ADAC Hockenheim Historic – The Jim Clark Revival 2025: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

In a race endlessly punctuated by safety cars, Warren Briggs kept his cool to upset the usual suspects and claim his first-ever win in historic Formula One. In the second Masters Racing Legends race of the ADAC Hockenheim Historic weekend, the New Zealander was pushing the leading Tyrrell 011 of Jamie Constable before that was given a drivethrough penalty for jumping the safety-car restart, thus inheriting the lead before the red flag came out for yet more retirements in a race of attrition. Before that, however, Briggs had kept reigning champion and race 1 winner Matthew Wrigley behind on merit in what was arguably the best race of his historic Formula One career.

“I had a bit of help, obviously”, said Briggs. “But I just loved having the pace to keep up with the guys. Jamie was in sight and there were a couple of little places I could perhaps make it into a small gap, and there’s obviously some places where he closed it. I’m delighted, and I’m just so pleased for the team and all the effort they’ve made. We did a lot of work over the winter, and now it was up to me. And it’s the first race an M29 has ever won!”

Constable had assumed the lead early on after passing Briggs who sat on pole on the partially reversed grid for race 2, and after Christophe d’Ansembourg crashed out in his Williams FW07C, the pair were chased by Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW08 and Wrigley’s Tyrrell 011. Then Cantillon also dropped out, allowing Wrigley to move up a spot, but there was nothing he could do against Briggs ahead of him. From the back of the grid, Werner d’Ansembourg compensated for his team mates’ bad luck by surging all the away to the front to claim third at the chequered flag, ahead of Steves Brooks (Lotus 91) and Hartley (McLaren MP4/1).

“I was struggling with the car”, Wrigley explained, “but Jamie and Warren were driving brilliantly. The first couple of laps were so messy and I really wanted to come back with a nice clean car – and it got very close on many times the first couple of laps! I sort of took it a bit more relaxed and pick it off as it was. Mike had a gearbox problem, Jamie got a drivethrough and then we had the red flag. So we didn’t really have a chance with Warren, but he drove brilliantly. I don’t know whether I would have got him anyway. The safety cars were just annoying. Two laps, safety car, two laps, safety car. We’ve had five or six safety cars over two races. Not the best of weekends, but for us it’s been a good weekend, first and second, so a lot of points!”

“Redemption!” said d’Ansembourg. “But thanks to a string of luck, a couple of safety cars, unfortunate luck for others with DNFs, they all came to my advantage – a chain of events made me come back from this. I wasn’t counting the cars that I overtook, but a few, a few… So overall, happy to bounce back from yesterday and from the practice issues on Friday.”

In sixth overall, Ewen Sergison took two from two in the pre-78 class – and four out of four when including his pair of HGPCA wins! – as he managed to keep his pre-72 Surtees TS9B narrowly ahead of Martin Bullock’s Williams FW06. When Peter Williams’ Lec CRP1 retired in a puff of smoke right at the end, Toni Seiler’s Shadow DN1 picked up the final spot on the podium. Further up front, James Hagan’s Tyrrell 011B came from the back to triumph in the post-82 class, profiting from the premature demise of Valerio Leone’s Arrows A6 – another reason for the many race interruptions.

“I’m satisfied. because my tyres overheated”, said Sergison. “So I could pull away for a couple of laps but then they started coming back at me. Every time I pulled away, I had to squeeze back in. But luck was on my side today. Marty would definitely have caught me without the red flag.”

“The race was a bit stop and start, as you would imagine”, said Bullock. “So we really didn’t get going into a rhythm of any sort. But other than that, thoroughly enjoyable. It’s a beautiful place, nice weather, and I had a good race because I’m here in one piece. If only we’d had a few more laps to go at it, but I didn’t get it because of the red flag, and Ewen drove very well. Nevermind…”

“I have the second oldest car and I am satisfied”, said Seiler. “For me, it was practice for Monaco next year. I drive the car only once a year, and for me it is a joy to drive in front of so many fans and in such lovely weather.”

The perfect spring weather continued into the Sunday afternoon when the Masters Racing Legends grid came out for their second race of the weekend. On the partially reversed grid, Warren Briggs was sat on pole in the McLaren M29, with Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Williams FW07C beside him. Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW08 and Jamie Constable’s Tyrrell 011 were on the second row, while Saturday’s race winner Matt Wrigley lined up fifth in his similar Tyrrell 011, alongside Steve Brooks in the Lotus 91. Race 1 class winners Valerio Leone (post-82 Arrows A6) and Ewen Sergison (pre-72 Surtees TS9B) shared row four, with pre-78 class rivals Martin Bullock (Williams FW06) and Peter Williams (Lec CRP1) rounding out the top ten on the grid.

Coming from the back would be the likes of Oli Webb (Fittipaldi F8), Werner d’Ansembourg (Brabham BT49C), Steve Hartley (McLaren MP4/1) Max Werner (Hesketh 308C) and James Hagan (Tyrrell 011B) – all struck by bad luck the day before. Especially Webb and the younger d’Ansembourg were expected to quickly surge to the front, but Webb’s Fittipaldi proved recalcitrant once again and had to be pushed off the grid.

At the start of the 25-minute race, Briggs and d’Ansembourg (C.) initially hung on to their top two spots, but the Belgian got the drop on the Kiwi towards the Spitzkehre, after which Constable – well on it after a pair of Masters Endurance Legends wins – swept past as well. Further back, Hartley and d’Ansembourg (W.) was already up into 10th and 11th respectively.

On the next tour, d’Ansembourg Snr was unable to hold Constable, and the Tyrrell stormed through into the lead, after which the Belgian went off going into the stadium, evoking a full-course yellow. Briggs was still second behind the leading Tyrrell, the Kiwi valiantly having held Cantillon and Wrigley at bay. Brooks, Leone and Sergison were next, ahead of Bullock, Hartley and the younger d’Ansembourg.

When the removal of the Williams FW07C took slightly longer than expected, the full course yellow was converted into a safety-car situation after all, but thankfully that only lasted a single lap. Going into lap 4, the field was once again released, with Constable going for it early, putting the power down while exiting the Sachskurve. Briggs continued to hold his own in front of two Masters champions, who fought each other harder than trying to catch up with the McLaren in front. Some eight seconds further down the road, Hartley and d’Ansembourg (W.) let Sergison do the fighting with Bullock while Leone’s Arrows A6 ground to a halt in the stadium. Further back, Max Werner ended an unfortunate weekend by yet again retiring the Hesketh. And then, to make it three in a row, Cantillon reliquished his third place by pitting on lap 6. Then the Leone situation required yet another safety car, but again it would be brief.

At the front, Constable remained unperturbed, but having said that, Briggs kept him honest on merit in what was probably his best race to date on pure race pace. Through the second safety car, however, Wrigley and Brooks were now hot on his heels, as were Hartley and d’Ansembourg (W.). In seventh overall, Sergison still led the pre-78 race from Bullock in eighth and Williams in 11th, the latter two sandwiching Hagan’s Tyrrell and the emerging Webb in the Fittipaldi.

But then it all fell to pieces for Constable when he was penalised with a drivethrough penalty for in fact restarting too quickly. With that message, the racing also stopped, as yet again the safety car was called, this time for Stanley Fulton’s stricken Penske PC3, while Peter Williams’ Lec was seen stopping on the main straight with a smoking engine. Constable took his penalty as quick as he could, and this now left Briggs in the position in which he started: first!

But soon enough, with all the stopped cars the red flag was waved, with the race not starting again. This handed Briggs a shock victory ahead of Wrigley, the resurgent d’Ansembourg, Brooks, Hartley and the two leading pre-78 runners Sergison and Bullock, with Sergison also claiming pre-72 honours. Hagan was a strong eighth and the post-82 class winner, while Webb and a likely disconsolate Constable rounded out the top ten. Toni Seiler picked up the remaining pre-78 podium spot, his Shadow DN1 finishing ahead of Arthur Bruckner’s Arrows A6.