Silverstone Classic Report

A huge crowd did their best to avoid the worst of the British summer weather and enjoy 21 superb races at the 2019 Silverstone Classic.

Races for every conceivable type of historic car had a place on the bill, from pre-war Bentleys to Peugeot 908 LMP1 cars, and everything in between.

On-track headliners were the cars of the FIA Masters Histroric F1 Championship, racing for the Sir Jackie Stewart Trophy. The F1 cars had the worst of the weather for their race on Saturday, being forced to start behind the safety car due to the amount of water on the track.

Mike Cantillon lead the field away once racing began, but was unable to hold of the Tyrrell 012 of Martin Stretton. However, a charging Matteo Ferrer-Aza passed both Cantillon and Stretton to take the lead in his stunning Ligier JS11/15, and then romped away to take a popular victory.

Ferrer-Aza attacking Stretton

In the Pre-’63 GT race, Martin Hunt and Pat Blakeney-Edwards took their AC Cobra to victory after a titanic scrap against a pair of Jaguar E-Types, with the Cobra mounted pair being helped by a mid-race safety car period.

The most memorable moment of Saturday’s action came in the Transatlantic Trophy race for Pre-1966 Touring Cars, which was won by the Ford Mustang of Rob Fenn and Jake Hill in extraordinary circumstances.

In the closing stages of the race Hill was battling for the lead with the similar Mustang of Craig Davies, when Davies locked up and tapped Hill into a spin at Club corner.

Davies taps Hill into a spin

Davies let Hill regain the lead, but further drama was to follow. With damaged bodywork rubbing on the rear tyre, the rubber eventually failed on the Hangar Straight on the final lap. In an act of true sportsmanship, Davies refused to re-pass Hill and followed the BTCC star for the remainder of the lap. Hill crossed the line on three wheels to take a memorable win.

Sportscars running into the twilight is a staple of the Silverstone Classic. Sadly there was no sunset this year but the on-track action made up for grey skies. First to go out on track were the pre-war cars, racing for the Bentley Centenary Trophy. Fittingly, the 1926 Bentley 3/8 of Oliver and Tim Llewellyn took the win.

Attention then turned to more modern machinery, with the Yokohama Trophy showcasing the sports prototypes of the 60s and 70s. Andrew and Max Banks repeated their dominant win of 12 months ago in their stunning McLaren M6B, fending off a huge grid of evocative sports racers.

As darkness fell, the modern prototypes took to the track for the Aston Martin Endurance Legends race. Seeing and hearing these wonderful machines howling around Silverstone in the darkness is always a highlight of the weekend. Emmanuel Collard set the early pace in his howling Pescarolo Judd, before a coming together with the Peugeot 908 of Kriton Lendoudis halted his charge. That left the way clear for the later Pescarolo of Mike Cantillon and Jonathan Kennard to take victory

Masters Endurance Legends winners

Eariler in the day, Olivier Bryant took home the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy in his Lotus 15, while Miles Griffiths won a frantic HSCC Historic F2 race in his Ralt RT1.

Sunday dawned grey and drizzly, but the peace was shattered by the thunderous Can-Am cars heading the HSCC Thundersports field. Georg Hallau took his Lola T310 to victory in the rain after mechanical problems for Dean Forward’s McLaren M8F monster.

Martin O’Connell recovered from disappointment on Saturday to take victory in the weekend’s second Formula 2 race in tricky drying conditions.

In the weekend’s second Masters Historic F1 race, Steve Hartley took the win aboard his McLaren MP1, the first carbon fibre Formula 1 car.

The Pre-1966 GT field produced an exciting race from their huge field, with the Shelby Daytona Cobra of Julian Thomas and Calum Lockie taking the win from the similar car of David and Olivier Hard, ahead of a gaggle of Jaguar E-Types

Touring Cars were also well represented in the Historic Touring Car Challenge, where Michael Lyons took an easy win in his Spa 24 Hours winning Ford Sierra RS500

Touring Car winner Michael Lyons

Mike Cantillon and Jonathan Kennard repeated their Saturday performance by taking the second Masters Endurance Legends race on Sunday afternoon, while the weekend was brought to an entertaining close by the Mini Celebration Trophy race, which went to current BTCC star Adam Morgan.

A gallery from a wonderful weekend of historic motorsport can be found on Paddock 42 here.

Full results can be found here.

Words and photography by Rich Crawford.

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