Silverstone Classic 2015

A record weekend crowd of over 100,000 spectators braved some terrible British Summer weather to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Silverstone Classic. Saturday was sunny and dry, but both Friday and Sunday were a washout.

A packed 20 race programme was headed by a pair of races for the FIA Masters Historic F1 Championship. Martin Stretton was dominant at the head of the field in both races, with a record breaking 40-car grid lining up to take the start on Saturday. Stretton was made to work for the win in race one, as Sam Hancock charged into an early lead in his Fittipaldi F5A, before Stretton moved back in front. A six-car train made a break at the front of the pack, with Steve Hartley, Loic Deman, Andy Wolfe and Greg Thornton all in contention for victory. In rather wetter conditions on Sunday, Stretton was never headed, with Sam Hancock again finishing second.

The undoubted star of the weekend was ex-British F3 racer Martin O’Connell. In the 50-minute FIA Masters Historic Sportscar encounter on Saturday evening, O’Connell steered his Chevron B19 prototype to victory ahead of some much more powerful opposition. Richard Meaden and Marino Franchitti finished second in their thundering Chevrolet powered Lola T70.

O’Connell jumped straight out of the Chevron and into a Jaguar E-Type for the Following Pre-1966 GT race, run into dusk on Saturday. This was arguably the race of the weekend, with a mouth-watering grid of 60’s GT cars. BTCC racer Matt Neal took an early lead in his Sunbeam Tiger, before being overhauled by Michael Gans AC Cobra, and then Martin O’Connell and Mike Whitaker joined the fray too. Once the pitstops had been completed, O’Connell found himself back in the lead to take a very hard fought victory.

Former BTCC racer Tim Harvey took a brace of wins in the races for Pre-1966 Grand Prix Cars, driving Roger Wills’ Cooper T51 F1 racer.

Other winners of the weekend included Christophe d’Ansembourg in the opening Group C race, which ran into darkness on Saturday night. Steve Tandy won the second race of the weekend in the rain on Sunday. Martin O’Connell completed his hat-trick of wins by taking an absolutely soaking HSCC Guards Trophy race on Sunday morning.

Full results from a packed weekend can be found here.