Masters Historic Festival 2025: Masters Sports Car Legends

John Spiers and Nigel Greensall dominated the first of two Masters Sports Car Legends races at Brands Hatch, as the pair led from start to finish to hand their McLaren-Chevrolet M1A overall victory for their pre-67 machine. Their life was made easier when their main March 75S rivals both faltered, Kevin Cooke going off at Stirlings and Paul Cope retiring to the pits in the second part of the race.

“John’s opening stint was fantastic, wasn’t it?” said Greensall. “He was absolutely on it from the start. Such a pleasure to see, it was. He had a big smile on his face when he came into the pitlane at the end of the race. That McLaren is just a monster. You strap the engine to your back and away you go. It’s just fantastic, particularly around here on Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit. Those fastest laps were purely for pleasure. We’re here to go flat out, so why not?”

This allowed the plucky little Daren Mk2 of Georg Kjallgren into a stunning second place, as the Swede pipped the Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger ‘King Cobra’ during the stops and held on to his advantage to the chequered flag.

“It was excellent”, said Kjallgren. “For me it’s very gratifying because I do all the work on the car myself. I have four mechanics who sit around drinking beer all the time!”

“It was pretty busy”, said Bellinger. “I tried to stay with them as much as possible and really just hoping that a safety car would play in our favour. And then thankfully, the car in front went in the gravel. I immediately signalled to Keith and said I’ll be in the next lap. And I think that worked in our favour really. We’re no match for the McLaren or the Lola T70, but I mean, if we get a chance, we’ll take it.”

“Billy made a good call anticipating full course yellows or a safety car when he saw the incident”, said Ahlers. “He made that call as he came past the pits to say he’s coming in. After he’d given me that signal, it went full course yellow, so we were in a good place. Came in, slightly slow pit stop, couldn’t get my helmet done up in a hurry. Ran around under the full course yellows, I could see the Lola T70 with Andy Newall in it ahead of me, which told me I had the best part of a lap to lose. I held the gap to the end of the race, so job done.”

The Steve Seaman/Andy Newall Lola-Chevrolet T70 Mk2 Spyder was fourth, a lap down, while taking third in the pre-67 Hulme class behind Spiers/Greensall and Ahlers/Bellinger. The Bonnier class was won by Olivier Huez’s Ginetta G16, the Frenchman ending up fifth overall.

The spring heat continued unabated at Brands for the first of two 40-minute Masters Sports Car Legends races, with two pre-67 Hulme-class cars on the front row, followed by two much more recent open-top March 75S designs. John Spiers would start the start in the McLaren M1A while Steve Seaman was the start driver in the Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder. Kevin Cooke and Paul Cope shared row two in their Marches, ahead of Georg Kjallgren’s Daren Mk2, the Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger Cooper Monaco ‘King Cobra’ and Frenchman Olivier Huez’s Ginetta G16.

Spiers stormed off like a demon, leaving his opposition for standing, as Seaman had his rivals climbing all over his back. In fact, Cooke was into second place before the opening lap was done, while Billy Bellinger was another to produce a quick first tour, as the Cooper Monaco ‘King Cobra’ charged up into third. On lap 2, Cooke was joined by Cope at the front and having got the darkblue March going, was up into second at Druids.

Going into lap 4, Cope was really starting to fly, going two seconds faster than the race leader, who was still 12 seconds up the road, as Cooke and Bellinger trailed by three seconds. Kjallgren was where he started – in fifth and two seconds off from Bellinger, with Seaman and Huez next.

10 minutes in, however, the gap began to stabilise at ten ticks, while Cooke and Bellinger had fallen away to eight seconds in arrears of Cope, with the gap between the two also opening up a bit. The stalemate continued up to the pit window opening after 15 minutes of racing, when Huez was the first to stop, followed by Kjallgren on the next tour, and Seaman on the lap after that, handing the Lola to Andy Newall.

At the same time, Cooke went off into the gravel at Stirlings, handing third to Bellinger, and evoking a full-course yellow. This was the signal that the leader needed to come in, Spiers handing over to Greensall, with Cope and Bellinger also joining him, the latter being relieved by Keith Ahlers. Kjallgren’s quick stop helped him vault the Cooper Monaco, so the Swede was now third, trailing Cope but leading Ahlers. Newall, meanwhile, was a lap down and following Greensall by a few seconds.

After 13 laps, we returned to green-flag racing – and sadly, Paul Cope was into the pits as soon as the flag was waved. This put Kjallgren’s brave little Daren up into second place, with ten seconds in hand over Ahlers. When Cope rejoined, he was down in fifth and two laps down.

On lap 17, the announcement followed that the race would be shortened by five minutes to win back time lost with an earlier clean-up of two big oil trails. And so the time ticked away very quickly, as Greensall lowered the fastest lap of the race to open up a 30-second lead over Kjallgren, who hung on against Ahlers and in fact increased his advantage over the Cooper Monaco. That’s how they crossed the line, with the Seaman/Newall Lola in fourth and Huez in fifth after Cope retired to the pits for a second time.

John Spiers and Nigel Greensall proved dominant yet again as the pair stormed off to victory in the second Masters Sports Car Legends race at Brands Hatch. Their McLaren M1A was only challenged in the first part of the race, when Andy Newall put Spiers to the test in Steve Seaman’s Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder.

“It’s fantastic”, said Greensall. “It’s like such a privilege to be here racing on the Brands Hatch Grand Prix circuit with great spectators, lovely sunshine and great organisation. That McLaren is a total monster.”

After the stops, Georg Kjallgren came through to claim another second place in the plucky little Daren Mk2, while Kevin Cooke hauled his March 75S up to third from the back of the grid.

“It was a lot of work”, said Kjallgren. “I feel like I’m working all the time, with a lot of gear changes, because otherwise it doesn’t have the power.”

Cooke caught up with Seaman at around two thirds’ distance, after which the Lola stayed ahead of Keith Ahlers in the Cooper Monaco ‘King Cobra’, which in the hands of Billy Bellinger kept Kjallgren honest in the early stages. In sixth overall, Olivier Huez took another Bonnier class win in his Ginetta G16.

“I had no brakes after two laps”, said Cooke, but it’s quite fun driving around Brands Hatch, a circuit I used to marshal for five or six years in the seventies, so it’s really enjoyable.”

The afternoon was as sunny and bright as the day before, so perfect conditions for the second Masters Sports Car Legends race of the Masters Historic Festival. Starting in the positions in which they finished on Saturday, the field was led away by John Spiers in the McLaren M1A, followed by Georg Kjallgren’s Daren Mk2, the Cooper Monaco ‘King Cobra’ of Keith Ahlers/Billy Bellinger, the Steve Seaman/Andy Newall Lola T70 Mk2 Spyder, Olivier Huez’s Ginetta G16 and Kevin Cooke’s March 75S.

On the opening lap, Newall rocketed his way up to second position behind Spiers, with Kjallgren latching on in third ahead of Bellinger, with Cooke already up into fifth. Three more tours later, Newall had stayed with the leader, but the Swede in the plucky Daren had lost ground by the amount of nine seconds, with Bellinger another second adrift. Cooke was lapping faster than both of them but still seven seconds away from fourth place.

On lap 5, though, the gap was visually smaller, Newall’s one-second deficit now cut to three tenths. Undeterred, however, Spiers hit back on the next tour to re-establish his one-second margin. A new fastest lap of the race by Newall turned that into seven tenths on lap 9. Behind them, Kjallgren held on against Bellinger, 18 seconds in arrears of the leaders, while on lap 10, Huez was the first to come for his mandatory stop. Moments later, Cooke, having caught up with Bellinger, moved up into fourth.

Next time around, Spiers was coming in for his driver change, Greensall waiting to take over. As the McLaren trundled out of the pitlane, it rejoined in fifth while Newall continued for one more lap. Cooke came in for his stop on lap 12, and then Newall joined him to hand the Lola over to Steve Seaman, with Kjallgren coming in on the same lap. As the last one in on lap 13, Bellinger made way for Keith Ahlers in the Cooper Monaco.

With all the stops done, Greensall – fastest lap of the race in hand on his first hot tour of Brands after his out lap – held 15 seconds over Seaman and 25 seconds over Kjallgren, with Ahlers just a second behind. Following a delayed pitstop, Cooke now trailed Ahlers by 23 seconds, while Huez was three laps down in sixth.

Kjallgren lapping considerably quicker than Seaman, the Swede was up into second place on lap 16 while Ahlers had lost a bit of ground on the Lola. Meanwhile, Cooke, having gathered some pace, was closing in on the Cooper Monaco ‘King Cobra’. In fact, the March got the move done on lap 17.

At the front, Greensall reeled off fastest lap after fastest lap, increasing his lead over Kjallgren to over 49 seconds. Seaman still hung on to third, but Cooke continued to eat into the Lola’s lead. On lap 20, the March had caught the Lola to move into third. Ahlers, meanwhile, had been dropped by 14 seconds, while Huez plugged on in the Ginetta, now four laps down.

As the last minutes ticked away, Greensall continued to enjoy himself as he crossed the finish line with a massive … lead over Kjallgren. Cooke was third, … seconds down on the Swede, while Seaman took fourth ahead of Ahlers and Huez.