Silverstone Festival 2025: Masters Sports Car Legends

Alex Brundle won an epic grand finale to the Silverstone Festival, as his Lola T70 Mk3B fought off a late challenge from the pole-starting Chevron B26 shared by Christian Pittard and Darren Burke to claim victory in the 50-minute Masters Sports Car Legends race. At the start, Brundle soon made his way past Pittard, but a flying Burke at one time looked set to catch the Lola up front. Towards the end, the Chevron’s pace faltered, allowing Brundle to bring home the win.

“I’m a chubby commentator now, so yeah, I did work hard for it”, Brundle quipped. “I knew that this little Chevron was going to be really quick in the second half of the race. I had to push all the way through the race, but I really enjoyed it. How great was that, sun going down over Silverstone, pounding around in this thing…”

“Something went wrong, it was about six laps before the end”, Burke explained. “We’ve either bent a valve or lost a cylinder. I was on a charge to catch Alex and I thought we could have a really good race. As soon as I heard it not running right, I reverted to consolidating second rather than pushing and damaging the engine further. I brought it home and saved Christian some money on the engine…”

Two more T70 Mk3Bs occupied by Chris Ward/Jan Magnussen and David & Olivier Hart battled for third with the Max & Andrew Banks McLaren M6B. In the end, the Ward/Magnussen Lola claimed the final podium spot, as Hart Jr dropped out through contact while lapping Kevin Cooke’s March 75S in eighth place. Behind the Banks brother, Alasdair McCaig in the De Cadenet Lola took a fine fifth ahead of Gary Furst in the Lola T212.

“it was great to be here”, said Magnussen. “It’s the second time I’m here and super thankful I get to drive cool cars like this against big competition like that. We were hoping for a bit more, but unfortunately something was not quite right with the car. But top three is fantastic.”

In seventh overall, John Spiers and Nigel Greensall dominated the pre-67 Hulme class from the start, as the Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder of their rivals Steve Seaman and Andy Newall finished 13th overall. Similarly, Stephen Nuttall proved invincible in the Bonnier class, his Chevron B8 claiming ninth overall while his nearest rivals Tom Neal and Dominic Mooney in a similar B8 ended up 16th overall.

Having been Saturday’s showstopper for the past few editions of the Silverstone Festival, the Masters Sports Car Legends would now act as the grand finale of the 2025 Festival. An enticing mix of 2-litre open-top sportscars and big-banger 5-litre coupés occupied the first five positions on the grid, followed by the Max & Andrew Banks McLaren M6B open-top big-banger. On pole was the quick Christian Pittard/Darren Burke-pedalled Chevron B26, with the Alex Brundle’s Lola T70 Mk3B alongside it. The David & Olivier Hart T70 Mk3B was found on row two, with another T70 Mk3B shared by Chris Ward/Jan Magnussen next to it. In 14th, the John Spiers/Nigel Greensall McLaren M1B was the leading pre-67 Hulme class machine, while in 17th, Stephen Nuttall’s Chevron B8 had added to the qualifying success of his teammates Pittard and Burke by taking Bonnier class pole.

Right into Village, Brundle vaulted into the lead while Pittard was put under pressure by a fast-starting Ward and Hart Sr, the latter soon emerging back in front of the other T70 when Ward made a braking error into Copse. So now we had a T70 1-2-3, Brundle in front of Hart and Ward, while the Banks McLaren had made its way up into fourth from Pittard and Alasdair McCaig’s De Cadenet Lola. In 14th overall, John Spiers consummately led the Hulme class from the Steve Seaman/Andy Newall T70 Mk2 Spyder, while in 12th, Nuttall was well ahead of the Bonnier class competition, his nearest rival Mark Dwyer in the Lenham P69 appearing in 21st overall.

With Brundle four seconds in front on lap 2, Ward and Hart had again swapped places, while Banks wasn’t letting go in fourth. McCaig, meanwhile, had won another spot at the cost of Pittard, while Mark Richardson had got the Lola T290 up into seventh ahead of Gary Furst’s T212 and Robert Parker’s invitational Osella PA5. Two laps later, Brundle’s margin up front had remained the same but Hart had dropped away from Ward and was now pushed hard by Banks. On lap 5, the McLaren was past.

On lap 6, a new fastest lap by Brundle fought off Ward’s challenge in the previous lap, and now the gap was up to six seconds. Banks in third had created a two-second gap to Hart, who slowly dropping into the clutches of McCaig, while Pittard had established himself in sixth, two seconds down on the De Cadenet Lola. In fact, the Chevron B26 was closing in on it again, and on lap 7 it retook fifth. Richardson and Furst had consolidated their respective seventh and eighth places, while Jim Norman had moved the ex-Voyazides/Hadfield T70 up into ninth, with Kevin Cooke’s March 75S rounding out the top ten for now.

As the pit window opened, Brundle led Ward by seven seconds, with Banks a further eight seconds adrift, while six seconds separated Hart from the McLaren. In 11th and 13th overall, Nuttall and Spiers continued to dominate their respective Bonnier and Hulme classes. On lap 10, David Hart was the first one in among the leader, his son Olivier ready to step into the Lola. McCaig and Furst joined him in the pitlane, while Christian Pittard was relieved by the ultra-quick Darren Burke. Ward was in next, handing over to Magnussen, while the Banks brothers also swapped positions. On lap 13, the leader finally made his stop.

When all the stops had cycled through, Brundle led Magnussen by 14 seconds, but not for long, as Hart Jr had already stormed past Banks to put pressure on the Lola in second place. Going into lap 15, the young Dutchman indeed made through. Behind them, though, Darren Burke’s Chevron B26 was emerging as a dark horse for victory, Burke setting incredible lap times that crushed previous fastest lap by a whopping three seconds. McGaig was sixth ahead of Furst and David Gathercole, who had taken over from Richardson in the T290. Cooke was ninth while Nuttall continued to rule imperiously in the Bonnier class, now up into a stunning tenth overall. Meanwhile, Nigel Greensall was up into 11th to carry on leading the Hulme class.

One lap later, Burke had already usurped both Magnussen and Hart Jr, and was now setting after Brundle, who still led by 15 seconds. However, his advantage was wiped away at the rate of two seconds per lap, with ten minutes still remaining on the clock. It would be close. Then drama ensued when Hart Jr hit eighth-place Kevin Cooke while lapping the March 75S. The result was that the Dutchman dropped down to fifth behind Magnussen and Banks before retiring to the pits. Cooke proved to be a retirement too.

Meanwhile at the front, Burke’s Chevron was losing pace, as Brundle was now in fact lapping quicker to increase his advantage from 12 to 13 seconds. Magnussen and Banks were still tied together for third, just two seconds separating the Lola and the McLaren, while McCaig and Furst were promoted to fifth and sixth following Hart’s demise. Next up was Gathercole, now chased by Catesby Jones in the Lola started by Jim Norman. Hulme class leader Greensall had passed Bonnier class leader Nuttall for ninth overall but both were still well ahead of their competition in class.

As the race evolved into its final stages, Brundle had the win covered, now lapping two seconds than Burke, whose challenge seemed to have faltered. Magnussen, meanwhile, had inched away from Banks to cement third place. Further back, though, Jones’ Lola T70 Mk3B proved to be a late retirement, allowing Greensall and Nuttall to move up another spot while the Graham Adelman/Andy Willis Chevron B19 entered the top ten.

And so Alex Brundle brought home the win from the Pittard/Burke Chevron and the second Lola T70 Mk3B of Ward and Magnussen. The Banks brothers bagged fourth ahead of McCaig’s De Cadenet Lola and Furst’s Lola T212 while Greensall pipped Gathercole to seventh overall to claim a resounding Hulme class win over the Seaman/Newall T70 Mk2 Spyder in 13th overall. Similarly, no-one was allowed to touch Stephen Nuttall in the Bonnier class, the Chevron B8 ending up ninth overall while the similar machine of Tom Neat and Dominic Mooney finished 16th overall. Third in class was Mark Dwyer’s Lenham in 21st overall.