Silverstone Festival 2024: Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars

Sam Tordoff added another Masters Pre-66 Touring Car victory to his 2024 tally, as he remains unbeaten throughout the season. His Ford Falcon started from pole and only lost the lead in the mid-race mandatory stops when he was forced to serve his elite-driver penalty. Within two laps, however, the BTCC race winner charged back up into the lead and never looked back.

“The race was good, it was strong”, said Tordoff. “Nigel [Greensall] kept me honest in the first stint, really pushed, so probably harder than I would have liked to push, if I’m honest, and paid the price and lost the tyre in the second half of the race. But, you know, spot on, the guys are doing a great job again. That’s three years on the bounce now, we’ve come here and won, so really, really thrilled and delighted.”

Julian Thomas made it a Falcon 1-2 by coming out on top in a very entertaining battle for second, as he surged through to pass the Mustangs of Jann Mardenborough/Jimmy Broadbent and Nigel Greensall/John Spiers. Greensall had been Tordoff’s main challenger during their opening stint, but Spiers had to work hard to salvage fourth ahead of John Davison and Michael Whitaker Jnr in two more Cortinas.

“Yes, it was fantastic and a big thank you to my teammate Jimmy and Alex Brundle for allowing me to race this ‘65 Mustang”, said Mardenborough. “I tried to stay with these guys at the start of the race, but it wasn’t to be, but I had great fun.”

“Yeah, there were some really fast cars out there”, said Broadbent. “I thought, okay, I’m in third, all right, that’ll be easy. Then this guy overtakes me. Oh, okay, maybe not so easy. We were catching the blue Mustang for a while. I had to do something a bit silly around the outside of T1 to make it work, but I was pumped after that. Screaming in the car afterwards, this is the best form of racing. There’s nothing better than this!”

On the edge of the top ten in the 53-car field, Jake Giddings and Paul Streather stormed to victory in the Cortina class, edging out Jonathan Mitchell and Guy Smith. In the Mini class, Phil Bullen-Brown looked set for glory from class pole, but when his Mini faltered, Dan Wheeler was ready to pick up the pieces, followed home by Gareth Burnett and Stephen & Alfie Woodrow.

Two more races remained on the Silverstone Festival bill, as the pair of Masters pre-66 championships would form the final bookend of the weekend’s racing. The Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars were first for their Mustang Celebration Trophy, with Sam Tordoff leading away the field in his all-conquering Ford Falcon, followed by Jann Mardenborough in the ‘Brustang’, Nigel Greensall, John Davison, Alex Taylor and Michael Whitaker Jnr in four more ‘stangs. The two Falcons of Tom Sharp and Julian Thomas were next, ahead of the two leading Cortinas of Jake Giddings and Richard Dutton.

Tordoff got away well, but behind him Greensall completed a storming opening lap to be second ahead of Mardenborough, Davison, Sharp, Whitaker Jnr, Thomas and Alex Taylor, who was shuffled back to eighth ahead of two more Mustangs, those of Craig Davies and Bill Shepherd. Meanwhile, Jake Giddings and Guy Smith fought over the Cortina class lead in 11th and 12th overall, with the Le Mans winner claiming it on lap 2, with Dutton in third further back. Among the Minis, Phil Bullen-Brown led in 32nd overall, two spots up on Stephen Woodrow, as Dan Wheeler and Gareth Burnett contested third in class.

At the front, Tordoff wasn’t charging away, though, as Greensall kept the Falcon in check, the two creating space towards Mardenborough in third. Behind Mardenborough, Tom Sharp was flying, hauling the Falcon up to fourth, now also passing Davison, with Thomas in the third Falcon also coming through. 14 seconds behind the leader, Taylor, Davies and Shepherd contested eighth, chased by the two leading Cortinas and Michael Russell in another Mustang. Soon, Dutton and Jonathan Mitchell in two more Cortinas latched on to form an even bigger group of cars.

As the pit window opened, Tordoff and Greensall were still nose-to-tail, with Mardenborough four seconds back, as Whitaker Jnr now led the pursuing group consisting of Sharp, Thomas and Davison. In the second group, Davies led Shepherd, Russell, Smith in the leading Cortina, and Robert Ross in another Mustang, while Taylor was in first to hand his Mustang to Andy Priaulx. Bullen-Brown, now in 31st, still ruled in the Mini class, chased by Woodrow, Wheeler and Burnett. All the top Cortinas – Smith, Dutton and Mitchell – were in on the next lap, with only Giddings still continuing.

Tordoff came in on lap 9 while Greensall continued, now assuming the lead from Mardenborough and Thomas, while Whitaker Jnr and Davison also pitted, followed by Giddings who handed the Cortina to Paul Streather. On the next tour, Greensall was in to hand over to John Spiers, while Mardenborough handed the ‘Brustang’ to Jimmy Broadbent. Thomas and Davies also joined them in the pits.

As the new picture started to emerge after the stops, Spiers now led Tordoff, the latter held back more because of his elite-driver penalty, with Broadbent in third, followed by Thomas, Davison, Whitaker Jnr, Bill Shepherd and Davies. In 10th overall, Streather led the Cortinas, now chased by Mitchell and Smith, while in 24th overall, Bullen-Brown had some 14 seconds in hand over Mini class rival Wheeler, with Burnett still in third, but further off from Wheeler.

Tordoff needed two more laps to cut the gap to Spiers before powering past on the Hangar Straight. Broadbent trailed Spiers by 4.3 seconds on lap 13, but both Thomas and Davison were very near. Behind Davison, an eight-second gap opened up to Whitaker Jnr who in turn had 5.7 seconds in hand over Shepherd. Behind them, Andy Priaulx’s comeback race had now lifted him up to eighth, the four-time WTCC champion just having passed Davies. In the Cortina class, Streather held eight seconds over Mitchell, with Smith a further ten seconds in arrears. It was all change among the Minis, however, as Bullen-Brown’s race had ended on lap 12. Wheeler had taken over with some 13 seconds in hand over Burnett while Alfie Woodrow reassumed third, just two ticks away from Burnett.

Five more minutes remained when Tordoff led Spiers by eight seconds, but Spiers now had to worry about Thomas, who had passed Broadbent for third and was pushing to make it a Falcon 1-2 up front. The Mustangs of Davison, Whitaker Jnr, Shepherd, Priaulx and Davies all followed the lead Mustang of Broadbent, all neatly spaced out with gaps varying between two and ten seconds. With three minutes left on the clock, Thomas succeeded in his aim, and Broadbent followed through as well, with Davison also looking to move up a spot.

After 18 laps, Tordoff claimed yet another win, while Thomas held off a final push from Broadbent to take second place. Spiers successfully defended fourth from Davison, with Whitaker Jnr a distant sixth in another Mustang. Priaulx’s charge halted in eighth place, as he led home Davies and the class-winning Cortina of Jake Giddings and Paul Streather. Mitchell and Smith claimed second and third in class, eight and 14 seconds down respectively. Dan Wheeler took the Mini class ahead of Burnett and the Woodrows.