Silverstone Festival 2025: Masters Gentlemen Drivers

Julian Thomas improved on his second place in last year’s International Trophy for Pre-66 Classic GT Cars by beating his rival Olivier Hart in their famous intra-Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé duel to the win in the 50-minute Masters Gentlemen Drivers race at the Silverstone Festival. The race was decided prematurely when Hart slammed into another car when released from his pitbox after his mandatory stop and was duly penalised with a drivethrough penalty that dropped him to third.

“Oh my God, what a privilege to be racing these guys,” said Thomas. “They’re just amazing, I love it. And so much to deal with pit stops and safety cars. I took it really cautiously in the pits. I didn’t want to go super early, because I knew that I could probably get it back, so I just waited a little bit longer. It was a little bit too much. I was like, oh no, I have to catch him. We had a great battle again.”

The TVR Griffiths of John Davison and Nigel Greensall/John Spiers made it a four-way battle this year, with Davison especially emerging as a star by first stealing the lead from Thomas on the opening lap and then ending up a close second at the chequered flag. The Greensall/Spiers example lost fourth overall to Giles Dawson, who produced a stunning drive to a dominant CLP class win over two more Lotus Elans occupied by Simon & Cameron Jackson and Connor Kay.

“It was brilliant, absolutely fabulous races”, said Davison. “It’s always a pleasure racing with Julian, I’ve done it a lot. He’s a fabulous driver, we were very close. Same with Olivier, and we didn’t touch at all. And we were as close as you’d want to be. And then Nigel Greensill got past me, I got back past him. We were kind of swapping places with nobody taking any liberties, which is what driving should be all about.”

“It was just a misjudgment from me and from the team”, said Hart. “I got a wave by and just suddenly out of nowhere he was there. I thought I wasn’t even able to drive to race anymore, but I did some corners and everything felt alright. But yeah, the battle with Julian was again very nice and very close. But I don’t like to make damage, so I’m not that happy. It is what it is and I’ll try to do my best next time and pay more attention.”

Keith Ahlers and Billy Bellinger put more fuel on the fire of the perennial Austin Healey versus Morgan battle in C2, when their Morgan SLR claimed a convincing class win from the Big Healeys of Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus/Jeremy Welch and Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth. The C1 class win was decided by the tiniest of margins as the Andrew Walton/Alexander Toyne Porsche 911 maintained a slender lead all throughout over Patrick Morgan’s MGB.

With the end of a busy Saturday afternoon already beckoning, the day’s early sun had retreated behind a cloud cover when the mighty 50-plus field of the Masters Gentlemen Drivers emerged for their 50-minute International Trophy. Julian Thomas and John Davison shared the front row, and it was another mix of Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupé and TVR Griffith on row two with Olivier Hart (driving solo) and John Spiers/Nigel Greensall. Giles Dawson in fifth was the quickest CLP class runner in his Elan, with Mike Whitaker’s TVR sat besides him. Two more Elans were on the fourth row, with Simon Jackson next to Murray Shepherd’s example.

At the start, a cheeky John Davison pipped Thomas for the lead, with Hart and Greensall giving chase – Greensall opening as Spiers had only just finished the preceding Historic Grand Prix Car Association race in the Maserati 250F. Behind them, Whitaker had grabbed fifth from Dawson, while James Hanson was making up ground in the Cobra Daytona shared by Paul Pochciol. In fact, Hanson was soon past Dawson as well, who now had to deal with a fast-emerging George McDonald in the Ginetta G4R. Andy Newall was ninth in the first of the E-type, while Connor Kay’s Elan rounded out the top ten for the moment.

At the front, Davison continued to stubbornly lead, but Hart had found a way past Thomas, as the pair resumed their famous fight in last year’s edition of the International Trophy. In C2, Joseph Willmott’s Austin Healey 3000 was 28th overall and had assumed the lead from Billy Bellinger in the Morgan SLR. In C1, Andrew Walton’s Porsche 911 fought Patrick Morgan’s MGB for 42nd place overall.

On lap 4, Hart finally made his move on Davison to hit the front and going into lap 5, Thomas joined him to create a Cobra Daytona 1-2 at the front – just as in 2024. This released Davison into the clutches of Greensall, the two TVRs some 12 seconds ahead of Whitaker’s example in fifth – but for the moment, Greensall wasn’t biting, his Griffith suffering from locking brakes. The top-ten positions of Hanson, Dawson, McDonald and Kay remained unchanged. Further back, Willmott and Bellinger were still split by the Elan of Martin Rich, but the gap between the two still amounted to no more than two seconds. In 43th and 44th, Walton and Martin remained just two tenths apart in their fight for the C1 class lead.

Then on lap 7, Thomas managed to retake the lead out of Brooklands, and to prove that was no fluke, Davison also powered past out of Chapel, but Hart hit back to reclaim the position into Vale, as the leading group of four continued to stick together. Hanson in fifth was now 24 seconds away, but Dawson had repassed Whitaker for sixth to open up an eight-second lead over class rival McDonald in eighth. In 26th and 27th, meanwhile, Bellinger had managed to pass Willmott for the C2 class lead.

As the pit window opened, Whitaker was the first to come in on lap 9, and both Thomas and Hart followed him in at the start of lap 10, joined by Dawson’s Elan. However, when Hart rejoined he hit the Marco Attard/Chris Hoy Corvette hard, and soon smoke was seen pouring from the Cobra Daytona’s left front wheel arch. Soon after though, it subsided and Hart Jr carried on as nothing had happened. In fact, he had emerged right in front of Thomas to claim the virtual lead. Meanwhile, at the rear, C1 class leaders Walton and Martin had also pitted simultaneously, Walton handing over to Alexander Toyne.

Greensall then pitted to give the Griffith to Spiers, having followed in Davison on the next tour, while Andy Newall handed the E-type to Rhea Sautter. Now really back in front, Hart and Thomas continued their fierce rivalry while passing backmarkers left, right and centre. On lap 14, Thomas clinched back the lead, after which the announcement followed that Hart had been slammed with the expected drivethrough penalty for an unsafe release. Davison now trailed the pair by eight seconds, with Spiers a further 15 ticks behind. Dawson continued in his class-dominating fifth ahead of Whitaker, with the Elans of Kay and Cam Jackson (having taken over from Simon Jackson) now in seventh and eighth ahead of Paul Pochciol, who had swapped places with James Hanson in the third Daytona Cobra. Sautter was tenth and chased by David Methley in the AC Cobra.

In 26th, Keith Ahlers continued to lead the C2 class in the Morgan started by Bellinger, now well ahead of the first Austin Healey – not Willmott’s, as that had dropped out on lap 6, but the Crispin Harris/James Wilmoth example, Harris now driving. Nils-Fredrik Nyblaeus was just five seconds behind in the Big Healey started by Jeremy Welch. In C1, Toyne’s 911 now led Martin’s MGB by five seconds.

Having served his penalty, Hart now trailed the leader by 34 seconds and Davison by 15 seconds, but soon it looked like he was saved by bell, as Niall McFadden’s Jaguar E-type got stuck in the gravel, forcing the safety car to come out. However, only six minutes remained on the clock. Six backmarkers separated Thomas from Davison, so the leader had a nice buffer, but just two cars were between Davison and Hart. Further back, just one car sat between Spiers and Dawson – and the latter had been closing in already. There would maybe be time for a single flying lap.

And there was! Thomas sailed problem-free to victory, redeeming himself for second place in 2024, with Davison a strong and close second ahead of the damaged Daytona Cobra of Olivier Hart. Dawson, however, took one more overall spot by passing Spiers and adding a silver lining to his dominant CLP class win. Whitaker was sixth, while the Simon & Cam Jackson and Connor Kay Elans completed the CLP top-three, as they were split by the Marcus Anderson/Rob Huff TVR Griffith and Methley’s Cobra. Keith Ahlers and Billy Bellinger bagged the C2 class win, their Morgan SLR vanquishing the Austin Healey 3000s of Nyblaeus/Welch and Harris/Wilmoth. In C1, the Walton/Toyne Porsche hung on to the class win from Patrick Martin’s MGB.