Mugello Racing Weekend 2024: Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Pre-66 Touring Cars

In their Jaguar E-type, Lee Mowle and Phil Keen won the final Masters Gentlemen Drivers race of the season by fending off challenges from the Niklas & Lukas Halusa Ferrari 250 GT ‘Breadvan’ and Italian trio Gilles & Thomas Giovannini and Vito Gianfranco Truglia in their TVR Griffith.

“It was a disappointing grid in terms of numbers of cars”, said Mowle, “but you know, Phil had a good race for a period of time, and I did with with Niklas, so at the end of the day you only need one car you are close to.”

“I had a little dice with the Ferrari, a little dice for the TVR”, said Keen, “and he went off in the end and ran wide. Then I managed to get alongside him and go past. The car ran fine, obviously, the boys did a good job. A shame the numbers were a bit low, because it’s a great circuit and a great event.”

Niklas Halusa led during the opening half of the race, but Mowle never let the Ferrari out of sight and began to close on it right before a safety-car period coincided with the pit window. The field bunching up as a result, the Italian Griffith came through to lead when the green flag was waved, with Truglia putting up a great fight against Keen who needed several laps to find a way past.

As Truglia handed the TVR to third driver Thomas Giovannini, Simon Jackson’s Lotus Elan who had been in close contention alla long moved up into second place, as Lukas Halusa had been forced to retire the ‘Breadvan’ with a puncture. Behind the top three, Keith Ahlers and Billy Bellinger took fourth in their Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports, while Jeanne Vatat’s Triumph TR3A stopped in sight of the finish but was still classified fifth.

“It was fantastic”, said Jackson. “It was the first time I’ve been to this circuit and I did the whole 90 minutes so I’m a bit exhausted… But it was great fun and the car ran really well,  faultlessly. I did probably my fastest lap on the second to last lap.”

“It was very interesting”, said Ahlers about his stint-long fight with Andreas Halusa in the Alfa GTA, “because the handling dynamics of the cars were completely different. The Alfa was very good in the slow and medium corners, which I’m not good at, while I had the legs on the straight and the fast corners so the the gap changed constantly throughout the race.”

“It’s a lovely track and it’s wonderful to drive”, said Bellinger. “Near the end when I was coming up behind the TVR, I wasn’t too sure whether that was for position or I’m unlapping myself but I thought I’d just give it a go! It was a lovely race and a nice way to end the year.”

In the concurrent one-hour Masters Pre-66 Touring Car race, brothers Geoff & Alan Letts led from the front to claim the spoils in their Lotus Cortina. Their only true challenge faded when Andreas Halusa crashed his Alfa Romeo 1600 GTA at three-quarter distance.

“I can’t understand why more people didn’t come here but you only need two cars to have a race”, said Alan Letts. “But we’re over the moon that we had a very strong car, as it ran super reliable. We’ve had some gremlins the last couple of races. So great to have finished the race, and not only finish it, but finish it in P1. It was well worth the two-day drive to get down here.”

On a bright Sunday morning – but with thick fog just 2 miles south to the circuit! – the GTs and touring cars of the combined Masters Gentlemen Drivers & Pre-66 Touring Cars grid left the pitlane for their race of endurance. Lee Mowle was on pole in the Jaguar E-type, with Niklas Halusa in the Ferrari ‘Breadvan’ sat beside him. Simon Jackson in the nippy Elan was on the second row, along with Geoff Letts’ Cortina as the first of the touring cars, while Kieth Ahlers in the Morgan Plus 4 Super Sports shared the third row with Andreas Halusa in the Alfa GTA. On row 4 were Jeanne Vatat in the Triumph TR3A and Afschin Fatemi in the Tojeiro EE. However, the German’s Ford-powered Coupé was unable to start.

At the start, Mowle’s lead lasted to the end of the straight as Halusa was intent on building a lead as big as possible to be able to counter the attack that Phil Keen would be able to mount once he got into the Jaguar. On lap 1, Halusa led by two seconds, with Jackson a second behind the E-type, while from the back Gilles Giovannini had hauled the invitational TVR Griffith up to fourth. Letts hung on to the TVR while Ahlers fought Halusa (A.) in the GTA.

Three laps in, and Halusa (N.) had built a six-second lead over his pursuers, still led by Mowle, but Giovannini had squeezed the TVR in between the Jag and Jackson’s Elan. Letts was in no man’s land in fifth, 16 seconds ahead of the duel between Ahlers and the other Halusa. Meanwhile, Vatat valiantly plugged on in the Triumph.

Following another three laps, however, Halusa’s lead over the Mowle/Giovannini/Jackson remained static at around seven seconds, while Letts had dropped behind by 43 seconds. Ahlers and Halusa (A.) were still at it, now 1.16 adrift, while Vatat was now a lapped runner in eighth. In fact, on lap 8, Mowle had found a rhythm to ease away from Giovannini and cut his disadvantage to Halusa back to six seconds. Especially fast in the final sector, the Jaguar closed on the ‘Breadvan’ by another tick on lap 9.

On lap 10, the gap was down to four seconds, which was also the lead that Mowle had grown over Jackson and Giovannini, the two in the meantime having swapped positions, the Italian now trailing the Elan by three seconds. Letts was still on his own, now over a minute behind the leader, while holding some 45 seconds over Ahlers and Halusa (A.) who continued to make this an entertaining race for themselves.

As the half-hour mark approached, the pit window opened for touring car leaders Geoff Letts and Andreas Halusa, the former awaited by brother Alan, who would take over for the next half hour. Keith Ahlers subsequently lost his track companion when Halusa also came in for his stop. At the front, the GTs would continue for another 15 minutes or so, as Mowle further sliced into Niklas Halusa’s lead and now trailed by a mere 2.7 seconds. With Keen waiting in the wings, this looks promising for the Jaguar crew, despite Keen’s elite-driver time penalty at the stops.

However, towards the GT pit window, Halusa (N.) managed to stabilise the gap to three seconds, as the pair continued to move away from Jackson and Giovannini. Ahlers was a lonely fifth now, while Letts (A.) led Halusa (A.) by almost a minute in the touring car race. But before any of the GT cars was able to pit, the safety car was out – the Alfa GTA of Andreas Halusa was left stranded out on the circuit, the Austrian having severely dented the car’s rear end. Niklas Halusa in the leading Ferrari grabbed the opportunity of a ‘free’ stop to come in for brother Lukas to take over but Mowle and Jackson chose to continue and were duly picked up by the safety car. Giovannini also came in to be relieved by Vito Gianfranco Truglia. Next time around, Mowle did come in for Keen, followed by Jackson, Vatat and Ahlers, the latter being replaced by Billy Bellinger.

In the end, of course, it didn’t really matter, as the safety car continued to circulate, allowing Keen to fully undo his time penalty to sit right behind the ‘Breadvan’ when the green flag was waved. Due to their shorter stops, however, Truglia and Jackson were in front of them as the race gathered pace again. Truglia powered away, and behind the Italian, Halusa and Keen soon dealt with Jackson. Keen was ahead of the Ferrari before he was able to catch up with the TVR. Then, instead of trying to stick with the E-type, Halusa was also passed by Jackson.

At the front, Truglia proved to be no slouch, as the Italian set fastest lap of the race, demonstrating to Keen that he would have his work cut out for him. On the next tour, however, Keen responded with a flyer that bested Truglia’s effort by 1.5 seconds. Behind them, Halusa’s lack of progress was explained by a puncture for the ‘Breadvan’, as it retired to the pits, allowing Letts to move up into fourth overall, before being flagged off as the touring car race winner. This in turn promoted Bellinger into an overall fourth.

It took Keen three more laps to catch his Italian rival, who wasn’t giving up and defended all he could for two more tours, but on lap 27, the Jag finally found a way past. With the best part of the lap still remaining, Keen did well to pull out a gap big enough to stay ahead of the slightly faster TVR on the main straight. Then, the Griffith was into the pits the lap after, with Thomas Giovannini getting into the car as the team’s third driver, as the trio relinquished second place to Jackson.

In the remaining ten minutes, Keen rattled off the laps to win the 90-minute race. 35 seconds behind, Jackson crossed the line in second place, with the Italians in third, some two minutes in arrears. Bellinger took fourth ahead of Vatat, who failed to see the chequered flag but was still classified fifth.