Gran Premio Storico d’Italia 2026: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 cars

The Masters Racing Legends were the premier grid at the first edition of the Mugello Gran Premio Storico alongside incredible Formula One displays including a Ferrari Corse Clienti extravaganza featuring former Ferrari F1 cars. Immediately after the V8s and V10s of the Scuderia had awoken the soul of Mugello it was time for the 3-litre DFVs to add their tumultuous sounds to the party and the Tuscan hills were reverberating to the sound of twenty-three historic Formula One machines in full song.

With wall-to-wall sunshine across the event, Race 1 was held on Saturday afternoon in perfect conditions – Werner d’Ansembourg was on pole, as predicted, in his Williams FW07C with Jamie Constable in P2. Both started the race with their usual aplomb until Constable went spinning off at ‘Scarperia’ – luckily he caught the car with skill and avoided the wall but he was out of the race with an issue to the differential and the safety car was deployed to rescue the stricken car that was in a dangerous place. At the restart with 14 second left on the clock, d’Ansembourg shot off with a clear advantage to Mike Cantillon (McLaren MP4) and Steve Brooks (Lotus 91) Joe Macari was in their mirrors in his Tyrrell 012. Cantillon then had to retire the ex-Nikki Lauda McLaren to the garage with a gear selector issue and the remaining ten minutes saw close battles throughout the field. There was a battle of ‘Ensign’ as Marco Fumagalli and Guillaume Roman battled in their cars that shared the same livery and 12 months of racetrack history.

Joe Macari then had competition in his mirrors in the form of fellow countryman, Valerio Leone, who was enjoying his Arrows A6 in the Italian sunshine. He was then trying to harry Macari and James Hagan was keen for a slice of the action in his Tyrrell 011B and tried a few times to go down the inside of Macari and then the pack caught the backmarkers and Leone was thwarted in his challenge. d’Ansembourg dominated and took the win by a 48-second lead over Brooks who took a comfortable second place ahead of Macari who completed the podium for third. Not long before the flag dropped, Craig Davies had to retire when the engine let go on his LEC CRP1.

With the reverse grid implemented for race 2, there was an all-Italian front row for race 2 with Marco Coppini on pole (Arrows A1) and Valerio Leone alongside him in an Arrows A6.  Tragically Leone’s car refused to fire up for the formation lap due to a fuel pump failure, and the car was mournfully pushed into the pit lane as the rest of the grid roared off for their final foray around the 5.24 km circuit. Werner d’Ansembourg charged to the front in his Williams with James Hagan in hot pursuit. Jamie Constable who had started from the back of the grid following his off-track excursion on Saturday was charging through the field, already up to P8 on lap 2.  Sydow had to retire the Shadow DN9B at this point.  Marc Devis spun and parked his Lotus 78 with a gearbox issue but thankfully he was pushed out of harm’s way efficiently by the marshalling team avoiding a safety car deployment all the while, d’Ansembourg was pulling further away from the field. On lap four, Mike Cantillon spun and touched the wall in his McLaren MP4 and he managed to limp off the track after breaking his suspension. Up front Constable was now on the tail of Steve Brooks’s Lotus 91, who himself was trying to reel in James Hagan’s Tyrrell. Brooks made a demon move around the outside of Hagan at T1 but Hagan would not relent and was always present in Brooks’s mirrors.  Jamie Constable had now caught this battling duo and passed them with only d’Ansembourg now ahead of him by thirty seconds with ten minutess of racing to go. Further down the pack the race for Stewart Class honours for the pre-ground-effect cars was really hotting up. Philipp Buhofer’s 1970 Brabham was impressive and Ewen Sergison’s Surtees TS9B equally so as he passed former pole-man Coppini with the pair sat in P6 and P7 respectively. In the closing stages Fred Lajoux had to retire his Surtees and d’Ansembourg proved to be untouchable as he could see the 2026 Masters Racing Legends Championship within his grasp. He took the flag, ahead of Constable in second and Steve Brooks in third however during the parc fermé period, Constable’s Tyrrell was found to be running below the specified ride height and was disqualified from the race so the final podium was Werner d’Ansembourg, Steve Brooks and James Hagan. Philipp Buhofer was deemed to have flouted the start procedure by overtaking before the field had passed T2 so was also demoted leaving Ewen Sergison in overall P5 and the Stewart Class winner ahead of Graham Adelman’s beautiful Brabham BT33. Hagan was the Lauda class winner, Guillaume Roman was fourth overall and the winner of the Fittipaldi class in his Ensign N175.

Werner d’Ansembourg indeed was crowned the Masters Racing Legends champion and full details of the 2026 season results will be published soon.