Jerez Historic Festival 2021: Masters Endurance Legends

The More Modern Historics!

Race 1

D’Ansembourg wins first Masters Endurance Legends race at Jerez

Christophe d’Ansembourg held off a spirited Keith Frieser to win the first Masters Endurance Legends race at Jerez, the Canadian’s Zytek 09S trailing the Belgian’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 across the line by just over a second.

“I managed the whole race”, said d’Ansembourg. “The pros were really fast but I kept Marco behind for quite a long time, and after the pitstop I simply controlled it. This is a tricky track, you can so easily make a mistake here.”

“First I was watching Marco fight Christophe”, said Frieser. “And then I briefly got ahead of Christophe but he was faster than me. I pedalled as hard as I could!”

In the first half of the race, Marco Werner took the fight to d’Ansembourg but a longer stop to hand over to Nick Padmore meant that the Lola-Lotus B12/80 was 11 seconds down at the finish. It still consummately won the P2 class from Mike Furness in the Courage-Judd LC75 who finished sixth overall.

“All happy faces!” said Werner. “It was a very nice race, and a good fight at the beginning.”

“I really enjoyed it”, said Padmore. “I just need more laps in it – I love it!”

In fourth and fifth respectively, James Hagan’s ORECA-GM FLM09 won the P3-class battle with Ron Maydon’s Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15. Jason Wright took GT class honours in his Ferrari 458 GT3.

“I don’t know what happened to the car”, said a despondent Wright. “Yesterday on fresh tyres it just clicked, but today it was horrible. I was hoping to fight with Ron and Mike, but I guess the tyres went off.”

From the start, d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 stormed off into the lead, but Marco Werner in the Lola-Lotus B12/80 kept the Belgian honest lap after lap, following by less than a second as the first 15 minutes ticked away. Keith Frieser in the Zytek 09S wasn’t far behind either, as the Canadian stuck to Werner’s gearbox right until the pit window opened.

James Hagan in the ORECA-GM FLM09 was soon a lonely fourth, while Ron Maydon in the Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15 saw Mike Furness in the Courage-Judd LC75 come by after eight laps. The leading GT car of Jason Wright was fourth initially but the Ferrari 458 GT3 dropped behind the prototypes of Hagan, Maydon and Furness as the first part of the race progressed. Two laps in, Aaron Scott’s Aston Martin DBR9 was the race’s first casualty, the GT1 succumbing to brake failure.

D’Ansembourg and Frieser were the first to stop once the pit window had opened, leaving Werner out in front before the German came in to hand over to Nick Padmore. Hagan and Wright had stopped too, but Furness and Maydon decided to leave it late. This would have allowed Furness to actually lead the race momentarily but he was pipped to it by d’Ansembourg charging back into first position moments before the pair crossed the timing beam. Frieser, still only 1.2 seconds behind the Belgian, followed through almost immediately.

Maydon was third now, the Werner/Padmore having dropped down to fourth due to a longer mandatory stop for elite drivers but on lap 15, Padmore was back into third, trailing the leader by 13 seconds but lapping slightly faster than both d’Ansembourg and Frieser.

18 laps in, and Frieser wasn’t giving up, as the Canadian kept harrying the shrieking Lola-Aston in front, the two drivers likely relishing the fight immensely. Padmore was still catching but probably not at the rate that he would have liked, while Hagan now trailed the lead trio by a minute and a half. Maydon and Furness were fifth and sixth, with Wright still leading the GT category.

As the clock wound down, d’Ansembourg maintained his slender lead over Frieser to win by just over a second, with Padmore a further ten seconds down. Hagan finished a lapped fourth, ahead of Maydon and Furness, while Wright took GT class honours.

Race 2

D’Ansembourg doubles up in Masters Endurance Legends fiesta at Jerez

Christophe d’Ansembourg completed the double in his Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 by also winning the second Masters Endurance Legends race of the Jerez Historic Festival weekend.

“Yes, the double! I’m happy, especially after my F1 race where I was leading and spun”, said d’Ansembourg. “Here, I was really cautious all the time, so I let Marco go.”

During his opening stint, the Belgian saw Marco Werner break away in the German’s Lola-Lotus B12/80 to open up the 23-second gap necessary to negate his and teammate Nick Padmore longer pitstop time for an elite driver pairing. Padmore looked like rejoining in the lead but d’Ansembourg flew past when he exited the pits, to see the Lola-Aston win by 2.2 seconds. In the Zytek 09S, Keith Frieser ran Padmore a close third.

“I pushed like hell!” said Werner about his attempt to open up a big enough gap. “I was still in the rhythm of my F1 race, so I gave it all I could.”

“He went past just as I was leaving”, said Padmore, “but he was flying, I couldn’t get near him.”

Ron Maydon finished a distant fourth in his Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15, well ahead of P3 class rival Chris Atkinson’s ORECA-GM FLM09. Among the GTs, Aaron Scott bounced from his Aston Martin DBR9’s early retirement in race 1 to beat Jason Wright’s Ferrari 458 GT3 to the class win.

“This time the car was good”, said Scott who enjoyed his tussle with the prototypes. “I was trying to be respectful and bring it home safely. It’s a pretty valuable car!”

“Much better than this morning”, said Wright despite not winning. “I put on a fresh set of tyres and actually enjoyed this one. In fact, I’m happy to be here. I got a bad ‘flu last week and it didn’t look like I was going to make it.”

Around four o’clock in the afternoon, rounding off a successful Jerez weekend, the Masters Endurance Legends cars headed out for their second race of the day. From the start, d’Ansembourg led away yet again but Werner soon got past Frieser for second place. Maydon snatched fourth from Atkinson who had now taken over Hagan’s ORECA-GM FLM09. Furness in the Courage LC75 was sixth, holding the GT cars of Aaron Scott and Jason Wright at bay.

While earlier in the day, d’Ansembourg managed to hold off Werner for lap after lap, the German this time knew no mercy, taking the lead on lap 2 and leaving d’Ansembourg and Frieser to fight between themselves. The Lola-Lotus B12/80 was flying, and at the end of lap 3, Werner had opened up a seven-second gap to the Lola-Aston Martin DBR1, with Frieser’s Zytek 09S a second further back.

22 seconds down on the leader, Maydon held a steady fourth, his Ligier-Nissan JSP3-15 keeping Atkinson at a safe two-second disadvantage for the ORECA, that was now actively chased by Furness. And Scott too, since the Aston Martin DBR9 was joining the prototype fight, having dropped Wright by six seconds. Indeed, next time around, the Aston relegated the Courage to seventh in order to set after the ex-LMPC car just up ahead.

Werner having to negate the longer pitstop forced upon himself and fellow pro co-driver Padmore, the German set out to increase the gap to d’Ansembourg. On lap 6, Werner led by 16 seconds while Frieser began to gradually lose ground, the Canadian now trailing the Lola-Aston by three seconds. While Maydon contiuned to run fourth, Scott was now his closest pursuer, also having dealt with Atkinson who still had Furness to fight.

15 minutes gone, and the pit window was open for driver changes and a mandatory stop. In fact, there would be just two driver changes, as Werner would come in with a 23-second lead that he wouldn’t be able to hand over fully to Padmore. In fact, d’Ansembourg was quicker to come in than Werner, for the moment handing second place to Frieser, his Zytek now 26 seconds down on the Lola-Lotus. Meanwhile, further back, Furness had passed Atkinson for sixth.

On lap 11, Scott was the next to come in to hand over to Bob Blain, followed by Atkinson, Wright and Frieser, as Werner, Maydon and Furness continued for another tour before they also made their stops. When Padmore exited the pits, it looked like mission accomplished for Werner, as his teammate still had a few seconds in hand over d’Ansembourg – but the Belgian was flying and darted past the Lola-Lotus as it returned to the track. Frieser too, meanwhile, was just three seconds away from Padmore. Maydon was a safe fourth, leading a lapped Furness, with Atkinson sixth, and Blain seventh, now chased by Wright.

Now it would be a straight fight to the finish. As d’Ansembourg upped his tempo in comparison to Padmore his advantage grew to five seconds on lap 16, with Frieser still just two seconds down on the Lola-Lotus. As the clock ticked down, the Belgian in the lead kept adding the tenths to a maximum lead of around seven seconds and only eased down towards the end to win by 2.2 seconds, with Frieser nine more ticks behind. Maydon took a distant fourth ahead of Atkinson, while Scott won the GT category from Wright. Furness’ Courage was a late retirement on lap 19.