Silverstone Festival 2024: Masters Endurance Legends

Father-and-son duo Werner and Christophe d’Ansembourg emerged victorious in a very wet and eventful first Masters Endurance Legends race at the Silverstone Festival, as they successfully debuted their Pescarolo-Judd 01 to win by four seconds from a hard-charging Stuart Wiltshire in the Peugeot 90X.

“We couldn’t be happier. It’s our first time in the car and it’s my first endurance race”, said Werner. “Conditions were tricky. I was in the F1 race right before, which was very wet. So I’m lucky because my dad managed to dry the track a bit for me. So I got the easy part and from there I just pedal to the metal and see where it goes.”

“It was really the first time for us because we didn’t know the car”, said Christophe. “First time on the wet, so… But I immediately felt very confident with the car and it made me push and keep the others behind. Yeah, really happy about that.”

“I enjoyed it”, said Wiltshire. “We had a few issues in qualifying, but we cured them. This is the first time that I’ve driven the car since last October, so… It was a little bit moist, but it was a great race.”

Despite a lengthy elite-driver time penalty for Danish ELMS star Mac, the Keith Frieser/Mikkel Mac Zytek 09S fought back to fourth overall but were unable to catch Shaun Lynn in the first of four BR Engineering-Nissan BR01s that all competed at the front of the LMP2 class. Son Max Lynn did the early running in another BR01 but dropped to fifth at the end, just ahead of Yutaka Toriba and Alfie Briggs in yet another BR01, as the Russian-built machine locked out the LMP2 podium.

In LMP3, the Charlie Robertson/Grahame Tilley Ligier-Nissan JSP3 led initially before Jon Minshaw took command in a similar Ligier, leading home Bradley Smith’s Norma M30 and the Jack Fabby/Charlie Kennedy Duqueine D08. Meanwhile, Cor Euser proved unstoppable in GTs, as he stormed to an unchallenged class win in the Marcos Mantara LM600evo. The veteran Dutchman led home the Witt Gamski/Ross Wiley Bentley Continental GT3 and Ian Stinton in the TVR Cerbera.

As the day’s incessant rain slowly began to ease, the Masters Endurance Legends grid entered the Silverstone circus arena for their first 40-minute race. Missing was the Alan Purbrick/David Brise Lola-Judd B12/60, the ex-Rebellion car dumping a load of oil in the assembly area, and then on the formation lap, Lawrence Tomlinson’s Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S was momentarily slowing before it picked up the pace again, but well behind the field.

Harindra De Silva Pescarolo 01 led away from Keith Frieser’s Zytek 09S, Steve Brooks in the first of the Peugeot 90Xs and Christophe d’Ansembourg in the second Gulf-liveried Pesca. On the Hangar Straight, Brooks put the diesel power down to motor into second place, chasing after the American in the lead. Into lap 2, braking for Village, though, De Silva spun out, with Brooks also doing an about-turn in avoidance, with d’Ansembourg profiting to take the lead, as Frieser was on the brakes as well.

So now, d’Ansembourg and Frieser led from Yutaka Toriba who was flying in the first of the Russian-built BR Engineering-Nissan BR01s, with another LMP2 car now also well up, Andy Cummings into fourth in the Morgan Pescarolo 01. Gregor Fisken was a very momentary fifth before the Dallara-Judd SP1 went straight on at Village next time around.

Meanwhile, Charlie Robertson’s Ligier-Nissan JSP3 led the P3 class in 11th overall, ahead of Jack Fabby in the Duqueine-Nissan D08 and Jon Minshaw’s JSP3. In GTs, veteran Dutchman Cor Euser led, with Witt Gamski in the Bentley Continental GT3 and Wayne Marrs in the Dodge Viper up next.

At the front, as conditions changed, Brooks was on the rebound, and on lap 5 was back up into third to chase after Frieser, as d’Ansembourg continued to circulate five seconds in the lead. Now, the third of the BR01s began to emerge, as Max Lynn found his way past Cummings to chase after LMP2 class leader Toriba, as Stuart Wiltshire in the second Peugeot also passed Cummings for sixth overall.

As the pit window approached, d’Ansembourg had three more seconds in hand on Brooks who had jumped Frieser for second, while Lynn Jnr continued his charge to move up into third overall and the LMP2 class lead. Frieser, Wiltshire, Toriba and Cummings were next, while Fisken had recovered to eighth overall. Ninth was Shaun Lynn in yet another BR01, with Hugo Cook rounding out the top ten in the P1-class Lola B12/80.

In LMP3, Charlie Robertson continued to lead from Fabby, Minshaw and Bradley Smith in the Norma M30, while Euser reigned in GTs, his Marcos LM600evo well ahead of Gamski, Marrs, Ian Stinton in the TVR Cerbera and Colin Sowter in the Ferrari 458 GT3. Meanwhile, Jamie Constable had slid off in the third Gulf-liveried Pesca, with the pit window now open.

At the front, the top three had bunched together. D’Ansembourg narrowly led from Lynn (M.) who persevered in his remarkable charge by dislodging Brooks from second. On lap 8, they all went three-wide on the Hangar Straight, now with Brooks emerging as the new leader out of Stowe! The trio had now dropped Toriba by 14 seconds, with Wiltshire the first driver in the top five to come in for his mandatory stop. Next in was d’Ansembourg, who would hand over to son Werner. At the same time, Toriba came in to hand his BR01 to Alfie Briggs.

As Frieser came in to allow Danish ELMS star Mikkel Mac into the Zytek 09S, Brooks was in the grass – so now Max Lynn assumed the overall lead! That was Brooks’ cue to come in for his mandatory stop, and he was joined by GT class leader Euser in a race that continued to be fraught and frantic. On lap 11, the leader was in, followed by Cook and LMP3 class leader Robertson, the latter handing over to Grahame Tilley.

When all the pitstops had cycled through, the sun was back out and the track was starting to dry. Werner d’Ansembourg was back into the lead, eight seconds ahead of Wiltshire, with Lynn (M.) in third, followed by Briggs, Lynn (S.), Fisken and the emerging Michael Birch in the Ligier JSP2-17, now third in the LMP2 class. Brooks and Mac were up next, well off the lead, but those in pursuit of the leading d’Ansembourg were thrown a lifeline when the safety car was out after all to allow the recovery of Constable’s stranded Pescarolo.

The green was given fairly quickly, however, so the young d’Ansembourg still had something in hand over Wiltshire, as the car immediately chasing him was Tim De Silva’s similar Pesca, now a full lap down after father Harin’s early spin. Wiltshire trailed the leader by five seconds, with Lynn (M.) two ticks further back but Briggs in fourth was closing the gap. Lynn (S.) was fifth, 24 seconds down, while Birch was about to be gobbled up by the flying Mac, with Brooks and Cook completing the top ten.

In LMP3, Jon Minshaw had taken over from the Robertson/Tilley Ligier, with Bradley Smith’s Norma now in second place but caught in a fierce duel with Charlie Kennedy in the Duqueine started by Fabby. Cor Euser had no such worries in GTs, as the Marcos continued to lead imperiously, with Ross Wylie in the Bentley and Stinton in the TVR up next.

Meanwhile, the clock had wound down to three minutes, and the charging Dane in the Zytek had picked off his rivals one by one to be fourth with a minute to go. The gap to third was too big, however, so Mac would be unable to catch Shaun Lynn who had switched places with his son, as Max was suffering from a faulty door and dropped back to fifth. At the front, no-one troubled the Belgian father-and-son duo in the Pescarolo 01, as Christophe and Werner d’Ansembourg had dealt with the circumstances best. Wiltshire took second, four seconds down, while Shaun Lynn was third and the LMP2 class winner in the first of the BR01s. The Frieser/Mac Zytek was fourth ahead of Max Lynn’s BR01 that made it a Lynn family 1-2 in LMP2, while the Briggs/Toriba BR01 made it a BR Engineering 1-2-3 in the LMP2 class.

Behind Fisken’s Dallara, Cook’s Lola and Birch’s LMP2 Ligier, Jon Minshaw bagged LMP3 honours in his Ligier JSP3, well in front of his nearest rivals Smith and Fabby/Kennedy, while Cor Euser finished 22nd and the dominant GT class winner, with the Gamski/Wylie Bentley and Stinton’s TVR in second and third respectively.