Masters Historic Festival 2025: Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars

Tom Sharp put his Ford Falcon to superb use by beating all the Mustangs to claim victory in the Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race that closed the curtains on a wonderful Masters Historic Festival at Brands Hatch. Sharp led most of the way but thought he had lost the race when in the final dash to the line after a late safety car he made a mistake into Druids to allow the Robert Ross/Matt Johnson Mustang into the lead. Since that was racing with a five-second penalty for track limits, Sharp was surprised to have won it after all.

“I really struggled with the brakes to begin with”, said Sharp. “I was doing really well, truthfully, until the last lap when I went into Druids, hit the brakes, put the clutch in, went down a gear and it wouldn’t go in. Then I came out of Druids and the clutch didn’t come back! So I lost the lead and was driving around on the last lap shouting all sorts of expletives… Then I came in and they said I won! So yeah, it’s a strange, strange feeling. I thought it was all gone, and it seems to have come back! I’m not as thrilled as I thought I would be, but yeah, good for us.”

The Ross/Johnson penalty also allowed Alex Taylor’s Mustang to leapfrog into second place, while two late safety-car periods left the Jimmy Broadbent/Matt Neal and Jack Ruddell/Tom Ingram Mustang without enough time to truly challenge the cars in front.

“I was struggling for grip”, Taylor explained. “Great start, got right up there. But then we got three-year-old tyres in there, and I could see when we did the restart at the end there, the guys in front of me just had more grip at the back. Other than that, it was great.”

“It was an amazing race”, said Ross. “It reminded me of doing Fiestas back about 30 years ago for the first few laps. But yeah, the car was going well, and I haven’t raced here in 23 years, so it was quite exciting for me!”

“It felt like three hours!” said Johnson. “But a great race. And obviously, the safety car thing kind of skewed it. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work for us. But nonetheless, it was a great race.”

In the Cortina class, it ebbed and flowed between the Max Bird/Nick Sampson and Paddy Shovlin examples, with the Michael & Victor Cullen Cortina also having a look-in before it faltered. This allowed Geoff & Alan Letts into third in class. After Phil Bullen-Brown’s demise at Paddock Hill Bend, Ben Butler clinched Mini honours.

Having done their qualifying in the morning, the Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars came out to provide the crowd with the curtain closer of the Masters Historic Festival. John Spiers led the field in his Mustang, chased by Sharp’s Falcon and a whole herd of more Mustangs. Soon though, Sharp had his Falcon in the lead ahead of Alex Taylor’s pony, with Spiers third ahead of the Mustangs of Jack Ruddell, Jimmy Broadbent, Robert Ross and Max Bird in the first of the Cortinas, leading the similar cars of Paddy Shovlin and Michael Cullen. Mark Mathieson, however, had dropped from the start, and now trailed Geoff Letts’ Cortina and Phil Bullen-Brown in the first Mini.

On lap 3, Sharp held some more of an advantage to Taylor, with Ross up into third after having slightly tapped Spiers’ Mustang that was now down to 16th. Further back, Ruddell had been passed by the Cortinas of Bird, Shovlin and Cullen. More order change occurred on lap 4, as Ross moved up into second while Broadbent passed Taylor for third. At the tail of the field, Spiers was back up into 13th. In tenth, Bullen-Brown continued to lead the Mini class.

As the field settled into a rhythm, we needed to wait until lap 8 for another position change – but it was a major one, as Ross managed to get ahead of Sharp. Broadbent was still third, five seconds down and himself four seconds ahead of Taylor, who was now put under pressure by Max Bird in the first Cortina. Teammates Shovlin and Cullen circulated seven seconds down on Bird and had company from Ruddell, with Geoff Letts in the fourth Cortina slightly further back. Bullen-Brown was still tenth but Spiers was closing om him.

Into lap 10, however, Ross was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits once too much, so Sharp was back to being the effective leader. Behind Spiers, Mathieson – also on a recovery drive – was up into 12th at the cost of Mark Drain’s Cortina, while Olly Samways and Nigel Fraser Ker squabbled over second place in the Mini class.

On lap 12, some three minutes away from the pit window, Cullen and Shovlin swapped places, while Spiers finally cleared the Mini of Bullen-Brown. Soon after, Ruddell also passed Shovlin to be seventh. And then, still ahead of the pit window, Cullen and Spiers were suddenly seen coming into the pits for what seemed a regular driver change, followed by the leader who was just in time to hand his Mustang to Matt Johnson. Drain was in next, followed by Ruddell who would make way for BTCC star Tom Ingram. Equally, Mark Mathieson came in for another BTCC champion, Colin Turkington, to do his thing. More stops followed soon: Geoff Letts was replaced by brother Alan, Ollie Samways was in and back out, and then Sharp, Broadbent (for Matt Neal), Taylor and Shovlin headed for the pits, along with the Mercury Comet Cyclone of George & Roger Wills, the latter hopping in. The Minis of Bullen-Brown and Fraser Ker were among the last to pit before Bird came in to hand the Cortina to Nick Sampson.

As the pitstops cycled through, Sharp was back into the lead, six seconds ahead of Matt Johnson, with Sampson in third, 11 more seconds adrift. Further back, Greensall pitted the Mustang for a second time to retire with collision damage, while Ben Butler in the Mini had completely missed the pit window…

On lap 19, Taylor went through into third, demoting Sampson to fourth, with Neal in fifth closing fast. Shovlin and Letts (A.) in the second and third Cortinas were lapping quicker than Sampson, but Victor Cullen was forced to pull out of the Cortina chase with a smoking Ford engine. Soon, Neal was up into fourth, with Taylor in visual reach. Behind Letts, Ingram was closing a ten-second gap to seventh overall, while Bullen-Brown continued to rule in the Mini class.

However, action was suspended on lap 21 after a Mini went off into the gravel at Paddock Hill Bend – and it was Bullen-Brown’s! So now this would close up all the gaps – a bonus for the chasing BTCC stars. For Tom Sharp, though, it meant that all the work to create his margin to his pursuers was for nothing. In the process, the Kjallgren’s Mustang was into the pits for a second stop.

On lap 24, and with ten minutes remaining on the clock, Sharp put the throttle pedal down as the safety car got out of his way, but soon it was back out again, with Turkington’s Mustang disappearing into the gravel. Butler, meanwhile, was given a 60-second stop-and-go penalty for failing to do his mandatory stop.

All the while, the clock continued to tick down, but green-flag conditions returned with two-and-a-half minutes still to go. Sharp still led Johnson, who was chased by Taylor, Neal, Shovlin in the lead Cortina, Sampson in the second Cortina, Ingram, and Letts in the third Cortina. Into lap 30, Sharp lost the lead to Johnson, but with Johnson’s five-second penalty, Sharp’s Falcon still won from Taylor, Johnson, Neal and Ingram. In sixth overall, Paddy Shovlin won the Cortina class from Sampson and Letts, while despite his penalty Butler still won the Mini class from Samways and Fraser Ker. The Wills’ Mercury rounded out the top ten.