Mugello Racing Weekend report
Eat pasta, drive fasta
Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- October 16, 2024
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Who?Matthew Wrigley What?Tyrrell-Cosworth 011 Where?Mugello When?2024 Mugello Racing Weekend (October 13, 2024) |
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Why?
Masters Historic Racing concluded its 2024 season at Mugello, returning to the Tuscan track after an 11-year absence. The Masters Racing Legends for F1 cars from the 3-litre era were once again the main act, this time with the 1982 Tyrrell 011 in a starring role, as the car not only won both races, but also locked out the Saturday podium. Ken Tyrrell won this race ahead of Matthew Wrigley and Jamie Constable, but on Sunday Tyrrell handed over his title to Wrigley, who finished the season with a victory.
The F1 field consisted of 24 cars this time, proving once again that the category has returned to its former glory. A large part of the grid was made up of Italian entrants, who have increasingly embraced the championship over the past two seasons. The British still call the shots, though, although American Ken Tyrrell thought otherwise, as on Saturday, he grabbed an early lead to never relinquished it while soaking up pressure from Wrigley who lacked a bit of straightline speed and had to bet on Tyrrell making a mistake – which he never did. So the 011 in Denim colours crossed the line in first, just ahead of the 011 in Imola Ceramiche colours. Jamie Constable, in another Denim car, made it 1-2-3 for the 011.
The returning Ken Tyrrell grabbed the spoils in the first Masters Racing Legends race of the meeting, while Valerio Leone took a pair of post-82 class wins in the Arrows A6. (photo 8W)
The American had been absent for several weekends, so he could not properly defend his title, but at Mugello showed that this had not made him rusty. But even the outgoing champion could not hold off Wrigley on Sunday, as the Briton drove from sixth on the partially reversed grid to an unchallenged victory ahead of Constable, while Tyrrell had to retire with bad luck. This left a place on the podium for something other than a Tyrrell.
That lowest step on the rostrum seemed to go to Yutaka Toriba in the Williams FW07C, the Japanese driver having improved a lot this season, and third place would have been proper reward. Right on the finish line, however, he was narrowly beaten by Mike Cantillon, who once again produced a brilliant comeback race. The Irishman had been unlucky with his Williams FW08 on Saturday – a new car as his FW07C had already been shipped to Austin for the F1 US GP support races – but on Sunday he repeated his Silverstone feat, once again vaulting from the back of the grid all the way up to the podium.
In the 1971 Surtees tended to by mechanic Jess Lawrence, Ewen Sergison surged to two strong third places in the pre-78 results. (photo 8W)
Nick Padmore once again chalked up both wins in the pre-78 class, pedalling the Lotus 77 with which he has been champion twice before. As he failed to compete in all the rounds this year, he missed out on the title, that instead went to Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1, who won many of the races where Padmore was absent while collecting many podium finishes. This time, by the way, the Briton did not reach the podium, as Padmore was chased home by the McLaren M23 of Lukas Halusa, who had been champion with this car in 2021. Meanwhile, two brilliant third places went to Ewen Sergison in the Surtees TS9B, by far the oldest car in the field. For two races Sergison held off the newer Williams FW06 of Martin Bullock and the Ensign N174 (ex-Roelof Wunderink and Gijs van Lennep!) of Marco Fumagalli to lift a pair of pre-72 class wins and third in the pre-78 results.
In Masters Endurance Legends, Christophe Bouchut immediately his Masters debut into victory. The 1991 French F3 champion had put the Enso CLM-P1 of byKolles on pole, but was forced to make up for a 40-second time penalty in the race due to his elite-driver status. As a result, Bouchut dropped behind Keith Frieser's Zytek 09S, until he found some additional speed to overtake the Canadian after all, while Frieser managed to just stay ahead of the winning LMP2 prototype of Yutaka Toriba and Alfie Briggs.
Christophe Bouchut made his Masters debut in the byKolles-run Enso CLM-P1 and won straight out of the blocks. (photo 8W)
The British-Japanese duo tightened the thumbscrews for the second race, with the result that teenager Briggs was led after the stops. Although Bouchut approached at a rapid rate, Briggs held on and just managed to hold off the former Le Mans winner. Frieser finished a distant third. Meanwhile, the 16-year-old Briggs, who has his sights set on the ELMS, also became the youngest ever champion in a historic championship
.In the GT class, Afschin Fatemi (Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3) and Victor Jabouille (Chrysler Viper GTS-R) shared the spoils. Jabouille led the morning race, but decided to save his tyres for the afternoon race. This allowed the German to take a shock debut victory in his very first race in the Spider-Man-liveried machine. In the second race, however, Jabouille pulled out to a 30-second lead over Fatemi. Kari Makela finished third twice in another Vantage V12 GT3.
The 'Breadvan' shared by the Halusa brothers failed to finish in Masters Gentlemen Drivers. (photo 8W)
In the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars race, Lee Mowle and Phil Keen drove their Jaguar E-Type to victory in the GT section. Mowle chased Niklas Halusa's Ferrari 250 GT SWB 'Breadvan' for the first half of the race, but as soon as brother Lukas got behind the wheel of the unique shooting brake, a puncture soon put paid to their challenge. Due to the extra pitstop time for pro driver Keen, the TVR Griffith of the Italians Gilles and Thomas Giovannini took the lead. As an invitational entry, they were able to enter a third driver – and this driver proved to be very able, as Keen had to pull out all the stops to catch and pass Vito Truglia. When Truglia handed over to Thomas Giovannini for the final stint, Simon Jackson in his Lotus Elan was able to secure second place. Behind the TVR the Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports of Keith Ahlers and Billy Bellinger finished fourth. The title went to Julian Thomas, who was not present in Mugello.
The touring car race was comfortably won by Geoff & Alan Letts in a Lotus Cortina. They had no more opponents when Andreas Halusa's Alfa GTA broke down halfway through the race. Sam Tordoff had already become champion in Silverstone.
The rest of the programme consisted of BOSS GP and various Italian historic and ‘modern historic’ series from the PNK Motorsport fold, the former Peroni Group. In addition to the Alfa Revival Cup and various touring car series for youngtimers and ‘even younger timers’, the Mitjet Italia Series stood out: a series for silhouette racers with a lightweight coupe body that could be transformed into any brand by the use of stickers. The cars looked and sounded spectacular, but the drivers could be accused of a touch too much enthusiasm, as in the four races that were allocated to the series, the safety car led most laps. In fact, the third race was completely run in yellow-flag conditions, with cars even crashing behind the safety car…