Silverstone Festival 2025: Masters GT Trophy

Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott stormed to an emphatic victory in the Masters GT Trophy race at the Silverstone Festival, their Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 at the head of a Lambo 1-2, as the Neil Glover/Luke Reade combo passed the Bonamy Grimes/Johnny Mowlem Ferrari 488 Evo Challenge for second soon after the pitstops.

“Craig did the work”, said Scott. “So I just said to him, I’d stroke it home at the end. It’s great fun, it’s a great meeting and it’s nice to be here. As my team has had eight cars here in six different races, I’m just looking forward to a good sleep tonight…”

“I felt confident straight from the start”, said Grimes. “She was just feeling brilliant and it was a great race, really loved it. Handed over Johnny and he just brought it home.”

The Ferrari did take Corse class honours from the Frank Thomas Headen-Morris/Thomas Pickford 488 Evo in fourth. In fifth, James & Bill Caley brought home the Cup class win in their Porsche 991.2 Cup while sixth was the third Gallardo GT3 shared by Jason Pelosi and Wayne Marrs. Jonathan Simmonds took second in the Cup class by finishing seventh overall, while the early class-leading Porsche of Max Bird/Stuart Kinner ended up third in class behind the invitational Rob Fenn/Paul Whight Aston Martin Vantage V12 and the Audi R8 LMS ultra shared by Mike & Matt Wrigley.

Three Ginetta G55s closely contested the GT4 class victory, although their order never changed during the 40-minute race, Daniel Quintero claiming the win ahead of Chris Bingham and William Ashmore.

As the second-to-last race on the Silverstone Festival programme, the Masters GT Trophy grid came out for their single 40-minute race of the weekend. Three Lamborghinis sat at the front, the Gallardo GT3s of Craig Wilkins and Neil Glover/Luke Reade monopolising the front row, with the Matty Evans/Colin Turkington Huracán Super Trofeo in third place alongside the Frank Thomas Headen-Morris/Thomas Pickford Ferrari 488 Evo. The dad-and-lad Audi R8 LMS ultra of Mike & Matt Wrigley was on row three along with the Cup-class-leading Porsche 991.2 Cup of Max Bird and Stuart Kinner. In 14th overall, the Peter Reynolds/Daniel Quintero Ginetta G55 was on the GT4 class pole.

It was lights out, action from the start, as two Porsches and a Ferrari went three wide through the Loop as they were trying to usurp Matt Wrigley’s Audi. At the front, though, Wilkins put the hammer down from the word go to lead Glover across the line by a massive six seconds. The second Lambo was chased by Max Bird, who proved quick in the Porsche from the start, while Bonamy Grimes in the Ferrari 488 Evo Challenge soon took fourth from Frank Thomas Headen-Morris in another Ferrari. Matty Evans had dropped to sixth ahead of Wrigley, with James Caley up to eighth in another 991.2 Cup. In the GT4 class, Daniel Quintero led Chris Bingham’s similar Ginetta G55 in 14th and 15th respectively.

As Wilkins continued to disappear on the horizon, Bird worked his way up into second while Glover tried to fend off the Ferraris of Grimes and Headen-Morris, while Caley had moved ahead of Evans. Jason Pelosi in another Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 was now eighth ahead of Jonathan Simmonds’ 991.2 Cup and Parker James in the Ferrari 458 Challenge, in a hotly contested midfield in which seventh to 18th were covered by less than ten seconds. In the tail of that snake Quintero’s Pink Panther Ginetta held its own against Bingham’s example, with Ashmore now also right on the back of them in another Ginetta, having made a switch from the Army team’s earlier Ferrari 430.

On lap 4, Wilkins led Bird’s all-white Porsche by 13 seconds, while Grimes had moved ahead of Glover. Instead of looking in front of him, Headen-Morris had Caley full in his mirrors now, along with Pelosi. Simmonds was in relatively no man’s land in eighth, with Wrigley now heading the queue that started from ninth down to 18th. Wrigley would not stay there for long, though, as he had been handed a drivethrough penalty for not adhering to the start procedure. The same penalty applied to John Cockerton in the Grand-Am Porsche 997.

As the pit window approached, Wilkins’ lead over Bird has mushroomed to 18 seconds, with Grimes a further two ticks adrift. Glover maintained station in fourth, but with the lightning-quick Luke Reade as the joker up his sleeve, while Headen-Morris, Caley and Pelosi argued over fifth. Ahead of them, Grimes was closing in on Bird, though, but as the first stops started to unfold, he abandoned the fight to hand the Ferrari to Johnny Mowlem. Further back, Quintero, Bingham and Ashmore continued their Ginetta G55 dominance in the GT4 class while being less than two seconds apart.

Glover soon joined Grimes to hand over to Reade, while James Caley made way for Bill Caley. Then the leader in the ex-Reiter Lambo was in, being relieved by Aaron Scott, in turn followed by Headen-Morris, who would be replaced by Thomas Pickford. On lap 10, Bird and Simmonds were the last of the frontrunners to stop, Bird handing the Porsche to Stuart Kinner.

When all the stops had cycled through, Scott led Mowlem by 23 seconds, but Reade was setting fastest laps in third, just two seconds behind the Ferrari. At the front, Scott was responding to Reade’s quick lappery to go even quicker. While Reade soon re-established a Lambo 1-2, he still trailed Scott by 26 seconds. Mowlem was still a close third, now 31 seconds ahead of Kinner, who was chased and caught by Pickford and Caley. Soon the two each moved up a place. Wayne Marrs in the Gallardo started by Pelosi was a further four seconds adrift, with Simmonds looking at the same gap to Marrs. The invitational Aston Martin Vantage V12 of Rob Fenn/Paul Whight, with James in tenth. Quintero, Bingham and Ashmore were still in the same GT4 order in 12th, 13th and 15th.

With six minutes remaining, Kinner was also swamped by Marrs and Simmonds, but still had time in hand over Whight and the delayed Audi of Mike Wrigley. At the front, the situation remained unchanged, as Scott led Reade by 28 seconds, with Mowlem’s Ferrari a further seven seconds behind. Pickford, Caley, Marrs and Simmonds were well over a minute away from the leader. Further back, Colin Turkington was the only one still moving up places in the Huracán Super Trofeo started by Matty Evans, the multiple BTCC champion now up into 11th place, right behind the Wrigleys’ Audi.

At the chequered flag, Scott held 35 seconds over Reade for a resounding Lambo 1-2, with Mowlem in the winning Corse class car in third. Pickford took fourth from Caley in the winning Cup class machine, followed by Marrs in the third-placed GT3 car, Simmonds in the second Cup car, Whight, Wrigley, while Kinner rounded out the top ten in the third-placed Cup car. In 13th, 14th and 16th respectively, the Ginettas of Quintero, Bingham and Ashmore took all the GT4 spoils.