Historic GP Zandvoort 2025: Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Pre-66 Touring Cars

The late arrival of a burst of rain decided a race-long battle between the David & Olivier Hart Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé and the pole-sitting Ferrari 250 GTO ’64 of Alexander van der Lof and Yelmer Buurman in the 90-minute Masters Gentlemen Drivers at Zandvoort. Hart Jr and Buurman were nose-to-tail, having just swapped places with less than 15 minutes remaining, when the change in track conditions allowed Hart to reclaim the lead and power away to a win by 17 seconds.

“I had a great fight with Yelmer Buurman”, said Olivier Hart. “He was closer to what I had expected! Suddenly, he was with me, and I had to defend for a long time. But it was a very cool race, with a lot of respect from each other.”

“The car was great, and it helped me move up from fourth to first place”, said David Hart about his opening stint.

“It was the race of my life”, said Van der Lof. “Such a beautiful battle with the TVR [of John Spiers and Nigel Greensall]. I had a great restart after the safety car, and then the TVR went straight ahead with blocking wheels. Then I had a great battle with David Hart, very fair, and very close, eventually he caught up with me.”

“Yes, a nice race, the cars were very close”, said Buurman. “Oli was going full defence, so he did a great job and didn’t leave any room. At some point I got some problems with my brakes because I was sitting close to him for a long time. So I let myself drop back and when I started to attack again, I could push Oli into a mistake. Then it started to rain, and immediately my windscreen wiper fell off! I had eaten up my tyres, and that demanded a toll. I had no traction at all. Zero. So I didn’t have a chance to fight in the wet conditions. P2 is nice, but we would have liked to have won.”

Also profiting from the rain, the Bram Bontrup/Bas Jansen AC Cobra and the Michiel Campagne/Allard Kalff Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport powered through to nick third and fourth from the Elans of Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero and Alexander Schlüchter, who did bag the top spots in the CLP class. Similarly, Nick Padmore made the Elan shared with Lucas Astorian come alive to take third in class while finishing seventh overall ahead of Rüdi Friedrichs’ AC Cobra and the resurgent Jaguar E-type shared by Rhea Sautter and Andy Newall. In 13th overall, father and son Rob and Jop Rappange (Porsche 904) decided the C1 class in their favour.

“It was great, but I had to get used to the job”, said Bontrup. “You don’t have free practice here, so I had get into the race. But after a few laps it worked out. It was a lovely race, a few beginner’s mistakes, but that’s okay.”

“Yes, it was nice”, said Jansen. “My teammate Bram brought the car in in fifth place. Olivier Hart is the fastest man on earth at the moment, so I thought, maybe fourth place – until it started raining! I could suddenly catch up with my rivals by four or five seconds. And then it was over, and we were third.”

“It got a bit slippery by the end”, said Reynolds. “With the longer pit stops for the other guys, they were catching us and catching us. But happy with where we are. My stint was nice, managed to keep it in the right place. A couple of safety cars and then Dan jumped in and did the rest.”

“Yes, I was leading the class early on”, said Schlüchter. “But the young guys were so quick, especially the yellow Elan, but it’s fair, we are not going for the world championship.”

“I saw it raining and I thought, here we go, it’s going to be brilliant”, said Padmore. “And it was a lot slipperier than what I thought. It was so, so slippery. Ttowards the end I could just go offline and find the grip. I just probably needed another lap or two, really. But it’s great fun sharing with this man.”

In the concurrent 60-minute Pre-66 Touring Car race, the pole-sitting Ford Mustang of local hero Reinier van Abbe led early on but the Dutchman was thwarted by a drivethrough penalty for overtaking under the safety car. This allowed the similar Mustang of Robert Ross and Matt Johnson to win by ten seconds from Van Abbe, while young Dante Rappange starred by hauling his little Mini Cooper S to third overall.

“It was a nice race”, said Rappange. “It was an hour, so pretty long for the Mini. The start was a bit chaotic, but after that we found some pace and went forward. After 40 minutes I got a bit of a problem with the engine, so I did it slowly. Third in the touring car class, so pretty nice.”

The sky now overcast, the morning heat had slowly dissapated to release a cool see breeze across the track when the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Masters Pre-66 Touring Car field headed out towards their grid. The Alexander van der Lof/Yelmer Buurman Ferrari 250 GTO ’64 would start from pole, Van der Lof doing the first stint, with John Spiers sat besides him in the TVR Griffith shared with Nigel Greensall. Team mates Bram Bontrup and David Hart occupied the second row in their regular AC Cobra and Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé respectively.

Spiers hit the front when the green flag was waved, but had it been a jump start? Behind Spiers, Van der Lof and Bontrup, Michiel Campagne’s Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport had made up a place, while David Hart defended against Rüdi Friedrichs’ AC Cobra in sixth. In seventh overall, the quick-starting Alexander Schlüchter’s Lotus Elan had vaulted into the CLP class lead, the German using his local track knowledge to pass Mark Drain and Peter Reynolds in two more Elans, with Laurent Jaspers’ E-type sandwiched in between.

While Hart repassed Campagne for fourth, going into lap 3, Reinier van Abbe led the touring car chase in his Ford Mustang, the local man putting the Reynolds Elan in between himself and Matt Johnson in the second Mustang, while in 18th overall Alan Letts was third in the leading Lotus Cortina. On the next lap, Hart Sr got his tyres fully warmed up to pass Bontrup for third and now had his sights set on Van der Lof in second place, while Marc Sydow reported to the pits in one of the Austin Mini Cooper S’s in the field. On lap 4, however, racing was paused for the next few laps, as the safety car was out for the Letts Cortina having stopped in the final banked Arie Luyendijk corner. The Cortina’s demise handed third overall in the touring car section to the Bernhard van Oranje/Sam van Vollenhoven Mustang.

Into lap 8, the field was released, but no sooner than the green flag was waved, it was back to full yellow and the safety car again, as Spiers in the Griffith had gone off into Tarzan corner… This handed the lead back to Van der Lof, with Hart in second place ahead of Campagne, who had thundered past Bontrup. Friedrichs was fifth ahead of his countryman Schlüchter and Belgian Jaspers, while Robert Ross had managed to usurp both Mark Drain’s Elan and his touring car rival Van Abbe. Reynolds was 11th, in the third Elan, holding off Lucas Astorian in the Elan shared with Nick Padmore. Ingo Strolz in the second Griffith and Jac Meeuwissen in another Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé gave chase, as they sandwiched Bernhard van Oranje’s Mustang. Further back, Allan Thom’s Cortina came in with a broken driveshaft to retire.

The field was given green at the end of lap 13, after which Van Abbe was penalised for overtaking under the safety car. This dropped the Dutchman to 15th overall, just at the moment that the touring car pit window opened. At the front, Van der Lof continued to hold off Hart Sr, who was just six tenths behind, while Bontrup – now back into third again – and Campagne soon trailed by ten seconds, with Friedrichs still in fifth. Bernhard van Oranje was the first touring car in, with plans of handing the Mustang to son Sam van Vollenhoven, but its suspension had broken, while Ingo Strolz made an unscheduled stop in his Griffith, the same applying to Wim Kuijl in the invitational Aston Martin DB4. Next up was Robert Ross, who came in to hand the Mustang over to Matt Johnson, while Andreas Halusa also pitted the Alfa Romeo GTA.

At the front, a few things had changed as well, as Bontrup had dropped behind Schlüchter, Friedrichs and Jaspers, the former having also passed his countryman in the Cobra to run a stunning fourth overall. Drain, Reynolds and Astorian all contested second place in the CLP class, their Elans running eighth to tenth, while Meeuwissen had got up to 11th, as the GT pit window opened. Behind Chris Jolly in the Shelby Mustang GT350, Rob Rappange ran 14th in the C1-class-leading Porsche 904, keeping the Sharon Adelman/George McDonald Ginetta G4R and the Jacques Smeer/Jasper Izaks GT350 behind.

Just as David Hart had passed Van der Lof for the lead, they both came in for their mandatory stops, handing their steering wheels to Olivier Hart and Yelmer Buurman respectively. They were followed in by Campagne, who was relieved by Allard Kalff, Schlüchter, Reynolds, who handed the Elan to Daniel Quintero, Jac Meeuwissen, who would be replaced by son Ties, and Rappange, who made way for son Jop. On the next lap, Friedrichs, Drain and Jaspers stopped as well, while Bontrup handed the Cobra to Bas Jansen. Padmore stepped into Astorian’s Elan, with Strolz coming in for a second time, now for his regular stop.

The touring car race was now led by Johnson, some 17 seconds ahead from Van Abbe, who was hurt by his drivethrough penalty, while Halusa had profited from the attrition ahead of him to run third ahead of Max Sydow in the Cooper S.

With all the stops done, Hart Jr led Buurman by three seconds, with Schlüchter and Quintero now in third and fourth, 19 and 21 seconds behind respectively. Jaspers, Drain, Jansen, Kalff and Friedrichs were in a train half a minute away from the leading pair to round out the top nine. In the touring car race, Johnson still led Van Abbe, but now by 13 seconds, while the quick Dante Rappange had got his Austin Mini Cooper S ahead of Halusa for third overall, despite his elite-driver penalty as a GT World Challenge Europe pro driver.

At the front it was still nip and tuck between Hart and Buurman, the latter now closing to within a second seconds – it was still very much a race with just over half an hour still to go. The touring car race, however, was running towards its end, and Johnson seemed to have it under control. While Ties Meeuwissen was forced visit the pits for a loose door in his Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé, Johnson ran out to the touring car win, with ten seconds in hand over Van Abbe. Rappange took third and the Mini class win, with Halusa claiming fourth ahead of Sydow in the second Mini.

Now all focus was shifted to the Gent Drivers field that still had some 27 minutes ahead of them. 55 seconds behind the two warring leaders – now just a tenth apart on lap 28 – Quintero had managed to pip Schlüchter for third and the CLP class lead. Jansen chased both Elans, nine seconds down, while trying to keep Kalff in the Corvette Grand Sport behind him. Friedrichs’ Cobra and Jaspers’ E-type were in a fight of their own over seventh and eighth overall, the German repassing the Belgian on lap 29. Behind them, Drain and Padmore battled for third place in the CLP class, with Andy Newall approaching fast in the E-type started by Rhea Sautter. Jop Rappange led the C1 class in the Porsche 904, holding off Steve Farthing in the Mustang GT350, McDonald in the Ginetta G4R, Wim Kuijl’s Aston Martin, the TVR Griffith of Ingo Strolz and the Meeuwissens’ Cobra Daytona Coupé, the latter two delayed but still ahead of the Smeer/Izaks GT350 and the Porsche 911 shared by Stephan & Josef Rettenmaier.

With less than 20 minutes remaining, the two Dutchmen up front were still going all out in their battle for victory, lapping just half a second apart. Their pace had been so relentless than their pursuers now trailed by well over a minute, with Jansen having caught Schlüchter’s Elan and now set his sights on Quintero’s example further up the road. Kalff was still sixth ahead of Friedrichs, but Jaspers had dropped behind Drain. Padmore’s Elan was in no man’s land, well ahead of Newall’s E-type and Jop Rappange in the C1-class-leading 904.

Less than a quarter of an hour was left on the clock when Buurman finally made his move to claim the lead from Hart Jr, as a refreshing rain shower was hanging in the air. Would it hit before the end of the race? Yes, it would, as the first drops began to fall with 11 minutes remaining. Immediately, Hart Jr pounced to reclaim the top spot, so would we see more order changes?

The next one was Kalff moving ahead of Schlüchter to claim fifth, while Padmore suddenly danced ahead of Drain and Jaspers. At the front, Hart Jr further profited from the changed circumstances to put six seconds between himself and the Ferrari GTO. Further back, McDonald found a way past Rappange.

As it continued to drizzle down, Hart Jr extended his lead to over ten seconds, while Jansen closed on Quintero to pounce for third overall with two minutes to go while on the final lap, Kalff also made his way past for fourth. At the chequered flag, the Hart & Hart Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé won by 17 seconds from the Van der Lof/Buurman Ferrari 250 GTO ’64, with the Bontrup/Jansen Cobra completing the podium. The Campagne/Kalff Corvette was fourth, while in fifth the Reynolds/Quintero pairing took CLP class honours from the similar Elans of Schlüchter and Astorian/Padmore, while Friedrichs in the Cobra got back ahead of Drain in the dying minutes. Behind the German, Newall then pipped Drain and Jaspers for ninth overall, while in 13th overall the Rappange/Rappange 904 won the C1 class from the Rettenmaier’s 911 in 19th overall.