KENNOL Grand Prix de France Historique 2024: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

Mike Cantillon drove a storming race in his Williams FW07C to win from pole in the first Masters Endurance Legends race in front of the packed grandstands at the Grand Prix de France Historique. The Irishman was never troubled as he beat the warring pair of Werner d’Ansembourg’s Brabham BT49 and Ken Tyrrell’s Tyrrell 011 by seven seconds. In a battle that went on for lap after lap, the young Belgian eventually gained the upper hand on the reigning champion.

“Firstly, what an amazing event. I mean, to be in front of 30,000 people is incredible, it’s amazing what the organisers have done”, said Cantillon. “It was very busy at the start, Oli was right on me, and I thought he was going to have me into the first chicane. Those pre-78 cars have got great speed. But I just tried to build every lap just a little bit of a gap to get a breather, and hoping they’d start fighting each other and slow each other down a bit. So now I’m really looking forward to watching the race later!”

“It was exhilirating!” said a jubilant d’Ansembourg Jr who only last season made his debut in the category. “I had never really been in a wheel-to-wheel before in these cars, and it was something else! I mean, it’s truly, truly fascinating to have done this race. I’m over the moon.”

“It was way beyond my expectations when I came here”, said Tyrrell. “I knew there was going to be a lot of fast guys. I wasn’t familiar with this circuit, but it went very, very well, and great battle with Werner. Lots of fun.”

Christophe d’Ansembourg took fourth in his Williams FW07C, having fought Martin Stretton’s Tyrrell 012 all race. Stretton got ahead towards the end but his Tyrrell stumbled on the final, as he dropped to ninth overall to hand the post-82 Lauda class win to Jamie Constable’s Tyrrell 011 in fifth overall. Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 was sixth ahead of dominant pre-78 Fittipaldi class victor OIi Webb whose Hesketh 308 initially dared to run in second place overall. From the very back, local hero Soheil Ayari’s Ligier JS21 performed miracles to storm up to tenth overall and take third place in the post-82 class.

“I tried to pass Mike for the lead on the opening lap, that would have been really great”, said Webb. “But I knew that in the end I couldn’t keep up with these guys. On the final three to four laps I started to conserve the car.”

A gaggle of cars contested the remaining podium spots in the pre-78 class, but when Guillaume Roman’s Boro Ensign N175 and Ewen Sergison’s Shadow DN8 dropped away, the two Lec CRP1s of Peter Williams and Ron Maydon pushed through to claim their steps on the podium.

“That was good, but I need lay down now!”, said Williams. “It’s a good track that takes a lot of learning. I’m still trying to learn it!”

“Two Lecs on the podium!” Maydon beamed. “That must be the first time ever!”

In front of jampacked grandstands at the Grand Prix de France Historique, 36 of the 40 cars originally entered to do the event rolled onto the grid for their opening race of the 2024 Masters Racing Legends series. As soon as the lights died, Mike Cantillon flew off in his Williams FW07C, chased by fellow front-row sitter Ken Tyrrell in the Tyrrell 011, pre-78 class leader Oli Webb in the Hesketh 308, son and father Werner and Christophe d’Ansembourg and their respective Brabham BT49 and Williams FW07C cars, Jamie Constable’s Tyrrell 011 and post-82 class leader Martin Stretton in his Tyrrell 012, with local hero Soheil Ayari starting all the way in the back in 36th after a troublesome qualifying session in his Ligier JS21. Not all cars had got away cleanly, though, as Piero Lottini continued his Paul Ricard misery when his Osella FA1B stalled on the grid at the start of the formation lap, halted by a fuel-injector issue.

Going into complex, Webb had made up a place to Tyrrell to move up into second overall, while Bruno Ferrari’s March 701 – the sole Stewart-class competitor – was seen limping at the back. Also, Matt Wrigley’s Tyrrell had disappeared from the top ten, the 011 crawling into the pits with a spark-box issue after the opening lap was completed. Cantillon now led from Webb, Tyrrell, the d’Ansembourg, fils before père, and the Lauda-class leaders Stretton and Constable, with Hartley having pushed down fast-starting teammate Simon Fish in the Arrows A4 one spot. The second time around, however, Tyrrell was back up into second, with Werner d’Ansembourg following through for third. In 12th overall, Ewen Sergison had made up lots of places to be second in the pre-78 class, chased by Valerio Leone, whose Arrows A6 was third in the post-82 class, and more pre-78 runners led by Guillaume Roman’s Boro Ensign N175.

Three laps gone, and although still leading the pre-78 class consummately, Webb began to lose grond to the faster ground-effect cars, as Christophe d’Ansembourg and Stretton also passed the Hesketh. At the front, Tyrrell wasn’t allowing Cantillon to disappear out of sight, cutting his deficit to 1.2 seconds, while d’Ansembourg (W.) also kept in touch,  two seconds down on the leader. D’Ansembourg (C.) and Stretton followed, five and seven seconds down respectively, while Webb was falling into the clutches of Constable, Hartley and Fish. Then a big gap opened to a second group led by Marc Devis in the Lotus 78, now 30 seconds down on Cantillon, who on lap 5 drove a scorching lap to reopen the gap to Tyrrell to three seconds, as the American had to watch d’Ansembourg (W.) close in his mirrors. In the pre-78 class, Sergison and Roman were still arguing over second place, the pair having passed Leone and ‘Mr John of B’ in the Ligier JS11/15.

Past the halfway-point, Cantillon maintained his comfortable three-second gap, but behind the Irishman, young d’Ansembourg had pushed through against Tyrrell, the Belgian now up into second. His father was still in fourth but was fiercely harried by Stretton, while Constable had taken sixth from Webb, who now had to deal with Fish and Hartley. Behind Devis, Roman had made his mark on Sergison to move up into second place in the pre-78 class, now trailed by Leone and the ever-gaining Soheil Ayari, now up into an incredible 13th place from his lowly 36th grid spot. At the back, Philippe Bonny’s Trojan T103 and Alejandro Chahwan’s March 811 had dropped out.

With seven minutes remaining on the clock, Cantillon led d’Ansembourg (W.) and Tyrrell by some seven seconds, and as Nicolas Matile’s March 771 momentarily stopped out on track to get going again, d’Ansembourg (C.) and Stretton still quarreled over fourth place, 19 seconds down on the leader. Constable was a lonely sixth, with Webb still in a commanding pre-78 class lead in seventh, keeping Hartley at bay, the McLaren having passed Fish in the Arrows. Auari, meanwhile, was now up to tenth and led Leone, Roman and ‘Mr John of B’, while Peter Williams’ Lec CRP1 had moved into contention for the final pre-78 podium spot. Very soon Williams was elevated into second place in class when Roman was seen dropping down the order with a loose rear wheel. This allowed the other Lec of Ron Maydon to move into third in class. The attrition continued when Devis retired with brake failure.

As the final minutes ticked down, Cantillon finished the job in imperious fashion to win by 7.5 seconds from the duelling pair of Werner d’Ansembourg and Ken Tyrrell. Going into the final lap, post-82 class frontrunner Stretton seems to have prevailed in his fight with Christophe d’Ansembourg, but the Tyrrell 012 faltered at the last hurdle, handing fourth back to d’Ansembourg and leaving the class win to Constable. Stretton still took second in class, as he crossed the line in ninth, trailing home Hartley and Webb, with the valiant Ayari in tenth overall picking up third place in the post-82 class. In eighth overall, Oli Webb took a dominant pre-78 class win from Peter Williams in 12th and Ron Maydon in 16th, the second Lec holding off Marco Fumagalli’s Theodore TR1 for the final step on the podium.