Mugello Racing Weekend 2024: Masters Racing Legends for 66/85 F1 Cars

Reigning Masters Racing Legends champion Ken Tyrrell made the perfect comeback from a short break to beat Matthew Wrigley and Jamie Constable in an exciting first race at the season-closing Mugello Race Weekend, the three in the process completing an absolutely unique 1-2-3 for their Tyrrell 011 design.

“It was a hard-fought win”, said Tyrrell. “Matthew was really putting the pressure on me and it was fantastic. There were spots clearly where I was opening up a little bit on him and then other areas where he was clearly faster, he’d get right on me. So it was good fun. I think I had a bit more straightline speed and that was really helpful because some of these times he was coming right out onto the front straight right on my gearbox and I was able to keep him in. He’s a great competitor,  it’s nice to race somebody you can trust.”

Front row starter Tyrrell quickly took over the mantle when Mike Cantillon’s pole-sitting Williams FW08 lost drive on the opening lap and then was forced to hold off Wrigley for the entire race. A few seconds behind, Constable kept a watching brief but was unable to mount an attack on the two fighting Tyrrells in front, of which the American’s example held a crucial amount of excess straightline speed.

“Yeah, he did”, Wrigley agreed. “I knew he did from looking at qualifying, so from the first lap, I thought it could be quite hard to overtake him, and it was, obviously. But my brake pedal went long on lap one, and the gear stick started to come off as well. He never made a mistake, and I felt I was really reliant on that, because unless I could get the slipstream past him on the straight, it’s really tough. You’ve got to be very committed with it. You know, we’ve both got two cars in a piece and we’re both in one piece, and we’ll have a beer tonight.”

Constable had passed Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C and pre-78 class winner Nick Padmore’s Lotus 77 in the opening stages, to leave those two finish fourth and fifth respectively, while Lukas Halusa picked up sixth overall and clinched second in class behind Padmore in his McLaren M23.

“A Tyrrell 011 1-2-3, how cool is that?”, said Constable. “It was a bit of a challenge at the start. One of the lads [Niklas Halusa] forgot that we were under a yellow flag in the first two corners and it was a bit difficult to get past but then I managed to outdrag Nick down the straight, which I’ve never ever done normally – that car’s so good down the straight. Then I had our Japanese friend who I managed to get get down the straight as well. Then the safety car backed us up. I thought I had the legs of the two in front but I didn’t. So I’m happy to be here, to be honest.”

“Yes, another class win”, said Padmore. “Bit of a challenge at the start when I think Cantillon lost his gears. Oh my god, I almost hit him! From then on it was quite a lonely race, really. Kept with the ground effect cars for a bit but there’s not a lot you can do around it. I was alongside Yutaka a couple of times but he had other ideas, let’s put it that way!”

Halusa fought brother Niklas in the Williams FW08 all race, but when the latter was handed a drivethough penalty for a yellow start procedure infringement, Mark Higson’s McLaren MP4/1B, Marc Devis in the Lotus 78 and Valerio Leone in the post-82 class-winning Arrows A6 all moved up a spot. In tenth overall, Ewen Sergison produced a storming opening lap to pass three of his rivals and clinch third in the pre-78 ranks, despite racing the pre72-class Surtees TS9B.

“It was a brother’s race!” Lukas Halusa smiled. “The thing is, I knew he had lost by the first corner because he had forgotten about the yellow flag procedure. And so I knew he had a penalty but he didn’t want to let them get their pace up. So we raced the entire race which was really fun, but of course in the end he was going to be down a lap. But yeah, really good fun. Hopefully tomorrow I can get him. I need to get rid of him straight off the start, so that I can put a gap on him.”

“She’s not a bad old girl,  is she?” said Sergison. “This thing warms its tyres up very fast, so I can make the move quick but then I’ve got to try and stretch my gap, because it burns the tyres up quite quick. So they were actually taking quite a lot of time out of me, but then when the safety car came, everybody else is weaving, I just stayed and let the tyres cool down. I did my quickest lap after the safety car once it had cooled down.”

In a compressed timetable because of early-morning foggy conditions, no less than 24 Masters Racing Legends cars rushed onto the grid for their first of two 20-minute races at Mugello. Mike Cantillon was on pole in his new mount, the ground-effect 1982 Williams FW08, with outgoing champion Ken Tyrrell sitting next to him in the Tyrrell 011. Nick Padmore in the pre-78 class-leading Lotus 77 was next up, along with Matt Wrigley in another 011. The top four were followed by Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C, Jamie Constable in the third 011, with brothers Lukas and Niklas Halusa sharing the fourth row in their Williams FW08 and McLaren M23.

On the opening lap, however, Cantillon was soon not leading anymore, as Tyrrell and Wrigley moved ahead, with Toriba and Padmore following through, with the Halusas next. In fact, the FW08 has disappeared altogether, leaving the Tyrrells out front to fight it out. Meanwhile, Constable’s Tyrrell was next up, as Higson’s McLaren MP4/1B, Marc Devis in the Lotus 78 and Valerio Leone’s Arrows A6 took up the chase of the Halusa brothers while Ewen Sergison had brilliantly put his ancient Surtees TS9B in tenth overall.

Into lap 3, Tyrrell was still ahead but the American had just three tenths in hand over Wrigley, the two Tyrrells having walked away from Constable and Toriba by seven seconds. Padmore was still fifth, followed by Halusa (N.) and Halusa (L.), the latter giving chase to Padmore’s pre-78 class lead. Behind Sergison, Martin Bullock’s Williams FW06 had moved up into fourth in class, the Australian leading Marco Fumagalli’s Ensign N174, James Hagan’s Hesketh 308 and class championship leader Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1.

Lap 4 gone, and Tyrrell had inched out to a lead of nine tenths, while Constable and Toriba were dropped by 11 seconds – the first two 011s were truly in a race of their own. Padmore chased the Japanese driver hard for third overall, as the two had opened up a six-second gap to the Halusas who still ran in close union, but Niklas was hit by drivethrough penalty for failing to adhere to the yellow start procedure. Higson, Devis and Leone, meanwhile, were still fighting over seventh, half a minute down on the leader.

But then, on lap 5, the safety car was out for an issue with Luciano Biamino, whose Lotus 81 had stopped between turns 1 and 2.

At the restart on lap 8, Wrigley made a case for the lead but he was denied by Tyrrell, while Constable continued to make it an astonishing Tyrrell 011 1-2-3. The next time around, Wrigley tried again, but Tyrrell seemed to have just that bit more straightline speed. Behind Constable, Toriba and Padmore still circulated at a pouncing distance, while Niklas Halusa finally made his stop at the end of the penultimate lap.

Wrigley had one more try, but Tyrrell held on for a strong win, while Constable completed the Tyrrell 011 dream result. Toriba was fourth ahead of Padmore who took another pre-78 class win from Halusa (L.) and a brilliant Ewen Sergison, who chased home Higson, Devis and post-82 class winner Leone. Sergison was followed by Bullock, Fumagalli, Hagan and Williams.

Matthew Wrigley proved unstoppable in the second Masters Racing Legends at Mugello, as the Tyrrell 011 driver surged from sixth to first in the space of two laps before running away with a convincing win to close out a hugely successful season in true style.

“Can’t really get much better than that to finish off what has been a great season” said Wrigley. “I wanted to do a good lap time as well and get to the front cleanly. Some space opened up on the first lap so I didn’t have to push too hard to get past where other people ran wide. I was very fortunate for that because I certainly didn’t want to be getting into any big scraps or coming out of any damage on anyone’s car, so a great way to finish the season. It’s the end of the season, the car’s got some mileage on it, you’re just conscious of everything, but halfway through I thought, right, a clear lap I’m going to try and put in a decent lap time – and I did. A great season it’s been and a great circuit as well. I loved every minute of it, so it’s been great, very lucky to be able to do it all.”

Wrigley was followed home by Jamie Constable in yet another Tyrrell 011 after also producing a great drive from fifth on the grid. Race 1 winner Ken Tyrrell was set to repeat Saturday’s Tyrrell 011 podium lockout as he chased Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C for third, but in the end a heroic comeback drive from 23rd on the grid was good for the final spot on the podium, as Mike Cantillon surged to the front in his new Williams FW08 to pip Toriba in the final few corners.

“Yes, I was happy with that”, said Constable. “I thought I’d drag Ken through with me, but then he disappeared. I was waiting for Mike to come through, but fortunately I didn’t see him. So once we got through, Matt was a little bit down the road, so I was going to struggle to catch him, but it was just a fun race.”

“That was mega, mega!” Cantillon beamed. “I didn’t think we’d get a P3. Yeah, we did at Silverstone but I wasn’t expecting it because it’s so much more difficult to pass here. You know, it’s twisty out there. Race one, the team worked through late last night and fixed it. I’ve got to say the guys out there were fantastic, respectful with me coming through. Then I saw Yutaka. I was told by the team I was four seconds behind him but I could see him! And then in the last chicane he hit traffic, he went to the right, I went to the left. Then we both went round the corner together but I just got on the power that little bit earlier and sneaked across the line.”

Nick Padmore’s Lotus 77, Lukas Halusa’s McLaren M23 and Ewen Sergison’s Surtees TS9B copied the Saturday podium of the pre-78 class, as Padmore and Halusa tried to hang to their second and third grid positions as long as they could before finishing fifth and sixth overall respectively. Sergison once again held the newer cars of Marty Bullock (Williams FW06) and Marco Fumagalli (Ensign N174) at bay to clinch a magnificent third in the pre-72 Surtees.

“Yeah, another one in the bag, great fun, but the ground effects were just gone”, said Padmore. “It is what it is, but I really enjoyed it.”

“I had a bit of a struggle in the first couple of laps, but once I was on my own I could get going”, said Halusa. “It was not my best drive, but it was still great fun. I mean, what a great track, great grid, so yeah, nice day.”

“Literally keeping the Williams FW06 behind me for so long”, said a proud Sergison. “Never thought about anyone else, never really saw anybody. And then, on the final lap the Williams had disappeared and Peter Williams was there in the Lec. And I thought, he’s so good on the brakes. I’m done now, because my right tyre had gone and Peter always gets faster. So I tried not to give him an opportunity. But on the last corner, I couldn’t stop him. So I thought, if I keep left, I’m going to have to go in slow. But he’s going to have to go all the way around. So I dropped it down a gear to actually get a better run on him but then when I looked in the mirror and thought he was in my slipstream, he wasn’t there. Turns out he actually went off!”

Straight after lunch, the Masters Racing Legends grid rolled out for their second contest of the Mugello Racing Weekend, with a reserved grid for the first seven from Saturday’s race. This meant that once again Mark Higson found himself on pole in the McLaren MP4/1B, with two pre-78 cars up next, Lukas Halusa’s McLaren M23 creating an all-Woking front row, while Nick Padmore’s Lotus 77 was joined on the second row by Yutaka Toriba’s Williams FW07C. The three Tyrrell 011s that monopolised Saturday’s podium were next, Jamie Constable ahead of Matthew Wrigley and Ken Tyrrell, the latter joined on the fourth row by Marc Devis in the Lotus 78. Right at the back was Saturday’s unlucky hero – Mike Cantillon in the Williams FW08 that broke down on the opening lap. Only Max Werner’s Hesketh 308 went missing, bringing the car count down to 23.

In four corners, Padmore was through into second, followed by Toriba who demoted Halusa to fourth. Soon though, Wrigley was ahead of Toriba and challenging Padmore for second, while Higson tried to hang on to his lead. It was in vain because before the opening lap was over, Wrigley had taken the lead, followed by Toriba, Higson, Padmore, Halusa, Constable and Tyrrell, the American still stuck behind the similarly Denim-liveried 011 example.

On lap 2, Constable pushed through to pass Higson and Halusa, with Tyrrell following through each time. Devis was eighth ahead of Valerio Leone’s post-82 Arrows A6, while Ewen Sergison clung on to third in the pre-78 class, his older Surtees TS9B once again keeping a gaggle of more recent pre-78 cars behind, led by Marty Bullock’s Williams FW06 and Marco Fumagalli’s Ensign N174. Meanwhile, Mike Cantillon was up to 13th.

At the front, going into lap 3, Wrigley had opened up a relatively massive gap of 4.4 seconds over Toriba, while Constable had claimed third from Padmore who was about to be usurped by Tyrrell. Higson had been dropped by the five leading cars but was still comfortably ahead of Halusa (L.), whose brother Niklas was up into 14th after the Austrian FW08 driver was penalised on Saturday. Behind them, Cantillon had made up more places to be eighth ahead of Leone who in turn had pipped Devis to effectively stay ninth. Sergison in 11th overall continued to be pressured by Bullock, Fumagalli and Peter Williams in the Lec CRP1.

As Wrigley’s lead grew to a stunning 7 seconds, Constable had made work of Toriba to lift his Tyrrell 011 up to second, while the Japanese driver was now pressured by Tyrrell. Padmore was a more lonely fifth now, but saw Cantillon closing rapidly. Higson, Halusa (L.), Leone and Devis continued their own races behind the ever more emerging FW08.

With ten more minutes remaining, Wrigley began pacing himself as he stabilised the gap to Constable to around six seconds. In third, Toriba was feeling the pressure from Tyrrell who himself had a five-cushion over Padmore, who in turn led Cantillon by six seconds. Further back, Halusa (N.) had made it up to 11th and was putting Devis under pressure for a spot in the top ten, while even further back Sergison continued to soak up the pressure from Bullock, Fumagalli and Williams. Ten seconds adrift of that group, Mauro Bianchini in the Shadow DN8 and James Hagan in the Hesketh 308 fought over 16th overall.

With five minutes remaining, Constable backed off to a disadvantage of some ten seconds, while Toriba was now safe in third, as Ken Tyrrell’s Tyrrell reported to the pits as only the first car faltering under the relentless pace. The top three were all neatly spaced out now and would remain static until the chequered flag, with new champion Wrigley ending a strong season with victory. Constable was second, eight seconds down, while Toriba attempted to hang on to third, some 20 seconds down the road. But after Cantillon managed to get ahead of Padmore for fourth, the Irishman chased down the Williams FW07C to beat on the final lap.

Padmore in the Lotus 77 took his second pre-78 class win ahead of Halusa (L.) in the McLaren M23, who was chased home by brother Niklas in the FW08, while post-82 class winner Leone got ahead of Devis and Higson. In 11th overall, Sergison bagged another brilliant third in class in the oldest car in the field, having fended off Bullock and Fumagalli all race. Sergison was given a scare on the ultimate tour, however, when he saw that his perennial class rival Peter Williams had managed to clear both Bullock and Fumagalli. The Lec driver gave it one last push in the hope to claim third in class, but ended up in the kitty litter on the final corner…