Algarve Classic Festival 2021: Masters Endurance Legends

The More Modern Historics!

Race 1

Werner/Padmore come from the back to triumph in first Masters Endurance Legends race at Portimão

Marco Werner and Nick Padmore came through to take the spoils in a wet first Masters Endurance Legends race at the Algarve Classic Festival, as their Lola-Lotus B12/80 soon hit the front during a storming opening stint by Werner. Returning in second place because of the longer pitstop mandated by the pair’s elite-driver status, Padmore had to take the fight to Xavier Micheron’s Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile MkIIIC, the Frenchman having shone in the first part of the race by charging all the way up to second.

“The start was important”, said Werner about his efforts to make an early break. “We knew we had to counter our pitstop penalty. But the car worked perfectly, so here we are!”

“Marco basically built up a good lead”, said Padmore. “And I’m simply still learning and learning in this car. But Britec did a mega job on the car, so easy as that!”

Micheron’s surprise win on the slippery track wasn’t to be, though, as the Riley & Scott spun while attempting to clear multiple backmarkers in one go. This allowed Padmore through to take a comfortable victory behind the safety car that was called in the late stages after Jamie Constable lost control of his Pescarolo-Judd 01. Following his spin, Micheron had dropped back between Constable and Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2, but fought back to reclaim second place from Constable whose own spin allowed d’Ansembourg to claim the final spot on the podium.

“I was passing three backmarkers”, Micheron explained. “There was so much spray, I couldn’t see anything and missed my braking point…”

“I’m quite happy”, said d’Ansembourg. “The rain is quite tricky with this car, as I found out at Spa, but we changed the setup and it was going fine here. I was really surprised by Xavier’s speed in the rain! I had a good fight with Jamie but then he spun – it was all about making no mistakes, and I was the one that didn’t make them.”

Keith Frieser was a lonely fourth in his Zytek 09S, followed home by Mike Newton’s MG Lola-AER EX257, the P3-class-winning Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15 of Craig Davies and Ron Maydon, and Richard Meins, the latter’s Aston Martin DBR9 taking the GT category’s win from Jason Wright in the Ferrari 458 GT3.

“I’ve only raced at Brands with this car this year”, said Meins. “But I know the track, I raced here in LMP3 with United Autosports a few years ago, even though you can’t compare this car with an LMP3 – I love this place, it’s very technical, very physical.”

On a very wet Algarve track, the field was sent on its way following a safety-car start two laps into the race. Immediately, Constable’s Pescarolo-Judd 01 broke away but behind him Xavier Micheron made up two places in his Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile MkIIIC to lead Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2, while Keith Frieser dropped to fourth in the Zytek 09S. In fifth, Marco Werner had taken six places already, having started the Lola-Lotus B12/80 from 11th after its qualifying mishap.

The next time around, it was all change again, as an unstoppable Micheron had taken the lead from d’Ansembourg, Constable, Werner and Frieser, with Craig Davies moving up to sixth in the Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15 and James Hagan snatching seventh in the ORECA-GM FLM09, both at the detriment of Mark Higson’s ORECA-Nissan 03. Mike Newton had dropped to ninth in the MG Lola-AER EX257 while Richard Meins in the Aston Martin DBR9 led the GT category from Jason Wright’s Ferrari 458 GT3.

On lap 5, though, Werner had demoted Constable, then d’Ansembourg and then Micheron to lead by 0.8 seconds from the Frenchman. The first four were still separated by less than four seconds but Frieser had been dropped by the lead group to the tune of 17 seconds. In fact, Hagan and Davies – now having switched places – were chasing the Canadian hard. At the front, the small margins began evaporating soon, however, as Werner broke free from Micheron by four seconds, with d’Ansembourg trailing by another tick and Constable two more seconds behind the Belgian.

As the pit window opened, Werner led Micheron by close to seven seconds, d’Ansembourg by nine and Constable by 12. In the GT class, Meins held an eight-second advantage on Wright. On lap 8, Constable’s Pesca was the first to pit, as Werner and Micheron kept on banging in the 1.57 laps on what was still a very wet track – even though the rain had abated. Next time around, Werner lowered the mark to 1.55, easing away two more seconds from Micheron in the knowledge that he was forced to do a longer mandatory stop before co-driver Nick Padmore would be sent out.

On lap 9, d’Ansembourg was the next of the frontrunners to pit, and he was followed in by Newton, Higson, Meins and Wright. On lap 10, while Werner carried on for one more lap, Micheron, Frieser, Davies (handing over to Ron Maydon), Hagan (handing over to Chris Atkinson) and Mike Furness in the Courage-Judd LC75 were in.

On lap 12, when the pitstop smoke had cleared, Micheron led Padmore by six seconds, followed by Constable and d’Ansembourg contesting third place three more seconds down the road. Frieser was a lonely fifth, 40 seconds away from the leader, with Newton having grabbed sixth from Maydon. Meins had moved up into eighth as the leading GT car, while Furness was ninth and Wright leading Atkinson and Higson in tenth.

With a fresh drizzle arriving, lap times were going up again, but for the moment Micheron remained in charge, equalling Padmore’s lap times while increasing his lead over the two Gulf-liveried cars in third and fourth. On lap 15, though, the Frenchman spun away his lead to let Padmore through and slotting in between Constable and d’Ansembourg. Further back, Furness spun and dropped to last.

Padmore now fully in control, he brought home the overall and P2-class win for himself and Marco Werner, while Micheron fought back to reclaim second from Constable. Even worse for the latter, Constable spun his Pescarolo at the start of lap 17 while blocking the track as a result, leaving the race to finish under the safety car. D’Ansembourg had dropped away from Constable in the latter stages but now inherited third ahead of Frieser, Newton, Maydon, and Richard Meins in the winning GT car. Higson, Atkinson and Wright rounded out the top-ten.

Race 2

Werner/Padmore double up in Masters Endurance Legends at Portimão

Marco Werner and Nick Padmore took a lights-to-flag victory to double up in the two Masters Endurance Legends races at the Algarve Classic Festival. Overcoming their elite-driver pitstop penalty despite a fierce challenge from Xavier Micheron in the Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile MkIIIC, Werner handed Padmore a Lola-Lotus B12/80 that was still in the lead when it returned to the track after its mandatory stop. Padmore’s job was made easier when the Frenchman sadly threw away second place with a spin.

“Yeah, it was close with Xavier”, said Werner while awaiting reception of the winners’ trophies. “In the beginning it was just 1.9 seconds, and we feared that he was going to catch us with his straightline speed. But then he spun. It’s a shame, it would have been nice to have him on the podium here with us.”

“What a great teammate, he’d done all the work and gave me the lead”, said an elated Padmore. “And what a fantastic car. I was still learning, it’s completely different to anything I’ve driven. I want to learn properly in a private test…”

Micheron’s demise meant second and third for Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 and Keith Frieser’s Zytek 09S, the two warring over positions after the pitstops before the Belgian broke free to lead the Canadian home by ten seconds, albeit one minute and three seconds behind the winning Werner/Padmore car.

“I was struggling because my wet tyres were already old”, said d’Ansembourg. “With the pitstops I lost a place to Keith, so I had to overtake him again. And then Xavier went out, so that helped of course.”

“It was very, very slippery”, said Frieser. “I’ve not much experience in the rain with this car, but I pushed very hard. I had great in and out laps for the pitstop, so I passed Christophe, but couldn’t hold him. Survival was the name of the game today.”

Coming from the back, Jamie Constable claimed a lonely fourth in his Pescarolo-Judd 01, ahead of Mike Newton in the MG Lola-AER EX257, and the Craig Davies/Ron Maydon pairing in the Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15. In seventh overall, Jason Wright took the GT class win in his Ferrari 458 GT3.

“It was a good drive, I really enjoyed myself”, said Wright. “The car was so nice to drive. It was just too bad that [class rival] Richard [Meins] was knocked out, I would have liked to fight him.”

On a track still wet from early-morning showers, a safety-car start was the safest choice, so the field received the green flag after two exploratory laps on an Autodromo do Algarve that remained decidedly damp despite the sun’s arrival for the remainder of the day. Starting in the finishing order of race 1 meant that Marco Werner flew off in the lead, his Lola-Lotus B12/80 breaking free from Xavier Micheron’s Riley & Scott-Oldsmobile MkIIIC by three seconds and from Christophe d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 by six seconds. Frieser’s Zytek 09S and Mike Newton’s MG Lola-AER EX257 stayed put but in sixth Jamie Constable’s Pescarolo-Judd 01 had scythed through the field from its lowly starting position, the Pesca having spun out the day before.

Behind, Davies’ Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15 and Meins’ Aston Martin DBR9 had had minor contact, causing the GT1 car to drop away, with Jason Wright’s Ferrari 458 GT3 taking over the mantle as the GT class leader, in eighth overall, still ahead of Mike Furness in the Courage-Judd LC75 and Chris Atkinson in the ORECA-GM FLM09.

On lap 5, Werner’s lead over Micheron had increased to eight seconds, with d’Ansembourg a further eight ticks in arrears. Frieser was following the Belgian closely while Constable had jumped Newton for fifth but was still 30 seconds behind the leader. At the back, Mark Higson’s ORECA-Nissan 03 had overtaken Atkinson to get into the top-ten.

The pit window approaching, Werner continued to pull away, leading Micheron by ten seconds on lap 6. D’Ansembourg and Frieser followed at 22 and 25 seconds respectively while Constable still had 13 seconds to bridge to the pair. Meanwhile, Davies had passed Newton for sixth but it proved shortlived, as he spun to recover in eighth, taking up his place behind Wright in the lead GT car.

Two laps later still none of the cars had come in for their mandatory stops, Werner using his track time to leave Micheron trailing by 14 seconds on lap 8. Then Constable was the first to blink, as Werner, Micheron and d’Ansembourg continued for yet another lap, the German now 17 seconds clear of his French rival. While reporting brake issues, Higson was in, though, and so were Frieser, Newton, Wright and Atkinson, the latter handing over to James Hagan. Micheron came in on lap 10, followed by Davies who would swap places with Ron Maydon. On lap 11, Werner took the final opportunity, as did d’Ansembourg and Meins.

When the dust had settled, it turned out that Werner had done enough to negate his car’s elite-driver pitstop penalty, leaving teammate Padmore in a 1.5-second lead over Micheron. Frieser, however, had pipped d’Ansembourg at the stops, and led the Belgian by a second. Constable was a distant fifth, trailing the leader by well over a minute, with Newton sixth, Wright seventh, and Maydon in eighth. Furness and Meins completed the top-ten.

A subsequent slow lap by Micheron, possibly caused by an error, made Padmore’s work a lot easier, the Briton suddenly having nine seconds in hand on the Frenchman, while with less than ten minutes remaining on the clock, Frieser continued to keep d’Ansembourg at bay. On lap 14, though, the Belgian had passed the Canadian to reclaim third before easing away from the Zytek.

Now more familiar with the car, Padmore stormed off into an unassailable lead, further helped by Micheron spinning out at turn 9 to leave d’Ansembourg and Frieser into second and third. In the end, Padmore took the chequered flag by well over a minute from d’Ansembourg, with Frieser a further ten seconds behind. Constable claimed a lonely fourth ahead of Newton, who took second place in the P2 class, with Maydon in sixth (and the winner of the P3 class), and Wright in the winning GT car in seventh. Rounding out the top-ten were Furness, Hagan and Meins.