2024 Zandvoort Historic Grand Prix report
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Author
- Mattijs Diepraam
Date
- June 25, 2024
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Who?Lukas Halusa What?Williams-Cosworth FW08 Where?Zandvoort When?2024 Historic Grand Prix (June 21, 2024) |
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Why?
A packed programme that ran for three days from early morning to late at night produced a host of close contents at the 2024 Historic Grand Prix at Zandvoort. The Dutch event completed its first dozen of editions, and saw weather conditions improve throughout the event to end with bright sunshine befitting the beach atmosphere of the event and the circuit.
Matt Wrigley came back from adversity to clinch a strong third on Sunday. (photo 8W)
Highlights of the event were the two Masters Racing Legends races for 3-litre-era F1 cars. Similar to 2023, 27 cars were present although not all of them survived Friday's free practice and (wet) qualifying. The first race provided excitement right down to the chequered flag while as many as six cars battled for victory. Three-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner kept his cool to win from the front, his Lotus 87B followed by the Lotus 77 of teammate Nick Padmore who in the process took the pre-78 class win with second place. Behind them, reigning champion Ken Tyrrell fought his way to the front to secure third place in his Tyrrell 011, passing Lukas Halusa's Williams FW08 and benefiting from contact between the other two Tyrrell 011s of Matt Wrigley and Jamie Constable.
Behind Warren Briggs' McLaren M29, Jordan Grogor and Greg Caton ran home to second and third in the pre-78 class. Caton did so in the March 741 clad in Swedish sponsorship that visibly once belonged to Reine Wisell, while for the Maki F101C it was most likely its best ever result in the entire racing history of the Japanese Cosworth kit car.
Jordan Grogor took the Maki F101C by the scruff of its neck to finish much higher than it ever did in period. (photo 8W)
Those two cars lined up on the front row the next day, thanks to the reverse grid Masters applied for the top eight of the field from the first race. After the first few laps, however, they were forced to yield to Halusa, who grabbed the lead to coolly maintain a 1.5-second margin over Tyrrell. Towards the end, the Austrian would feel the heat when his engine started to misfire but he kept three tenths in hand on the line. However, if the race had lasted one lap longer, Halusa would surely have been unable to add a second victory to his tally, following his debut success at Barcelona in 2022.
Behind Halusa and Tyrrell, Wrigley shone by guiding his Tyrrell 011 from the back of the grid all the way up to third, also jumping Werner and Padmore. Behind the first five, Briggs managed to keep a whole gaggle of cars behind, including Werner d'Ansembourg's Williams FW07C and Andy Soucek's Arrows A3. Both, like Wrigley, had suffered bad luck on Saturday and needed to fight their way up, but got bottled up behind the unwavering Briggs. On the edge of the top-ten, Caton and Grogor once again took second and third in the pre-78 class. In the post-82 class, Constable won on Saturday, but a crash for the Briton on the opening lap of Sunday's race handed second-day honours to Georg Hallau and his Theodore N183.
Local hero Michel Kuiper was looking for a repeat of his debut victory in 2023 but was forced to concede to the Cooper T53s of Will Nuthall and Rüdi Friedrichs. (photo 8W)
As many as 38 cars entered the two other races for Formula One cars – those that the Historic Grand Prix Car Association hosted for pre-66 Grand Prix cars. Local hero Michel Kuiper was eager to repeat his debut victory at the same track last year but this time two thirds was all that was in it for Kuiper's Brabham BT4, as the Dutchman trailed the Cooper T53s of Will Nuthall and Rüdi Friedrichs on both days. They finished in that order on Saturday but reserved their roles on Sunday.
On Saturday, Mark Shaw's Lotus 21 had initially seized the initiative, but Friedrichs, Nuthall and Kuiper soon came flying past, with Nuthall taking over the lead from the German on lap 3. In the second race, Friedrichs grabbed first place from Nuthall halfway through the race and managed to hold on to it until the field finished behind the safety car. John Spiers won the front-engined class on Saturday, but when his Maserati 250F was forced out on Saturday, Rod Jolley took over in the Lister-Jaguar 'Monzanapolis'. Klaus Lehr's 250F and Ian Nuthall's Cooper-Bristol Mk2 took second and third on Saturday but switched order on the next day.
Numerous close battles typified both Formula Junior races. (photo 8W)
In a somewhat lean Formula 2 field, Wolfgang Kaufmann's March 782 and Matthew Watts in the March 772 aspired for ultimate glory on both days, in the end splitting the wins while the March 762s of Manfredo Rossi and Alex Kapadia provided a supporting role. Watts got off to a good start in the first race, but handed the lead to Kaufmann and Rossi on lap 4. However, Watts still fought his way back to second place though and avenged himself on Sunday by outsmarting Kaufmann at the start and not letting the German pass in the remaining 14 laps. This time, third place went to Kapadia, who had exited the scene out on Saturday, but pushed to the front the following afternoon to rob Rossi of the last podium spot.
30 Formula Junior monopostos appeared for a pair of Lurani Trophy races, and as usual, it was slipstreaming galore throughout the field, as at the front, the Lotus 22s of Clive Richards, Manfredo Rossi and Lukas Halusa was confronted by Alex Ames in the sole Brabham BT6. Richards won race 2 from the front, but a day earlier saw Ames pass on lap 4. On both occasions, Richards struggled to shake off Halusa, but on Sunday the two succeeded to have Ames lose his tow, forcing the Brabham to cross the line 21 ticks later. Rossi was fourth on Saturday, but a day later the Italian had to concede that spot to American Danny Baker in a Lotus 27, following a lengthy tussle with Lee Mowle's Lotus 20/22. Dane Erik Justesen won the front-engined class twice with his U2 Mk2 but Floris-Jan Hekker made good use of his track knowledge to take a couple of second places in his Raybrig FJ.
In his Zytek 04S, Jamie Constable doubled up on Masters Endurance Legends wins. (photo 8W)
In Masters Endurance Legends, the wins were decided between Jamie Constable's LMP1 Zytek 04S and the Nick Padmore/Marco Werner LMP2 Lola-Judd B12/80. Werner initially led on Saturday before Constable passed Padmore in the second part. On Sunday, the Zytek was in the lead when Werner saw an opportunity to pass in the chicane. The cars touched but were able to continue, with Werner taking over the lead and then crossing the line in first. However, the stewards deemed the German guilty of avoidable contact, after which a five-second time penalty handed victory back to Constable. Werner disagreed, pleading that he was on the inside when the Briton turned in but decided not to ruin the good atmosphere of the event by lodging a protest. It was unfortunate that Bob Blain's HPD-Honda ARX-03b had been eliminated by a crash in the wet qualifying session, as the American had invited his driver coach Mikkel Mac as co-driver. It would have been interesting to see how high the Danish ELMS driver would have reached with the ex-ESM LMP2 machine.
In GTs, the David & Olivier Hart Renault RS01 completely dominated twice. In fact, the ‘single-seater with a roof and fenders' was so quick that the two were able to keep up with the prototypes while also running home ahead of quite a few LMP3s. Behind them, more local family-related heroes in the shape of Mathijs Bakker and son-in-law Joshua Kreuger ran a GT1-spec Chrysler Viper GTS-R that duked it out with Victor Jabouille's GT2 version, with Bakker managing an excellent fifth place overall on Sunday.
Belgian Ron Sanen debuted this lovely Chevron B36. (photo 8W)
With their Lola T294, Felix Haas and Michael Lyons stormed to victory twice in Masters Sports Car Legends. On Saturday, the two won from the front, chased by Jason Wright's Lola T70 Mk3B and Michael Gans in the Lola T290, the latter returning from illness. On Sunday, a messy mid-race phase that included a safety car, a red flag and a full-course yellow knocked the Anglo-German pairing down the order, as Wright was able to make a ‘free' during the final caution period, but Lyons fought back to eventually beat Wright quite comfortably.
David & Olivier Hart should have been part of the battle for the lead, but their Ferrari 512M's gearbox seized on Friday. Fortunately, they had brought their Lola T70 Mk3B as a spare car which was hastily entered into the fray, but its Chevrolet engine suffered from a mysterious power loss at full throttle. As a result, they finished fourth on Saturday and failed to reach the finish on Sunday.
The Dutch Vintage Sports Car Club hosted their annual Vintage Revival at the event, providing a pleasant pre-war touch to the Zandvoort paddock. (photo 8W)
A true highlight among the GT and touring car races was the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars race in which Julian Thomas – this time without his regular co-driver and mentor Calum Lockie – faced a full fleet of strong local opposition led by David & Olivier Hart in a similar Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé, Nicky Pastorelli in the Roelofs Ferrari 250 GTO ‘64 and the Ferrari 250 LM of Yelmer Buurman and Alexander van der Lof. Pastorelli took the lead to build up a cushion that as a pro driver he would need at the stops, but two safety cars and a red flag meant that odds were even for everyone towards the end. Thomas, having kept pace with Pastorelli during his opening stint, had duly taken over the lead at the stops but saw his lead evaporate each time the race was neutralised. Reeling off qualifying lap after qualifying lap, he nevertheless managed to keep Pastorelli and Olivier Hart at bay.
In the simultaneous touring car race, Sam Tordoff's Ford Falcon ruled supreme as it did at Brands Hatch, and this time – partly thanks to a late safety car – with a full lap in hand over his competition. Robin Ward would prove to be his nearest rival, although he had a mountain to climb after his Falcon had endured a troublesome qualifying session. Behind the two Falcons, Harry Barton drove to third place, with his BMW 1800 tiSA for the first time keeping all the Lotus Cortinas behind.
Chris Stahl and Michael Lyons piloted one of two Ferrari 458 GT3s that took the fight to Craig Wilkins
in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo. (photo 8W)
David & Olivier Hart raced the same Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé in both SuperSixties races, running away with the pair of them. Behind the Harts, who joined the 45-car field in the invitation class, the Andy Newall/Rhea Sautter Jaguar E-type was the points-paying winner on Saturday, followed home by Brits Charles Allison and Peter Thompson in their TVR Griffith while Manfredo Rossi was another guest star in his Mustang GT350, the Italian finishing fourth ahead of the Alexander & Shirley van der Lof Ferrari 250 GT SWB. A day later, Swede Kenneth Persson pulled ahead in his Ford GT40, followed by the Allison/Thompson Griffith and the Elans of Peter Brouwer and Luc De Cock.
In Masters GT Trophy, reigning champion Craig Wilkins looked set for the double, but when the Briton exceeded the pitlane speed limit in the second race, the penalty handed out to the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo driver allowed Jason Wright to run away with the win in his Ferrari 458 GT3. The day before, Wright had been third behind Wilkins and the second 458 GT3 shared by Chris Stahl and Michael Lyons, but when Stahl committed a similar crime on Sunday, Wright benefited twice from the penalties issued to his rivals.
The Kuijl family ruled in the pair of NK GTTC races, their Ford Capri RS3100s finishing 1-3 and 1-2 respectively.
(photo 8W)
With their Ferrari 488 Challenge, Dutch father-and-son duo Jac & Ties Meeuwissen had to compete against the faster Huracáns in the same Corse class, but on Sunday they managed to keep behind two of them as well as Sam Tordoff's Porsche 997.2 Cup, the winning Cup class car. Vasily Vladikin (BMW M3 GT4) and Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero (Ginetta G55) split the GT4 honours.
The Kuijl family's Capris ruled in both NK GTTC races, although Hans de Graaf and Gerd Rijper offered strong opposition in their Porsche 911 Carrera RSRs. Wim Kuijl won twice in the faster of the Capri RS3100s, but De Graaf managed to split them on Saturday, with Dieter Kuijl crossing the line in third, ahead of Rijper. On Sunday, however, Kuijl Sr restored order by passing De Graaf to finish in the runner-up position behind his son Wim.