The Masters Historics Racing European season grand finale thoroughly entertained Portuguese race fans with six hotly contested races resulting in six different winners at the Algarve Classic Festival—a sunny Hawaii-themed final two days of racing wrapping up the MHR 2022 season.

Masters Racing Legends

In Masters Racing Legends featuring 1966-1985 Formula 1 cars, Marco Werner and Mike Cantillon split the wins while keeping the crowd on their feet start to finish in both races, as the German and the Irishman scrapped at the wheel of their respective Lotus 87B and Williams FW087C.

Cantillon crossed line first on both occasions but was only allowed to keep one of his victories, a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits pushing him down to second behind Werner on Saturday. The next day, the two were at it again. This time, Werner seemed to profit from a mid-race error by Cantillon, but the Irishman clawed back to seize the victory.

Martin O’Connell guested in Mark Hazell’s Williams FW08B to take third on Saturday while Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 rose through the ranks to complete the podium on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Patrick d’Aubreby proved invincible in the pre-78 class, racking up a pair of wins in his March 761.

Masters Endurance Legends

A dominant performance in qualifying from the three Peugeots in the field made it look like the French marque would lock out the rest of the competition. However, neither two Masters Endurance Legends races went entirely their way.

Kriton Lendoudis did corner Saturday’s win in his 908, leading home Steve Brooks who initially led in the 90X. But fter a troublesome qualifying, Christian Gläsel came through from the back to grab third in his Pescarolo-Judd 01 before claiming a fighting win over Lendoudis on Sunday, the two leaving Brooks in third.

Stuart Wiltshire (Ligier JSP2), Craig Davies/Ron Maydon (Ligier JSP3) and Jason Wright (Ferrari 458 GT3) each bagged a pair of class wins.

Masters Sports Car Legends

Newly formed duo Julian Thomas and Andy Wolfe stormed off to a dominant win in Saturday’s Masters Sports Car Legends race, the pair sharing Jason Wright’s Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk3B. Their expected competition from Tom Bradshaw, who had won the two previous rounds, failed to materialize, as the Englishman’s Chevron B19 was slowed by insessant fuel-pressure issues. This allowed Michael Gans to take second in the Lola T-290.

Nigel Greensall again hooked up with John Spiers to produce a stunning drive to third overall and the pre-66 Hulme class win in Spiers’ McLaren M1B, passing the Mathias and Marc Devis Chevron B19 and Andy Willis in Stephan Joebstl’s Lola T212 in the latter stages of the race.

Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Cars

In the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Car field, Andrew Haddon vanquished the bigger-engined machines by claiming the overall win in his CLP-class Lotus Elan, heading home the John Spiers/Nigel Greensall TVR Griffith, and two more CLP class runners—the Stephan Joebstl/Andy Willis Lotus Elan and the Robin Ward/Ron Maydon Ginetta G4R.

Meanwhile, the returning Kyle Tilley took his Lotus Cortina to a fine debut win in the Touring Car section, the US-based Briton heading home the Alfa GTAs of father-and-son duos Xavier and Olivier Galant and Martin and Lukas Halusa.

Special thanks from the Masters Historic team to the Algarve Classic Festival and Autódromo Internacional do Algarve organizers and volunteers for a great weekend. A special thanks to all drivers, teams, marshals and officials—and especially the fantastic Portuguese race fans—for joining us to celebrate our historic racing season finale.

To view the weekend photo gallery, read the full race reports and review the results sheets, click HERE.

** With the 2022 UK and European season now over, MHR will turn its attention to the US where, as per tradition, Masters will contribute to the classic editions of the Daytona 24 Hours (November 2-6) and the Sebring 12 Hours (Nov. 30-Dec. 4) by invitation from HSR. Meanwhile, the 2023 Masters Historic Racing schedule will be announced shortly.