Masters Historic Festival 2024: Masters GT Trophy

Reigning champion Craig Wilkins held on despite a late surge from the similar Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo of Neil Glover and Aaron Scott to win the first Masters GT Trophy race at Brands Hatch. Behind them, George Haynes and Adam Sharpe looked poised for second place and a GT3 class win but their Mosler MT900 dramatically dropped out on the final lap.

This handed third overall – and third in the Corse class – to Gary Culver’s Ferrari 458 Challenge who leapfrogged Richard Meins’ GT3-class-winning BMW Z4 GT3 by virtue of a 10-second time penalty for Meins’ involvement in a first-lap clash with the Super Trofeo of David McInulty. Vance Kearney’s Ferrari 430 GT3 was sixth while taking second in the GT3 class.

“Well, I was lucky”, said Wilkins. “David McInulty getting a tap from somebody else was part of the job done because I would have struggled with him and Jason. A little opportunistic. Got on with the job, and I enjoyed it. Still can’t qualify a car though! I was aware somebody was there but I didn’t know who it was. I won’t get too carried away with starting my title defense with a win. I think this year, as the year goes on, I won’t be winning all the races this year. Maybe I’ll have to practice some more.

“I don’t know what the gap was in the end, but I just kept pushing on to see what happened”, said Scott. “I was surprised to be honest with the BMW and the Mosler, because I didn’t know, but they were easier to clear than I thought. A fair and good race.”

“Yeah, it was a great race”, Glover agreed, who stoutly defended second place for a long time. “We had a good start and kept them behind as long as I could. It was great. We passed it across to Aaron, and he got the job done. Very pleased.”

In fifth overall, the David Harrison/Nathan Luckey Porsche 991.2 Cup took the Cup class win while Richard Dougall ran a strong race to place the GT4 Maserati GranTurismo in seventh overall to claim GT4 class honours ahead of Dale Albutt’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 and the Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero Ginetta G55.

The Saturday was as bright as it’s almost invariably been in the 18-year history of the late-May Masters Historic Festival as the Masters GT Trophy cars headed out for their first race of the weekend. Dale Albutt’s Aston Martin Vantage GT4 was slow away from the dummy grid but got going, while David McInulty’s Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo spun around on the opening lap, having been tapped by Richard Meins in the BMW Z4 GT3. At the end of the lap, Neil Glover barely hung on against a fast-starting Craig Wilkins, before the champion took the lead into Druids on lap 2. At the back, however, Chris Compton Goddard’s Ferrari 430 GT3 was into the pits already and was soon pushed back into its garage with terminal gearbox issues.

Two laps gone, Wilkins led by 1.6 seconds over Glover, with Meins, Gary Culver’s Ferrari 458 Challenge and Keith Frieser’s Super Trofeo next up. George Haynes had moved up into sixth, the Mosler MT900 passing Jason Wright’s Ferrari 458 GT3 for second in the GT3 class behind the leading BMW of Richard Meins – but on lap 3, they were back in their original order. David Harrison ran eighth overall in the leading Porsche Cup car, ahead of Richard Dougal in the GT4-class-leading Maserati GranTurismo GT4.

Next time around, a 10-second time penalty was awarded to Meins for his first-lap contretemps with McInulty, who now still found himself last, chasing Albutt’s Aston Martin. At the front, Wilkins had walked off into the distance, leading Glover by 9.8 sedonds, while concatenating a string of fastest sectors, to set the fastest lap of the race on lap 6. Meins was now all over the back of Glover’s Super Trofeo, and while Glover defended valiantly, Culver’s 458 Challenge was closing up in fourth. 12 seconds away, Frieser, Wright and Haynes fought over fifth, with Harrison fallen away from that group in eighth. Vance Kearney in the Ferrari 430 GT3 coming from the back was now into ninth, ahead of Dougal’s GT4 Maserati.

On lap 8, despite all his efforts, Glover lost out to his two pursuers, as both Meins and Culver moved past into Graham Hill Bend. Wilkins, however, was now 16 seconds up on the road, having set another fastest lap of the race on lap 7. Right at the back, McInulty had finally caught up and past a rival, as he pushed the pink Ginetta G55 of Peter Reynolds down to 13th overall.

As the pit window approached, Wilkins led his rivals by 20 seconds, with Meins’ BMW and Culver’s Ferrari still tied to an elastic string. Glover had dropped those by four seconds, but behind him Frieser had spun away fifth place. Meanwhile, David McInulty handed over to Jason McInulty, as Wilkins, Culver and Glover was also in the pits for their mandatory stop, with Glover’s car having to remain stationary for longer because of teammate Aaron Scott’s elite-driver time penalty. One lap later, George Haynes was in to hand the Mosler to Adam Sharpe, while Harrison switched places with Nathan Luckey in the Porsche. Peter Reynolds swapped seats with Daniel Quintero in the Ginetta, with Frieser and Albutt also in.

McInulty (J.) and Scott immediately went on to improve on Wilkins’ fastest laps, while the Ferraris of Wright and Kearney were among the last to stop, with leader Meins the absolute last one on lap 14. The pit window having closed, Wilkins still led but Meins was closer because of Wilkins’ longer stop but still far away because of that 10-second time penalty. Culver was third, six seconds down, while Sharpe was fourth, ahead of Wright and a fast-approaching Scott, now 30 seconds adrift from the leader but with another fastest lap of the race, some four seconds than Wilkins’ best. Wright’s fifth place proved shortlived, though, as a Ferrari came into the pits with damaged bodywork at the rear.

This moved Luckey up into sixth overall while Kearney was slapped with a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Dougal was a strong eighth overall in the leading GT4 car, his Maserati leading the two delayed Super Trofeos of Frieser and McInulty. On lap 19, Wilkins had dropped Meins by three seconds, while Sharpe had passed Culver for third overall. In fifth, Scott’s deficit was down to 24 seconds, but only eight minutes remained on the race clock.

As the final minutes ticked away, Scott swiftly dealt with Culver to make up another place, while Sharpe’s Mosler was catching Meins’ BMW that was in a virtual fourth place now, because of that 10-second time penalty. At the front, Wilkins had it all-in hand, though, but in a shock twist on the final lap, Sharpe dropped out of second place to hand the place to the Glover/Scott Lambo. Meins was third on the road, but Culver grabbed the final spot on the podium. Meins did win the GT3 category, with the Harrison/Luckey Porsche in fifth and the Cup class winner. Behind Kearney’s Ferrari, Dougal’s Maserati was a strong seventh as the first GT4 car home. After another spin, Frieser was eighth while the Haynes/Sharpe Mosler was classified ninth and third in the GT3 class, behind Meins and Kearney. Albutt and Reynolds/Quintero completed the top-three in the GT4 class.

With a mid-race stoppage all but negating Scott’s elite-driver time penalty at the pitstops, Neil Glover and Aaron Scott ran home to a convincing win in the second Masters GT Trophy race at Brands Hatch. Their Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo was 31 seconds ahead on the finish line, with Adam Sharpe and George Haynes taking a strong GT3 class win and second overall in their Mosler MT900.

“Yeah, it was lucky”, said Scott. “I was surprised they needed it, to be honest, because it looked fairly okay. But obviously that really played into my hands and I just took my time a bit on the restart. The track seemed a bit more slippery than yesterday, but it was a good race.”

Sharpe was the early race leader after a phenomenal run to the front before Haynes consolidated the spot ahead of Richard Meins in the Vitaphone-liveried BMW Z4 GT3. In fourth, Gary Culver’s Ferrari 458 Challenge took second in the Corse class behind the winning Lambo, while in fifth Australians Nathan Luckey and David Harrison took their Porsche 991.2 Cup to the Cup class win.

“We obviously had an amazing start and got up to P1”, said Sharpe. “I started building a gap there for what I hoped would be going to help us with the race, but the safety car and then the red flag was a bit of a problem. But I think if we had had a clean race, we probably would have won overall, I think.”

Daniel Quintero and Peter Reynolds bagged the GT4 win when their Ginetta G55 was handed the class lead as soon as Richard Dougal’s Maserati GranTurismo GT4 was forced to retire.  Saturday’s winner Craig Wilkins and two other Lamborghini Super Trofeo crews – Keith Frieser and David & Jason McInulty – were sadly unable to take the start.

“It was brilliant”, said Quintero. “The rain didn’t come out in the end, and we had a bit of good pace. Peter did a good stint, he was also kind of matching the time, so it was good.”

Following overnight rain, the weather was still overcast when the Masters GT Trophy cars lined up for the first Masters race of an action-packed Sunday of the Masters Historic Festival – and their second of the weekend. But the car that should be on pole went missing, as Craig Wilkins was having fuel issues with his Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo while Keith Frieser’s and the McInulty’s similar machines remained in its garage as well, meaning that Neil Glover was effectively on pole in the sole remaining Lambo.

On the opening lap, Gary Culver had the bit between his teeth, as the Ferrari 458 Challenge passed Glover for the lead, with Adam Sharpe in the GT3 Mosler MT900 and Richard Meins in the BMW Z4 GT3 also coming through. Nathan Luckey was fifth in the Porsche 991.2 Cup, followed by Vance Kearney’s Ferrari 430 GT3 and Richard Dougal in the leading GT4 car, the Maserati GranTurismo GT4, ahead of Daniel Quintero in the Ginetta G55 GT4 and Dale Albutt in the Aston Martin Vantage GT4. Sadly, Chris Compton Goddard was forced to pit his Ferrari 430 GT3 at the end of lap 2, but was back out on lap 3.

At the front, Sharpe relieved Culver of the lead to open up a gap of two seconds to the Ferrari that was now trying keep the BMW behind. Next time around, the gap had increased to 5.8 seconds, as Sharpe truly got the Mosler moving. On lap 5, though, the safety car was out as Compton Goddard’s Ferrari had ground to a halt to stop on a difficult spot on track. This meant that it took a while to sort the issue which resulted in the pit window opening with the safety car still out. So all cars duly peeled into the pits at the first opportunity, with David Harrison in the Porsche started by Luckey moving up a place while the Neil Glover/Aaron Scott Lambo with its elite-driver penalty dropped to last. But with Compton Goddard’s car stuck in such an unfortunate spot, the red flag was out on lap 9, with 20 minutes remaining on the clock.

At the restart, George Haynes in the Mosler remained in the lead from Culver, Meins and David Harrison, and after a single racing lap Scott was already on the back of the Porsche, with Kearney, Dougal and Peter Reynolds in the Ginetta started by Quintero. On lap 2 after the restart, Meins moved ahead of Culver who then dropped another place to Scott, who on lap 3 pounced on Meins and on the same lap had completed all his overtaking moves to grab the lead from Haynes.

On his first ‘free’ lap, Scott blasted round in a 1.29.5 lap that was three seconds faster than the GT3 cars following him, and lowered that to a 1.29.1 on the next lap. It soon left Scott some ten seconds up the road from Haynes, who himself had dropped Meins by three seconds, with similar gaps separating Meins, Culver and Harrison. Behind the top five, Kearney and Dougal were having a nice ding-dong for sixth, but Dougal’s leading GT4 Maserati dropped out after hitting a barrier with six minutes to go, handing the class lead to Reynolds’ pink Ginetta.

With Scott now well out in front, and with a 1.28.6 fastest lap following up on his string of low 1.29s, the Lambo ran home to a dominant win, 31 seconds ahead of the Adam Sharpe/George Haynes Mosler MT900 and a further two ticks ahead of Meins’ BMW Z4 GT3. Culver’s Ferrari Challenge was fourth – and second in the Corse class – with Australians Harrison and Luckey took Cup class honours in their Porsche. Kearney’s Ferrari was next up, with the Quintero/Reynolds Ginetta bringing home the bacon in the GT4 class, some eight seconds ahead of Albutt’s Aston Martin.