Silverstone Festival 2025: Masters Group C

Andy Soucek delivered a popular Martini Lancia win in the Masters Group C race that closed the curtains on a wonderful Saturday at the Silverstone Festival. The Spaniard’s LC2 started from pole but soon lost the lead to Dutchman Allard Kalff in the Spice SE92C. When the stops were done, Soucek had 29 seconds to cover to Michiel Campagne who had taken over from Kalff, but he made quick work of cutting his deficit to comfortably win from the Dutch duo.

“Amazing to drive this car, actually”, said Soucek. “I’ve driven a lot of cars in my career – single-seaters, GTs, but I only drove two Group Cs. So this Lancia LC2 is absolutely incredible to drive, especially around a track like Silverstone. It wasn’t easy to finish, I was kind of managing the gap, because I was like, oh my God, this is tiring! I need a teammate next time! But it was amazing. Thank you, GPX and Masters, for giving me the opportunity.”

“I’m happy that we crossed the finish line!” said Campagne. “On Thursday we did some testing and we had a hole and a water leak in the engine. So we put some glue on it, and the whole weekend it was okay! So I’m quite happy to finish and then second prize is a bonus.”

Xavier Micheron took third in the Nissan R90CP, the Frenchman passing Stuart Hall’s March 86G early on to eventually build a lead of 23 seconds over the BMW-liveried car. Meanwhile, Dave Karaskas drove an excellent race to finish fifth in the Harrier LR4.

“It’s very emotional because this car stayed in the Nissan Museum in Tokyo for more than 30 years”, said Micheron. “We bought it, restored it, and you can see that the bodywork is completely original, but all the mechanic components are restored. It’s really fantastic to drive this car, especially at Silverstone.”

In sixth, Jack Fabby and Jan Magnussen shared a Tiga GC286 on their way to the C2 class win ahead of Jordan Grogor in the Spice SE86C.

Following a string of four Saturday races, Masters would close the curtains on an exciting first race day with the Masters Group C race. Andy Soucek’s Lancia LC2 sat on pole, with Xavier Micheron’s Nissan R90CP joining the Spaniard on the front row. The Michiel Campagne/Allard Kalff Spice SE92C that had originally claimed pole was demoted to third for a qualifying infringement, and had Stuart Hall’s March-BMW 85G besides it. Row three was occupied by the two leading C2 class runners, the Jack Fabby/Jan Magnussen Tiga GC286 ahead of Jordan Grogor’s Spice SE86C. Sadly, Eric Rickenbacher’s Cheetah G606 was a non-starter after its qualifying off, as was Alex Kapadia’s Toyota 86C.

At the start, Soucek got away cleanly, and soon had Kalff following him into second place of Hall’s March, as Micheron dropped to fourth. Jack Fabby led the C2 class from Grogor, with Dave Karakas in the Harrier LR4 and Thierry Boutsen in the Rondeau M382 up next. On lap 2, Kalff powered into the lead before motoring away from the Lancia. Meanwhile, Boutsen was forced to give up in the Rondeau, and sadly was soon followed in by Grogor. The Spice came back out after three laps, though.

On lap 4, Kalff led Soucek by 3.7 seconds while a second battle emerged 30 seconds further down the road, Micheron how harrying Hall for third. On the next lap, the Nissan wsa through. Fabby was another eight seconds behind, with Karaskas near at hand.

Slowly but surely, Kalff increased his lead over Soucek to seven seconds and then nine ticks on lap 7 while Micheron opened up an eight-second gap to Hall. As the pit window opened, Hall was the first to blink, but the others continued into lap 11. Then going into lap 12, they suddenly all came in, with Fabby handing over to Jan Magnussen, while Michiel Campagne took Allard Kalff’s seat.

When all the pitstops had cycled through, Campagne was heading towards Copse while Soucek emerged from the pits, courtesy of his longer stop as an elite driver. Now the Dutch team’s lead amounted to almost 30 seconds, with 12 minutes remaining on the clock. In third, Micheron now trailed by a minute and a half, while holding four seconds of Hall in the March. Karaskas had vaulted Magnussen because the Dane’s longer stop, while Grogor was catching up in seventh.

Gentleman driver Campagne was slightly less on the pace compared to Kalff, so Soucek indeed managed to close on the Denon-liveried Spice, as on lap 14, the Dutchman’s advantage had dropped to 14 seconds. Then on the next lap, Soucek turned up the wick even more, bringing the gap down tos even seconds. At this rate, the Lancia would take the lead before the end of the race.

And indeed, Soucek flew past on the Hangar Straight to reclaim the lead he held on the first few metres of the opening lap. Micheron, meanwhile, was a minute and 14 seconds down in the Nissan, but the Frenchman had shaken off Hall by seven seconds. Karakas still held fifth, with 24 seconds in hand over Magnussen.

As the clock wound down to zero, Soucek claimed a convincing win for the Lancia LC2, 40 seconds ahead of the Kalff/Campagne Spice. Micheron claimed third, a minute and 27 seconds behind, while Stuart Hall’s March-BMW 85G crossed the line 23 behind the Nissan. Karaskas held on to fifth, 13 seconds ahead of the C2-class-winning Tiga GC286 of Jack Fabby and Jan Magnussen, with Jordan Grogor’s Spice SE86C two more laps behind.