Sunny on Friday, cloudy on Saturday, and finishing with torrential rain on Sunday, the weather got progressively worse but, as always, the Spa-Francorchamps Six Hours meeting delivered an outstanding weekend of Masters Historic racing. Five quality fields ensured the event’s success as it bounced back from its cancellation in 2020.
Photo: Masters Historics
In the Masters Historic Formula 1 feature, Jamie Constable (Tyrrell 011) and Mike Cantillon (Williams FW07C) split the wins, the former profiting from the misfortunes of Cantillon and his similarly equipped team mate Christophe d’Ansembourg on Saturday. Cantillon, though, stormed from the back of the grid to a win on Sunday. As the sole pre-78 class representatives, Nick Padmore (Lotus 77) and Lukas Halusa (McLaren M23) both took their opportunity to star, each picking up a second place overall.
Photo: Masters Historics
Shaun Lynn and Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen proved to be the dominant forces in Masters Endurance Legends, both racking up a pair of wins. Lynn’s Peugeot 908 led home his son Maxwell’s BR01 on Saturday, while Portuguese pro driver Rui Aguas in another BR01 came through to take second on Sunday. In his Audi R8 LMS Ultra, Graf von Oeynhausen completed the count of a German GT3 1-2 clean sweep thanks to Oliver Mathai’s Aston Martin Vantage V12 taking second on both occasions.
Photo: Masters Historics
Tom Bradshaw looked on course to add his season tally of Masters Historic Sports Car wins, but when his Chevron B19 let him down into the final two laps of the race, Manfredo Rossi’s Abarth Osella PA1 was there to take advantage. Meanwhile, in the pre-66 Hulme class, Chris Jolly and Steve Farthing notched up another win in their Cooper Monaco T61M.
Photo: Masters Historics
The Masters Gentlemen Drivers race delivered a storming win for the Cobra Daytona Coupé of Andrew Jordan and Roy Alderslade, with Phil Keen in the E-Type (started by Lee Mowle) battling through the field to steal a podium finish from the Sam Hancock/Niko Ditting Cobra Daytona Coupé, and ultimately even demoting Andrew Haddon to third overall. In his Elan, Haddon still brought home a stunning CLP class victory and on the slippery surface, Manfredo Rossi shone to haul his C1-class Porsche 911 up to an exceptional fifth overall.
Photo: Masters Historics
The Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race was a bit short on entry numbers but a race-long, four-way battle for the lead more than made up for that. Richard Dutton prevailed by fending off the similar Lotus Cortina of Marcus Jewell/Ben Clucas, with long-time race leader Alex Furiani ending up third in his Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA, ahead of David Dickenson in another Cortina.
For the Masters European Tour, it’s now just two more weeks before we indulge in our Iberian doubleheader in the south of Spain and Portugal, first with the Jérez Historic Festival on 22-24 October, before travelling on to Portimão for the Algarve Classic Festival on 29-31 October.
Meanwhile, the Masters USA Tour takes on the Yokohama Drivers Cup USA at Sonoma Raceway on October 15-17, closely followed by the HSR Classic Daytona 24 Hours at Daytona International Speedway on October 27-31.
It’s a busy October ride with the Masters Family …
For results and Spa photo gallery, click HERE.
