Masters Historic Festival 2024: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

Matthew Wrigley’s Tyrrell 011 led the entire distance of the first Masters Racing Legends race at Brands Hatch to win from Yutaka Toriba successfully debuting his Williams FW07C in the series. At the finish, Wrigley kept nine tenths in hand to claim a hard-fought victory.

“A great race, and great to be back on the circuit”, said Wrigley. “Just managing the gap as best as possible, but great fun. My first F1 win round here, and my first ever race win round here as well. So yeah, good weekend so far!”

“Monaco was the first time for me in this car, and this is the second time”, said Toriba. “I purchased it in February, so I still need to get used to it. But I love the car and I’m super excited to compete with a guy like that. He’s super fast. He did make just a little bit of a miss, but not a big one, so I couldn’t catch up with him. But I enjoyed it a lot!”

In third, Simon Fish in the Arrows A4 soaked up pressure from Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 coming from the back, while Mark Harrison (Shadow DN9) and Warren Briggs (McLaren M29) warred over fifth for the full length of the 20-minute race.

Ron Maydon led home a Lec CRP1 one-two in the pre-78 Fittipaldi class, leaving Peter Williams to trail him home by four seconds. In 11th overall, Sergison hauled his troublesome Shadow DN9A into third in class.

“There’s life in the old dogs yet”, said Maydon. “We have been waiting for that battle, haven’t we, Peter? Peter beat me at Paul Ricard, so it’s my turn to beat him here. Fair enough?”

“I got close once or twice. But you know, don’t take any risks or anything”, said Williams. “Ron just drove really well. A bit quicker than me today, so that’s all that matters. There we go.”

“I’m happy to see a chequered flag, but I feel a bit uneasy collecting a trophy for being dead last. But I suppose you’ve got to be in it to win it”, said Sergison. “We’ve found that with the car, we can either make it so I can win it, or we can physically drive it and then it doesn’t handle, or we can make it handle and I can’t physically drive it. So we’ve got to do some testing, I think, and find some happy medium.”

With the sun coming out after an overcast start to the morning, the 1966-’85 Formula One cars of the Masters Racing Legends grid lined up for their first race of the weekend – of the day, in fact, with the second race following later on the Sunday of the Masters Historic Festival. Polesitter Matt Wrigley led away in the Tyrrell 011, chased by Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C and Simon Fish in the Arrows A4, with Mark Harrison’s Shadow DN9A and Warren Briggs in the McLaren M29 while Steve Hartley was making up places in his McLaren MP4/1.

Two laps into the race, Wrigley led Toriba by 1.4 seconds, with Fish a similar amount of time away from the Japanese driver. By lap 4, the Tyrrell had metronomically expanded its lead to 2.8 seconds, as further back, Hartley made up another three places, to be fourth and chasing after Fish. Behind Harrison and Briggs, Maydon led the pre-78 class from fellow Lec CRP1 driver Peter Williams, with Victor Jabouille in the Fittipaldi F8 and Ian Simmonds’ Tyrrell 012 ahead of Ewen Sergison’s third-placed pre-78 Shadow DN9 car.

Three more laps later, Wrigley’s lead had stabilised at 2.8 seconds, while Fish held his own against Hartley who was still five seconds away from the Arrows in third. Harrison and Briggs fought over fifth, 26 seconds down on the leader, while Maydon continued to hold his own against Peter Williams. Behind Jabouille and Simmonds, Sergison’s Shadow DN9 still proved a handful over the Brands Hatch bumps, its driver simply hoping to finish the race third in class.

On lap 9, with seven minutes remaining on the clock, Wrigley remained in command, now leading by 3.1 seconds, as Fish trailed the Tyrrell 011 by 15 seconds. Three ticks now covered the distance between Fish and Hartley, as the latter still attempted to catch his teammate for the final spot on the podium. On lap 10, however, Toriba cut a second of Wrigley’s lead to create some more excitement at the front. Further back, Simmonds had made his way past Jabouille Jnr.

That tenth lap seemed to be a blip on Wrigley’s radar, as he increased his lead over his Japanese rival to 2.5 seconds on lap 11, but one lap later, Toriba hit back to cut his deficit to two seconds. On laps 13 and 14, the same pattern emerged, with Wrigley first adding to his advantage and then Toriba hacking away at it. But Wrigley had done enough to grab a solid lights-to-flag win in the Tyrrell 011, leaving it at 0.926 seconds to Toriba on the final lap.

Fish kept a similar gap in hand over Hartley to claim a well-deserved third, as Harrison and Briggs ended their race-long battle in fifth and sixth, 47 seconds down on the winner. Ron Maydon completed the Lec double in the pre-78 Fittipaldi class, dropping Williams by four seconds towards the end. Simmonds held his own against Jabouille, while Sergison finished the race a lap down but third in the pre-78 class.

Matthew Wrigley made it two from two by also winning the second Masters Racing Legends race at the Masters Historic Festival at Brands Hatch. His Tyrrell 011 hit the front after passing Simon Fish’s Arrows A4 and profiting from leaders Steve Hartley and Yutaka Toriba connecting their McLaren MP4/1 and Williams FW07C to end their race on lap 2.

“Not a bad weekend”, said Wrigley. “It’s a shame that really that the two cars came together, but we’ll take them however they come. Now we’re back in the championship after the two DNFs at Paul Ricard, so a good end to a great day.”

Wrigley then pounded in the fastest laps of the race on his way to an emphatic win over Fish and Mark Harrison who in the Shadow DN9 drove a strong race to claim a well-earned final podium spot.

“It was a bit hectic to start with, with what was going on there”, said Fish about the contact between Hartley and Toriba, “and then it was just a question of trying to keep up with Matthew. There was lots of fluid down, but I kept it on. So I wasn’t driving completely flat out, but I couldn’t have caught him up in a way. So I plumbed for second, really.”

“I’ve not seen one of those”, said Harrison about his debut Masters podium, “so it’s a nice feeling, but it was a strange race with a safety car and obviously I benefited from a few people who dropped out ahead of me, but I was there at the end to pick up the pieces, so I’m very pleased with that. We’ve had a good weekend. The car’s been as quick as it’s ever been with me driving it here, so yeah, we’re very pleased.”

Behind Warren Briggs’ McLaren M29, Peter Williams took the pre-78 Fittipaldi class win in his Lec CRP1, making it two Lec class wins out of two races. Ian Simmonds lifted pre-82 Lauda class honours in his Tyrrell 012 while Ewen Sergison once again got his troublesome Shadow DN9A to the end, to claim the runner-up spot in the pre-78 class.

“Where’s Ron?” Williams quipped about his Lec rival not starting the race. “I went one better but I want Ron here. So it’s been straightforward, really.”

In blazing sunshine, Steve Hartley lined up in pole position on the reversed grid for the morning’s race first four, with Simon Fish in the Arrows A4 next to the McLaren MP4/1. Sadly, Ron Maydon’s Lec CRP1 failed to make the race. After a frantic opening lap, Hartley led Fish, with Yutaka Toriba attempting to poke his Williams FW07C into every half gap that Fish left open. Toriba finally got through but then there was contact between Hartley and Toriba at Clearways to bring out the safety car. Behind them race 1 winner Wrigley had pipped Fish for third which then became first as Hartley and Toriba both dropped out.

At the restart going into lap 5, Wrigley powered away from Fish, with Mark Harrison’s Shadow DN9 in third while Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1 was up into a stunning fourth, with Ian Simmonds also moving up in the post-82 Tyrrell 012. Warren Briggs was sixth in the McLaren M29 while Jordan Grogor had swapped his Arrows A3 for the ex-Ron Maydon Amon AF101 that had started from the back but in those first few laps had managed to pass Ewen Sergison’s Shadow DN9A and Victor Jabouille’s Fittipaldi F8.

Next time around, Wrigley produced the fastest lap of the race to clear Fish by 1.2 seconds while Harrison superbly held on third. Briggs was all over Simmonds and Williams, and on consecutive laps hauled himself up into fourth place, 12 seconds down on the leader. Williams maintained his dominant pre-78 class lead, but Grogor was coming through as Simmonds proved to be his next victim. Behind them, Sergison and Jabouille fought over eighth place, Sergison moving ahead on lap lap 7.

Towards the chequered flag, Wrigley continued to walk away from Fish, to eventually win by

12 seconds from Fish. Harrison followed home 7 seconds later, with Briggs up next. Peter Williams took the pre-78 Fittipaldi class win in fifth, while Ian Simmonds won the pre-82 Lauda class in sixth overall. Behind young Jabouille, Ewen Sergison brought his pre-78 Shadow DN9A home second in class, profiting from Grogor’s late demise, as the Amon started to lose oil two laps from the end.