Silverstone Festival 2024: Masters GT Trophy

Jon Minshaw came out on top in a chaotic wet-dry-wet first Masters GT Trophy race that saw a spade of pitstops on top of every car’s mandatory mid-race stop, and was redflagged with eight minutes to go. The safety car was forced to come out twice, further shaking up the order in the first of two races at the Silverstone Festival.

Minshaw’s BMW Z4 GT3 was the first GT3 car to grab an overall win in the series, with Nick Maton Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 making it a GT3-class 1-2. In third, it was another first for the series, as the Bonamy Grimes/Johnny Mowlem Ferrari 458 Challenge vanquished all the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo cars to win the Corse class. In seventh overall, Neil Glover and Aaron Scott pedalled the first Super Trofeo car home to take second in class ahead of the John Turner/Ray Grimes Ferrari 488 Challenge. Meanwhile, in fifth overall, Richard Cook’s BMW Z4 GT3 took third in the GT3 class.

“Bon made the call to go to slicks quite early, that was quite brave”, said Corse class winner Mowlem on the podium. “Then the question was if it was going to go red or not, and I stayed out, stayed out, stayed out, and then I came in, and then it went red – but it wouldn’t have made any difference. But it was so, so sketchy out there, so well done to everyone that managed to keep it on the black stuff.”

In more surprises, Ray Harris stormed to a stunning GT4 class win, netting a sensational fourth overall in the Ginetta G55 GT4 while finishing well ahead of the next two Ginettas of Aaron Cooke/Ali Topley and Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero that finished in 14th and 15th overall. After a brief spell right at the front, the Dominic Malone/Adam Smalley Porsche 991.1 Cup dropped to 16th overall but was still the Cup class winner.

As the rain that had tormented the Silverstone Festival’s Saturday eased away, with the sun peeking through the clouds for the first time, the massive 42-car Masters GT Trophy entry came out for their first race, that would last for 50 minutes, a period in which the circuit could dry out very quickly, posing a tyre conundrum for the drivers. Neil Glover started from the lead in the Lamborghini Huracán Super Trofeo Evo, but out of The Loop, the GT3 Ferrari 458 of Jonathan Mitchell got the power down better to take the lead. Soon after, Craig Wilkins and Jason McInulty in the other Super Trofeos were through too, with McInulty subsequently passing Wilkins and snatching the lead before the end of the first lap.

Nick Maton in the Gallardo GT3 was fourth ahead of Richard Cook in the first of the BMW Z4 GT3s, followed by Jon Minshaw’s other Z4 GT3. The leading Porsche Cup car of Dominic Malone and Adam Smalley was 11th overall, while in 22nd Ray Harris led the GT4 class in his Ginetta G55, with Stuart Hall up into second place in Aston Martin Vantage GT4.

At the front, McInulty pulled out a four-second gap over Mitchell, with Cook a further eight seconds back, while Maton and Minshaw made their way past Wilkins, the reigning champion now relegated to sixth ahead of Steve Dopson’s Ferrari 488 Evo Challenge. Behind them, the leading Porsche had made it up to eighth overall, while GT4 leaders Harris and Hall were up to 15th and 17th overall.

Three laps into the race, Mitchell began to close the gap to McInulty, and soon the Ferrari was back in front – shortly before the safety car was deployed. In the meantime, Bonamy Grimes in the Ferrari 458 Challenge was up to seventh. Many used the opportunity to change to slick tyres, leading to a very crowded pitlane in the next few laps. Meanwhile, the pit window had opened, too… However, Mitchell and McInulty (J.) had stayed out, followed by other non-stoppers who had started on slicks. At the green, McInulty put his foot down to reclaim the lead, with Mitchell deciding to make his visit to the pits on lap 9. Others continuing were GT4 runners Stuart Hall and Aaron Cooke in another G55 GT4, but the latter joined McInulty in the pits to hand over to Ali Topley, while David McInulty stepped into the Lamborghini. On lap 11, Hall was the very last to come in to hand the Aston to Peter Montague.

So now Jon Minshaw emerged in the lead, in the BMW Z4 GT3, with Nick Maton in the Gallardo GT3 in second, with Adam Smalley now in a remarkable third overall for the Porsche 991.1 GT3 Cup started by Dominic Malone. Johnny Mowlem was fourth in the Bonamy Grimes Ferrari 458 Challenge, meaning that for the first time in Masters GT Trophy history, a car other than a Huracán Super Trofeo Evo led the Corse class. Wilkins was fifth ahead of an equally remarkable Ray Harris in the leading GT4 car, with Richard Cook’s Z4 GT3 up next. Behind the BMW, Freddie Tomlinson was equally flying in another Ginetta G55 GT4, and the same applied to Aaron Scott, who had taken over from Neil Glover.

But with Arran Moulton-Smith’s invitational BMW E36 M3 stranded on the straight, the safety car was back out – and to make matters even more exciting, the rain was back! This meant that the cars that were on slicks had to pit to change back to wet tyres. These included Wilkins, the Malone/Smalley Porsche and the George Haynes/Adam Sharpe Mosler MT900R, the series regulars now firmly on the back foot. Meanwhile, the safety car had picked up Mitchell’s Ferrari instead of Minshaw’s Z4 while more drivers came in for slicks, including Tomlinson, Scott, and then Mitchell.

With the E36 M3 still not salvaged, the red flag came out on lap 15 – and the race would not be restarted. On countback to lap 14, Minshaw, Maton, Mowlem were the first three home, the first two creating a GT3-class 1-2 – a first in the series – with Grimes/Mowlem winning the Corse class in a Ferrari – another first! Ray Harris grabbed a stunning fourth overall, his Ginetta G55 the leading GT4 car, with Cook in fifth and the Tomlinsons taking sixth in the invitational Ginetta G56. The Glover/Scott Lambo was seventh – and second in the Corse class ahead of the John Turner/Ray Grimes Ferrari 488 Challenge – while early leader Mitchell eventually ended up ninth. In 14th and 15th, the Cooke/Topley and Reynolds/Quintero G55s took second and third in the GT4 class. The Malone/Smalley Porsche had dropped to 16th but still won the Cup class from Billy & Carl Nairn’s similar 991.1 Cup and Tim Kuijl’s Porsche 997 Cup.