Historic GP Zandvoort 2024: Masters GT Trophy

Defending champion Craig Wilkins had to trounce a pair of Ferrari 458 GT3s to come away with the win in the first Masters GT Trophy race at Zandvoort. Wilkins’ Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo soon cleared the similar polesitting Lambo of Neil Glover but could do nothing about a Michael Lyons unleashed in the Ferrari shared with German driver Christopher Stahl. Starting from the back, Lyons managed to create a 31-second cushion at the stops, but in the second part of the race, Wilkins got the bit between his teeth to vanquish his German rival and win by 19 seconds.

“It was a very good race”, said Wilkins. “The track was very different this morning to how it was yesterday. And although I won the race, I was quite inconsistent in my driving, so it’s been explained to me. I have to do better tomorrow!”

“It was fun to see the start of the race” said Lyons. “I haven’t started the race when I share the cars very often. So, yeah, we had good battles all the way through. The pace was strong and then Chris had a strong race at the end.”

With Jason Wright closing up on Stahl in another 458 GT3, the two finished in something close to a dead heat, the Italo-American eventually missing out by a mere nose length. Jason McInulty was fourth in the second Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, while in fifth overall Sam Tordoff took a convincing Cup class win in his Porsche 997.2 Cup, ahead of Aaron Scott in the Lamborghini started by Glover and the Ferrari 488 Challenge of Dutch father-and-son duo Jac & Ties Meeuwissen.

“I had tyres I’ve used quite a bit”,  said Wright. “I’m trying to save tires for next week, for the GT3 race at Spa. So I was struggling with tyres, so happy to be so close at the finish.”

“I didn’t really have anyone to race against, so it was a bit lonely”, said Tordoff. “But I’m just excited to be driving the car around Zandvoort. It’s the one race on the calendar that I really wanted to do in the Porsche this year, just because I love the circuit. I think it’s fabulous. And it’s not disappointing so far. So, yeah. We had a good race. I think fifth was probably as good as we were ever going to finish overall given the other cars in front. But I enjoyed it. And it’s just great to be here.”

In eighth, Vasily Vladikin claimed an empathic GT4 class victory, his BMW M3 GT4 leading the way from start to finish. The Cypriote was chased home by Daniel Quintero and Peter Reynolds in the Ginetta G55 GT4 and Hans Hugenholtz in the Ford Mustang FR500C. 

At the break of dawn on this second longest day of the year, the Masters GT Trophy grid were welcomed by the morning sun after a day of clouds and rain on the Friday of the Historic Grand Prix event. Sam van Vollenhoven, joining the fun with father and track owner Bernhard van Oranje in a Mosler MT900R, was late leaving the pitlane so had to join at the back of the queue as soon as the formation lap got underway. At the lights, Neil Glover was away first, but was soon usurped by Craig Wilkins and Jason McInulty in their intra-Lamborghini duel. A storming opening lap left Wilkins 3.2 seconds clear of his pursuers, the Lambos chased by Jac Meeuwissen’s Ferrari 488 Challenge, Jason Wright in the Ferrari 458 GT3, with Michael Lyons in the similar 458 GT3 shared with Chris Stahl already up into sixth place after his qualifying times were annulled, forcing him to start from the back.

Two laps into the race, Wilkins led the closing McInulty but Lyons was up into third, having already cleared Wright, Meeuwissen and Glover. Sam Tordoff was fifth in the leading Porsche Cup car, now ahead of Meeuwissen, Wright and Vasily Vladikin in the first of two BMW M3 GT4s in the race. André Hartl’s 997.2 Cup and Daniel Quintero’s Ginetta G55 GT4 were up next. 

On lap 3, there was nothing McInulty could do about Lyons stealing another spot, with Wilkins also seeing his margin evaporate. The next lap, the Ferrari was in the lead, as Wilkins and McInulty trailed by three and seven seconds respectively – Lyons had surely not missed out on his coffee this morning. Further back, Hans Hugenholtz was trying to keep pace with Hartl in the oldest car in the field, the Ford Mustang FR500C GT4 holding out well, as he as well as Armand Adriaans in the second BMW M3 GT4 found a way past on lap 5, with Van Vollenhoven now chasing after Hartl, who had lost further ground after contact with Quintero.

Six laps into the race, Lyons led by ten seconds from Wilkins and 15 seconds from McInulty, with Tordoff a further 12 ticks behind. Wright and Glover fought over fifth place, as Meeuwissen kept a close guard in seventh. In eighth and ninth, Vladikin and Quintero disputed the GT4 class lead, with Hugenholtz and Adriaans aiming to join them.

As the pit window approached, Lyons’ lead had swollen to 24 seconds, as Wilkins kept his margin to McInulty intact. In fourth, Tordoff saw Wright closing in, the Italo-American having dropped Glover into the hands of Meeuwissen Sr, who just about to hand over to son Ties. Vladikin was the first to pit on lap 10, duly followed by Meeuwissen, with the 997.2 Cups of Tordoff and Hartl in on the same lap.

At the front, Lyons kept pushing for as long as he could, his advantage over Wilkins now 31 seconds, as Glover came in to allow the rapid Aaron Scott into his Huracán Super Trofeo Evo. Glover was joined by Adriaans (handing over to son Sam), Van Vollenhoven (handing over to father Bernhard van Oranje), Hugenholtz and Wright, as they now came pouring in one after the other. At the end of lap 13, it was Lyons’ turn, followed by Daniel Quintero who handed Peter Reynolds the Ginetta, with Wilkins and McInulty the final ones to blink. Soon after, though, the Van Oranje/Van Vollenhoven Mosler was slammed with a drive-through penalty for not following the yellow-flag start procedure.

It took one more lap for all the pitstops to pan out, but on lap 15 Stahl led Wilkins by 17 seconds, with Wright up into third ahead of McInulty. Tordoff was fifth, 13 seconds in arrears of the Lambo, with Meeuwissen Jr and Scott up next, the latter at a pace three seconds faster than anyone else. Vladikin still led the GT4 chase, but Reynolds was a mere five seconds adrift. Van Oranje was tenth but still to take his penalty, while Hugenholtz in 11th had broken free of Sam Adriaans in the second M3 GT4. Hartl was 13th but with a rough sounding engine.

At the front, Wilkins left no time to wipe out his disadvantage to Stahl, as two laps later, the gap was down to five seconds. Meanwhile, having been too late to serve his penalty, Van Oranje’s Mosler was meatballed, the MT900R GT3 coming in on lap 18, just as Wilkins was nose-to-tail with Stahl as the aimed to reclaim the lead. On lap 19, he had duly done so to lead by a healthy margin of four seconds. 13 seconds further down the road, Wright maintained his gap to McInulty in a strong performance in the second 458 GT3, with Tordoff in fifth also lapping at the same pace. On lap 20, Scott had done enough to pass Meeuwissen Jr for sixth. In eighth, Vladikin looked safe for the GT4 class win, as he now held some 25 seconds over Reynolds and another 20 ticks over Hugenholtz.

As the clock ran down to zero, Wilkins ran home the win, completing the 23 laps some 19 seconds clear of Stahl and Wright who crossed the line in almost in unison. Ten ticks later, McInulty finished fourth, seven seconds clear of Tordoff, while Scott ended up sixth ahead of the Meeuwissens’ Ferrari Challenge. Vladikin ruled in GT4, the BMW M3 GT4 coming home 38 seconds ahead of the Quintero/Reynolds Ginetta, with Hugenholtz a further 43 seconds behind to leave the Adriaans BMW and Hartl’s Porsche trailing the top ten.

Jason Wright was there to pounce when his quickest rivals were each slammed with a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, as the Italo-American ran his Ferrari 458 GT3 home to victory in the second Masters GT Trophy race of the Historic Grand Prix weekend at Zandvoort. Before his penalty, race 1 winner Craig Wilkins looked set for a repeat win in the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, but finished 18 seconds in arrears of Wright.

“I drove okay but I had a bad vibration. I picked up some rubbish on the tyres, I think”, said Wright. “But ultimately, I didn’t have a clue where I was. I mean, they told me on the radio, you’re P1! And frankly, I couldn’t understand how that happened. I think they gave lots of penalties because they wanted the event’s poster boy P1!”

“As far as I’m aware I did everything correctly”, said Wilkins. “We’ll have a look in the car. There’s a very good chance I got it wrong, that’s normally the error… If you see me at the back of the garage being thrashed by them, you know I got it wrong!”

The Christopher Stahl/Michael Lyons Ferrari 458 GT3 was similarly hit by a penalty but recovered to take third overall ahead of the Ties & Jac Meeuwissen Ferrari 488 Challenge. On the line, Meeuwissen Sr kept 0.056 seconds in hand over Sam Tordoff’s Porsche 997.2 Cup, Tordoff going on for his second Cup Class victory of the weekend. The Jason McInulty and Neil Glover Lambos were sixth and seventh.

“It was a little bit hard because I was starting second position, and this is not my place, it’s the place of Michael Lyons”, said Stahl, “so it was a bit hard for me. And I had big understeer, the steering in the car was much more worse than yesterday. But we made it, so it was good.”

“It was tricky, to be honest”, said Lyons. “I don’t know if the track changed or the tyre or it’s the drop-off on the tyre, but we had to work very hard. Unfortunately, Chris was a bit too keen on the pitstop on the entry speed, so we had a little penalty. But another couple of races, another couple of podiums. It’s a good day.” 

The fight for GT4 glory was a close-fought affair, as the Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero Ginetta G55 GT4 fought back to vanquish Saturday’s winner Vasily Vladikin in the BMW M3 GT4. Hans Hugenholtz claimed another third in class in the Ford Mustang FR500C.

Masters would continue on the Sunday morning with the second 40-minute Masters GT Trophy race, the cars lining up in the order in which they finished on Saturday. This meant that Craig Wilkins was on pole in his Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo but two Ferrari 458 GT3s would be his nearest rivals going into the first corner – those of Christopher Stahl and Jason Wright. Jason McInulty in the second Super Trofeo Evo would start in fourth ahead of Sam Tordoff’s Porsche 997.2 Cup and Neil Glover in the third Huracán.

Wilkins’ opening gambit was strong, as his storming first lap left him four seconds clear of the duelling Ferraris, with McInulty aiming to pounce on both GT3s. Tordoff managed to follow, while Glover fought with Ties Meeuwissen’s Ferrari 488 Challenge over sixth. Vasily Vladikin’s BMW M3 GT4 continued where it left off on Saturday, leading the GT4 class ahead of Peter Reynolds in the Ginetta G55 GT4, Hans Hugenholtz in the Ford Mustang FR500C and Sam Adriaans in the second BMW M3 GT4. Squashed in between were Bernhard van Oranje’s Mosler MT900R GT3 and André Hartl’s Porsche 997.2 Cup.

Three laps into the race, Wilkins’ lead had augmented to 11 seconds, while Wright and McInulty and Tordoff had all found a way past Stahl, who had dropped to fifth and now had to deal with Meeuwissen, the young Dutchman having cleared Glover. Van Oranje was in front of Vladikin now, as both harried Glover for sixth overall. 

At the front, Wilkins continued to set a searing pace, now 16 seconds ahead of Wright going into lap 6. In third, McInulty now had Tordoff to worry about, both now 19 seconds in arrears of the leader. Meeuwissen had taken fifth from Stahl, who now held a cushion to Glover, Van Oranje and Vladikin. Reynolds trailed the GT4 class leader by 15 seconds who in turn held a similar margin over Hugenholtz.

As the pit window approached ever nearer, Wilkins led by 22 seconds from Wright, with McInulty a further six ticks behind, still very much arguing with Cup class leader Tordoff over third place. Meeuwissen trailed the pair by 12 seconds, with Stahl a further ten seconds down the road. Meanwhile, Van Oranje and Vladikin had managed to pass Glover, while Reynolds was the first to come in for his car’s mandatory stop. He would hand the Ginetta over to Daniel Quintero. Stahl was in next, with Michael Lyons taking his seat, but was found to have exceeded the pitlane speed limit. This resulted in a drivethrough penalty that Lyons would have to serve. Tordoff, Vladikin, Van Oranje, Hugenholtz and Hartl all used lap 11 for their pitstop, Tordoff coming in from third position, having passed McInulty just ahead of his stop.

On lap 12, Glover handed his Super Trofeo Evo to Aaron Scott before Wilkins, Wright and McInulty and Meeuwissen all came in on lap 13, the latter handing over to father Jac. However, Wilkins had also been caught speeding in the pitlane and because he was quite a bit over, he was issued a five-second stop-and-go penalty that would certainly ruin his race. For the moment, Wilkins led Wright by 11 seconds, with Tordoff in third, half a minute behind the Italo-American, while Lyons came in from fourth to serve his penalty. This allowed Meeuwissen Sr back up into fourth, followed by McInulty and Van Oranje. Vladikin still led in GT4, but Quintero was lapping quicker than the Cypriote, setting the class up for an exciting finale.

Next time around, Wilkins was in for his penalty, to rejoin in second, as right at that moment Sam Tordoff had lost a big chunk of time with an off at the back part of the circuit to drop down to sixth behind McInulty. So now Wilkins trailed Wright by 18 seconds, with five minutes remaining on the clock. Further back, Vladikin and Quintero were now neck and neck, the pair having passed Van Oranje, who had also made a mistake.

On lap 20, Wright’s lead remained at 18 seconds, leaving the American well in charge, while Lyons in third was closing on Wilkins but not at a rate of knots. Meeuwissen Sr was fourth ahead of the recovering Tordoff, with McInulty and Scott in sixth and seventh ahead of Quintero who had passed Vladikin for the GT4 class lead.

As the clock wound down, Wright kept those 18 seconds in hand over Wilkins to win the race, with Lyons in third and Meeuwissen in fourth. On the line, Tordoff missed out on fourth overall by 0.056 seconds but still took his second Cup class victory on the trot. The two other Lambos of McInulty and Scott were up next while Quintero got one back over Vladikin to win the GT4 class for himself and Peter Reynolds. They were split by Van Oranje’s GT3 Mosler. In 11th overall, Hans Hugenholtz took third in the GT4 class ahead of Sam Adriaans in the other M3 GT4, while both finished ahead of André Hartl’s Porsche 997.2 Cup that took second in the Cup class.