Masters Historic Festival 2025: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

Following Warren Briggs’ debut victory at Hockenheim, Yutaka Toriba (Williams FW07C) became the second first-time Masters Racing Legends winner in two meetings by passing early leader Matthew Wrigley on lap 2 and surviving a late safety-car period to win from Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW08, as the Japanese driver maintained a 1.5-second gap to the Irishman.

“I decided that the place to overtake Matt was turn five. That’s what I was aiming for”, said Toriba about his pass for the lead. “Then I made a good turn four, and the second lap I could do it. So it was exactly as strategy! After that, I had plenty of gap against the cars behind, but after the safety car I had to push again.”

“It was quite eventful, it was really tough”, said Cantillon. “Yutaka was the fastest guy out there today. Then Matt had a gearbox issue so I was very fortunate to get second place, but that’s racing sometimes.”

Behind the leading pair, Briggs netted the remaining step on the podium after another strong race in the McLaren M29, while Steve Hartley finished fourth in the McLaren MP4/1 after the Tyrrell 011 of polesitter Wrigley dropped away from second place in the closing stages.

“Very delighted with third place”, said Briggs. “I had the pace to keep up with the guys in front before the safety car, so yeah, delighted, really good!”

Martin Bullock (Williams FW06) and Peter Williams (Lec CRP1) fought over the pre-78 class lead all race, the Australian in the Williams coming through to also claim a strong sixth overall. In 11th overall, Ian Simmonds (Tyrrell 012) bagged the post-82 class win after both Valerio Leone (Arrows A6) and James Hagan (Tyrrell 011B) failed to finish.

A fresh but bright Sunday morning awaited the Masters Racing Legends grid for their first race of the Masters Historic Festival weekend, with the second one coming up later in the afternoon. Matthew Wrigley’s Tyrrell 011 led away from Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C, chased by Mike Cantillon in the FW08 and Hockenheim winner Warren Briggs in the McLaren M29. Steve Hartley was up next in the McLaren MP4/1, followed by Steve Brooks in the Lotus 91, James Hagan’s Tyrrell 011B, Mark Higson’s MP4/1B and Valerio Leone’s Arrows A6. Martin Bullock’s Williams FW06 headed the pre-78 class away from Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1.

Wrigley led the first time through but Toriba was pushing him down the straight, with Cantillon and Briggs holding a watching brief while having already gapped Hartley and Brooks. Bullock in the pre-78-class-leading Williams had passed Leone for ninth. Next time around, Toriba continued to harry Wrigley for the lead, as further back Higson was in trouble, having dropped down the order from eighth. Behind Williams in the Lec, Mark Harrison’s Shadow DN9 was 11th ahead of the debuting John Spiers in the ex-Ronnie Peterson March 761, Nick Pink in the Arrows A5 and Ian Simmonds in the Tyrrell 012, while Higson found a way back past Arthur Bruckner’s Arrows A6.

On lap 3, Toriba managed to squeeze his way through to lead and on the next lap, the Japanese driver immediately opened up a gap of 2.4 seconds, while Cantillon was now all over the back of Wrigley’s Tyrrell, with Briggs latching on to the pair. Ten seconds further down the road, Hartley headed Brooks, Hagan, Leone (now back up into eighth) and Bullock.

Toriba then set the fastest lap of the race on laps 5 and 6 to increase his lead to 4.5 seconds. In ninth, Bullock led Williams by 1.2 seconds in their fight over the pre-78 class lead, while Spiers was a further four seconds down the road, with Harrison still in between. On lap 7, however, Brooks dropped out from sixth, allowing Leone and Hagan to move up places, the Monegasque having passed the Irishman for the post-82 class lead.

Now halfway into the race, Toriba maintained his 4.5-second advantage over Wrigley, who still needed to fend off Cantillon and Briggs. Hartley was out on his own now, in fifth, with Leone and Hagan still battling ten seconds adrift of the McLaren. In eighth and ninth, Bullock and Williams were in a class battle of their own. On lap 9, though, Leone exited his class fight as he dropped his Arrows in the gravel trap at the back of the circuit, forcing the safety car to come out with ten minutes remaining on the clock.

With all gaps negated, the field was released on lap 12, and Cantillon was in attack mode, passing Wrigley for second place – in fact, Briggs was past as well, demoting the Tyrrell to fourth in the space of a single lap. At the front, though, Toriba had created a 1.8-second gap to look in control. On the next lap, it looked like Wrigley had some genuine issues, as Hartley also moved past for fourth. At the front, Cantillon had the bit between his teeth, as the FW08 set fastest lap of the race to close down to a disadvantage of nine tenths.

On lap 15, however, Toriba responded with a fastest lap of the race of his own, but now a five-second penalty came through for Toriba having left the pitlane before the start without his seatbelts on! This meant that Cantillon was the virtual leader, but Toriba could still hold on to second place, because Briggs was now 12 seconds down. Further back, Hagan dropped away to hand the post-82 lead to Ian Simmonds.

So indeed, while Toriba won on the road, Cantillon was the actual winner, with 3.5 seconds in hand over the Japanese driver. After Hockenheim, Briggs bagged another podium, from Hartley, the ailing Tyrrell of Wrigley and pre-78 class winner Bullock who kept eight tenths in hand over his rival Peter Williams. Mark Harrison was ninth ahead of John Spiers who reached the pre-78 podium on his debut, with Simmonds in tenth overall netting the post-82 class win. Higson, Pink and Bruckner completed the order.

Warren Briggs (McLaren M29) took his second Masters Racing Legends victory in two meetings by leaping to the front from his front-row start and then resisting from Matthew Wrigley’s Tyrrell 011, Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW08 and Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C.

“This was a proper win”, said Briggs, comparing this victory to the one at Hockenheim. “So yeah, very pleased. I led more or less from the front from the first lap, so,pretty good. I had a little bit of a braking issue so from about halfway I had to be careful at, for instance, Druids, where Mike would catch me up quite a lot. But I was okay through the fast corners. So I had to defend but that’s what makes a race.”

Cantillon’s Williams survived to finish third after damaging his front wing against Briggs’ rear wheel while Wrigley fought back to second place, having been in the grass in the opening stages. The race was red-flagged towards the end when Toriba went off at Clearways while chasing Briggs.

“Starting in P5 I thought, it’s going to be hard to overtake right here”, said Wrigley. “At the beginning, I got past Yutaka, then he got back past and then I went for another move. I was squeezed out a bit on the grass, dropped to the back, then caught them up, got caught with a backmarker, caught back up with them again, then got past Mike and then obviously Yutaka went off and we ended up where we ended up. Not quite where I wanted to be for the weekend, I would like to have won, but the second is good for where that race was anyway.”

“So, turn one, I was right beside Warren. I was trying to get past him”, Cantillon explained about losing part of his front wing. “And I just clipped his left-hand rear, which lost my front wing, so I lost all my front end. We kept going, finished and we got a P3. It must have been pretty cool to watch, that was full-on racing.”

Martin Bullock shone by hauling his Williams FW06 up to fourth overall and his second pre-78 win of the weekend, with Peter Williams’ Lec CRP1 taking second place in class a few positions further back. Coming from the back of the grid, Valerio Leone drove a storming race to finish sixth while claiming the post-82 class spoils in his Arrows A6.

“It was very lonely actually”, said Bullock. “I had a really good start, managed to hitch onto the back of the fast guys in front and that gave me a nice gap to behind. Then the rest of the race was just maintaining that gap. Just trying to keep concentrating, and that’s it!”

“I never saw him, he just buggered off!”, Williams quipped.

“You’re a very scary person to have behind you, so I had to go!”, was Bullock’s riposte.

“I really felt I was getting into it”, said Spiers about finishing third in the pre-78 class.”I was gaining on the group in front and then I slightly ran out of talent going into Paddock Hill Bend. But Nigel [Greensall] just told me that I only lost seven seconds through the spin, so I guess that’s something to be happy about!”

The weather had turned slightly overcast when the Masters Racing Legends rolled out for their second race of the Sunday of the Masters Historic Festival. On the partly reversed grid, Steve Hartley’s McLaren MP4/1 started from pole, with Warren Briggs in the M29 joining him on the front row. Mike Cantillon’s Williams FW08 and race 1 winner Yutaka Toriba in the Williams FW07C shared row two, with Matt Wrigley’s Tyrrell 011 joined on the third row by Martin Bullock in the Williams FW06 that had won the pre-78 class in the morning race. At the back, James Hagan (Tyrrell 011B), Steve Brooks (Lotus 91) and Valerio Leone (Arrows A6) were hoping to bounce back from their earlier mishaps.

On the opening lap, the top cars were absolutely together, but in the same order as they started, with Mark Higson (McLaren MP4/1B) the first one to make up a place against John Spiers in the March 761. Next time around, however, the order was shuffled around, with Briggs now leading Cantillon, Toriba, Bullock and Hartley, while Wrigley had hit the grass to be passed by Williams, Mark Harrison in the Shadow DN9, Higson and Spiers.

Briggs remained in the lead on lap 3, but Cantillon and Toriba were side by side into Paddock Hill Bend. Bullock continued to amaze in fourth overall, three spots ahead of Williams in the class-rivaling Lec, while Hartley was hunted down by the recovering Wrigley, who appeared to have made contact with Toriba before his run through the grass.

Two laps later, Briggs continued to fend off Cantillon, while Toriba dropped back into the clutches Wrigley who by now had passed Bullock for fourth. Next up were Hartley, Williams, Harrison, with Brooks and Leone coming through from the back.

Halfway into the race, Briggs and Cantillon were still nose to tail, while Toriba had once again caught up with the two leaders but with a five-second penalty for contact with Wrigley hanging over his head. Wrigley was trying his hardest to make it a leading group of four, while Brooks was up into seventh ahead of Williams.

Less than ten minutes remained when Briggs, Cantillon and Toriba were just nine tenths apart, while Wrigley with a fastest lap of the race was now just two seconds adrift. However, the sensation was right at the front when Cantillon damaged his front wing against the rear of Briggs’ McLaren. This dropped the Irishman to fourth behind Toriba and Wrigley. In fifth, Bullock continued to star in the first pre-78 car while Leone was up to sixth ahead of Brooks, Harrison, Williams in the second pre-78 car, and Hartley. Further back, Spiers chased Higson for 11th.

On lap 14, the race was decided when Toriba went off at Clearways, with a red flag calling the end of the contest. So Briggs won his second race in two meetings, with Cantillon in third. Martin Bullock grabbed his second helping of pre-78 spoils, leading home post-82 class winner Leone, Brooks, Harrison and Peter Williams as the second pre-78 car home. Hartley was tenth ahead of Higson, Spiers (as the third pre-78 car home), Nick Pink’s Arrows A5, Hagan and Arthur Bruckner’s Arrows A6.