Brno GP Revival 2024: Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Pre-66 Touring Cars

Stephan Joebstl and George McDonald edged their teammates Philipp Buhofer and Andy Willis by a mere tenth as their pair of Lotus Elans fought for overall victory in the 90-minute Masters Gentlemen Drivers race at the Brno Grand Prix Revival. Going side-by-side into the final laps, Joebstl just managed to hold off Willis who had regained the ground won by McDonald in his opening stint.

“Yeah, it was a nice race”, said Joebstl, and his team mate Willis fully agreed: “Fabulous race, nice to race with somebody that was fair, and the cars were very, very similar. So a lot of fun. We were drifting through the corners together and sometimes he was in front, sometimes I was in front. Just how it’s supposed to be. Fabulous track and, you know, lovely weather. So, brilliant.”

Willis was put right on his teammate’s tail by a late safety car for the dramatic demise of reigning champions John Spiers and Nigel Greensall whose TVR Griffith was on for another fine win. In his opening stint, Spiers had done well to give Greensall the lead needed to negate the latter’s elite-driver penalty but it was all for nothing when Greensall ground to a halt with a massive oil leak, handing the advantage to the pair of chasing Elans. One TVR’s loss would be the other TVR’s gain, as it allowed the Griffith of Austrian pairing Thomas Matzelberger and Ingo Strolz to move up into third overall.

“In the end we were very happy because we finished with the car”, said Matzelberger. “Second time in the car, for Ingo and me, so we had great fun. Perfect weather conditions as well, so in the end the car is running like a bomb. And that’s the point, we are happy for the day.”

The C2 class fight between the two Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports of Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger and Simon Orebi Gann/Calum Lockie was equally thrilling, as Ahlers led a finely poised opening stint to present a handy lead to Bellinger that included Lockie’s pro penalty, but the Scot worked away at it before the safety car wiped out Bellinger’s remaining lead. It was tight all the way to the line, but Lockie took it by four tenths.

“Simon drove an absolutely brilliant first stint”, said Lockie. “He kept with Keith all the way and that put us in a position with my pro penalty of 15 seconds. We were a long way behind and I thought we were catching them at one or two seconds a lap, but there weren’t enough laps. So I thought we wouldn’t get there. And then the safety car came. I hate safety cars, so at first I went, oh no, a safety car spoiling the racing! Then I thought, oh, actually, that’s going to give me a chance! And I just managed to pop down his inside. Billy just locked up a wheel and slid wide on the third corner and I just took the corner. And then it was hard work fighting him off for the rest of the race, but great fun, and a lovely circuit. Thanks to Masters for bringing us here because it’s really been a lot of fun.” 

“This is our first visit to the Czech Republic”, said Orebi Gann. “The people have been wonderful, the circuit is brilliant, its organisation is great. It’s a wonderful circuit to drive.

The food that’s been produced is the best we’ve had at race circuits. And overall, I have to say, it’s one of the most enjoyable races added to by the enthusiastic crowd. It’s sad there aren’t more cars here, but I think if you go on putting on races like this, there will be. Absolutely fantastic weekend altogether.” 

Meanwhile, Harry Barton ruled in the touring car section, his BMW 1800 tiSA running a strong fifth overall during his opening stint before winning by lap from the Fiat Abarth 1000TC of Italian father-and-son duo Graziano and Andrea Tessaro.

The combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Car field woke up to perfect racing conditions, as the sun was out while a gentle breeze graced the Sunday morning at Brno. John Spiers and Thomas Matzelberger would start in the two TVR Griffiths, followed by George McDonald, Philipp Buhofer and Mark Drain in the three Elans.

On the opening lap, McDonald demonstrated that he meant business on this Sunday morning, passing Matzelberger for second and immediately putting pressure on Spiers in the lead. Harry Barton, meanwhile, had made a strong start and led the touring car section ahead of the two Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports in the C2 class, both started by their gentlemen drivers, Keith Ahlers and Simon Orebi Gann. Local hero Premysl Bartos in the  Lotus 23B was up next, ahead of Graziano Tessaro in the plucky Fiat Abarth 1000TC.

On lap 2, however, we already lost one of the Elans, as Mark Drain was seen heading for the pits, his engine done. At the front, McDonald continued to pile the pressure on, but for the moment Spiers stuck to his guns. In third and fourth, another Griffith-chased-by-Elan combo had emerged, as Matzelberger trailed the leader by eight seconds on lap 3, but had Buhofer right on his tail. Barton was fifth overall in the BMW 1800 tiSA, ahead of Ahlers, who had created a three-second gap to Orebi Gann.

Ten minutes into the race, Spiers seemed to have found his feet and on warm tyres slowly inched away from his Lotus pursuer. Behind them, however, Switzerland’s Philipp Buhofer got one up on Austrian Matzelberger, as in their battle of the Alpine countries, the Elan had moved up into third on lap 5. In the BMW, Barton was holding on strong, still only 22 seconds adrift of the fastest GT runners.

With co-driver Nigel Greensall forced to sit out his elite-driver time penalty during the mandatory stops halfway into the race, Spiers was intent on pulling out as big a gap as he could, knowing that especially Andy Willis was waiting in the wings to take over Buhofer’s Elan. On lap 7, Spiers was doing just that, as his lead over McDonald had steadily increased to secen seconds. In third, Buhofer followed McDonald at some ten seconds but was now setting lap times similar to his team mate’s and still looking like a threat to Spiers and Greensall later on. Matzelberger in fourth had floated seven seconds adrift of Buhofer while Barton continued to circulate in fifth overall, now half a minute down on the Austrian. In C2, it was all but even Stevens between the two Morgans, as Orebi Gann had regained some ground of Ahlers, who now led by a mere two seconds, the pair now having cleared Bartos and Tessaro by a healthy margin. On lap 8, however, the Czech driver parked his Lotus on a safe spot out on the circuit, while moments later Tessaro’s Abarth appeared in the pitlane.

As we approached the touring car pit window, Spiers led McDonald by 11 seconds, and Buhofer by another 11, while Matzelberger now found lap times similar to the Elans in front of him. On lap 11, Spiers put the hammer down even more as he stormed to fastest lap of the race by far, to elongate his advantage to McDonald to 16 seconds while Buhofer now trailed the leading Griffith by almost 30 seconds. At the same time, the Abarth was back out again, by now two laps down, but with Graziano’s son Andrea at the wheel, who immediately improved on the car’s best lap times. Moments later, Barton was in for his mandatory stop.

In GTs, eight more minutes remained before we would reach the pit window, and now, obviously enjoying himself, Spiers had waltzed to a 20-second lead as he continued to lap two seconds faster than the Elans behind him. In third, Buhofer slowly began to fade, handing McDonald three more seconds of advantage. The Swiss driver had nothing to worry about from behind, though, as he himself had inched away to create a ten-second margin over Matzelberger. Now in fifth and sixth, the C2 battle between Ahlers and Orebi Gann was still finely poised, with just 2.8 seconds in between the two. It would be all about their respective teammates Billy Bellinger and Calum Lockie in the second half of the race. After his pitstop, Barton had dropped to seventh overall, but given the Tessaros’ earlier issues was well clear of any rivals.

As the GT pit window opened, the two Morgans were the first to come for their driver changes, with Bellinger and Lockie taking over on lap 16. As Lockie was forced to serve his elite-driver penalty, the Scotsman needed to cover a gap of 22 seconds to Bellinger once his Morgan had rejoined the race. On lap 18, three more cars were in, as the leading TVR was joined by Buhofer and Matzelberger, while McDonald carried on for another lap before handing over to Stephan Joebstl.

As McDonald came in, the other three cars were still waiting to resume their race. Spiers had done well, having eventually created a 40-second gap to Buhofer, as Greensall was still four seconds ahead when he and Andy Willis left the pits. Then on the next lap, Joebstl rejoined right in between them! In fourth, Ingo Strolz trailed Willis by 51 seconds, in the TVR started by Matzelberger. Following the GT stops, Barton was back up into fifth overall but he would soon be flagged off as the winner of the touring car race, while Lockie was slowly but surely closing in on Bellinger, the gap now down to 16 seconds. 

Spiers had done a mighty job with his fastest lap of the race on lap 11, since on his third lap in the car Greensall was still to beat it, as the pro driver hovered around a second above the mark set by his teammate. For the moment, Joebstl held firm in second place while losing ground on Greensall, as on lap 23, Barton was hailed as the winner of the touring car section, with the Tessaros’ Abarth in second, one lap down on the BMW. On the very same lap, Greensall had settled in to find a groove and lower the best lap of the race by four tenths. Meanwhile, a lap behind Strolz, Lockie had cut his deficit to Bellinger to nine seconds.

It was all change on one lap later, however, as Greensall ground to a halt at turn 7, the car’s differential suffering from a severe oil leak – the TVR was out of the race! The Griffith’s demise caused the deployment of the safety car as it was parked on a dangerous spot. Joebstl now found himself in the lead from Willis, who would see his full minute’s advantage to Strolz evaporate behind the safety car. One lap down on the new leader, the same would apply to Bellinger and Lockie who ran nose to tail.

The remaining field was sent on its way at the start of lap 29. One lap was all that Lockie needed to snatch the C2 class lead from Bellinger, but Joebstl wasn’t giving in to Willis just yet, as the pair of Elans cleared the threat of Strolz by four seconds over the first couple of laps. However, Bellinger was not intent on letting Lockie get away with it, as he improved his personal best to regain some ground on the rival Morgan. At the front, Joebstl and Willis were still three tenths apart as they gave the Czech crowd a great show in their run towards the chequered flag, with less than four minutes remaining on the clock.

On lap 32, the pair crossed the line side-by-side, split by 48 hundredths, as the lead battle intensified. Now it was down to the final lap – who would come out of the final corner first? In the end, it was Joebstl who took it by a tenth, with Strolz in third, nine seconds down. Bellinger closed up to four tenths of Lockie, but the Scot made his Morgan wide enough to maintain his advantage and bring home the C2 class win for himself and Simon Orebi Gann.