Silverstone Festival 2025: Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars

In a race of two halves, Robert Ross and Matt Johnson came away with a hard-fought win over the other Ford Mustangs of pole-sitter Sam Tordoff and the emerging example of Colin Sowter/Jake Hill. Tordoff led the first part but failed to shake off Ross enough to undo his elite-driver penalty. After a safety-car period brought the entire field together, Tordoff clawed his way up from fifth to second but Johnson held on for victory.

“It was tough at the end, they were all over me, but I just kept it clean and in the middle, made it difficult and obviously just, just pipped it”, said a happy Johnson.

“We got a good start and the race settled down in our favour, so that was good”, said Ross, “but he had to do the work!”

“22 seconds versus their zero”, Tordoff summed up his time-penalty disadvantage at the stops, “so I don’t think we can be too sad about second. But no, the guys were quick, they kept me honest and in the second half of the race, it was quite hair-raising a good couple of laps. I think a safety car spices any race up, doesn’t it, so with three laps to go, all carnage broke loose. I’m obviously disappointed not to win, but with a big penalty like that I think second pushing them over the line is a good result.”

“I just read the situation”, said Hill about his last-lap passes. “I could see it was all jacking up there into the complex, and I thought, if I just pick my moment, this could be it. Sure enough, it was. I got three cars in that one move through the last left, and then onto the back straight got a good good run at Nigel. I went for the lunge into Brooklands and got it done.”

In a six-way Mustang fight to the line that also included Tom Sharp’s Ford Falcon, the ponies of John Spiers/Nigel Greensall, Jack Ruddell/Tom Ingram and John Davison were also in the mix up until the end, but ended up fourth, fifth and seventh, with Sharp’s Falcon in sixth.

After Guy Smith’s early demise, Jack Giddings and Paul Streather ruled the Cortina class, finishing in a competitive eighth overall and well up on the chasing Cortinas of Henry Neal and Peter Smith/Harri Reynolds. However, when it emerged that their mandatory was too short, their penalty dropped them out of the top-three and promoted Richard Dutton to third. In the Mini class, the pole sitter also exited the stage early on, Phil Bullen-Brown handing his lead to Scott Kendall and Mark Burnett, whose Cooper S continued to maintain a cushion over the warring pair of Dan Lewis and Olly Samways.

We were now midway into a busy Saturday afternoon for Masters, waiting for the Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars to come out for their Transatlantic Touring Car Trophy, with a phalanx of no less than seven Mustangs leading the grid. The quickest pony was occupied by three-time champion Sam Tordoff, who had abandoned his title-winning Falcon for a brand-new Mustang. Sat next to him on the front row was the Matt Johnson/Robert Ross Mustang, followed by the similar machines of John Spiers, Colin Sowter, Mark Mathieson, Jack Ruddell and John Davison, with Guy Smith next up in the leading Cortina. Tom Sharp was in the first Falcon ahead of Tom Waterfield in the Mustang shared with Michael Russell. Two more Cortinas were next, occupied by Jake Giddings and Max Bird. In 21st, Phil Bullen-Brown led the Minis away.

On the opening lap, Tordoff wasn’t making his customary early break, but instead saw Ross all over the back of him. Behind them, Spiers had left a gap and then saw a fast-moving Ruddell and Sharp edge him down to fifth. Davison held his own in sixth, but Chris Harris was up into seventh in the ‘Brustang’. Smith remained in eighth in the leading Cortina, hounded by class rival Jake Giddings, with Andrew Haddon leading Sowter, Henry Neal’s Cortina and Richard Dutton’s Cortina in tenth overall. Further back, the Marco Attard/Chris Hoy Falcon was in the wars, as was one of the Minis – and not just one, but Bullen-Brown’s! Soon after, another Falcon was out, the Mortensen/Magnussen example retiring to the pits while bellowing hot smoke.

At the front, Tordoff had marginally cleared Ross by 1.6 seconds, as they entered lap 4. Russell, Sharp, Spiers, Davison, Harris, Smith, Giddings and Haddon had all settled into their order while Neal had moved up into 11th ahead of Waterfield, Max Chilton’s Cortina, Dutton and Sowter. In the Mini class, Scott Kendall had taken over Bullen-Brown’s lead, 26th overall, now chased by Dan Lewis and Olly Samways.

More drama occurred when Mark Mathieson threw his Mustang in the kitty litter, denying Rob Huff a go, while the leading Cortina of Guy Smith had also stopped off track at Stowe. The safety car coming out was a foregone conclusion. Now, Giddings assumed the mantle of Cortina class leader, with Chilton and Dutton second and third.

The green flag was waved going into lap 7, but Haddon wasn’t going any further, a clipped wheel arch pressing into his right rear tyre. Soon after, the Justin & Oliver Law Cortina also pulled off right when the pit window opened for the mandatory pit stops. Spiers and Sowter were among the first to come in, handing their Mustangs to Nigel Greensall and Jake Hill respectively. On the next tour, Ross came in to hand over to Matt Johnson while Waterfield was replaced by Michael Russell. Further back, the Minis of Lewis and Samways had also made their stops.

At the end of lap 8, Tordoff decided it was time to come in, and he was followed in by Ruddell, who had BTCC championship leader Tom Ingram waiting for him. Sharp, Davison and Harris all followed suit, the latter handing over to Marino Franchitti. Among the Cortinas, Dutton, Bird (handing over to Nick Sampson) and Paul Smith (making way for none other than Steve Soper) chose this lap for their stop, as did Mini class leader Kendall, handing his car to Mark Burnett. From the top runners, Giddings was the last to call, giving the Cortina to Paul Streather.

At the front, Johnson had taken a clear ten-second lead over Sharp, courtesy of Tordoff’s longer stopping time. The former leader was fifth now, chasing Greensall and Davison. In fact, it was Greensall who did the chasing, as his Mustang was putting Sharp’s Falcon under immense pressure. Streather still led the Cortina class in sixth, and was followed by more Mustangs – those of BTCC stars Ingram and Hill, and Michael Russell’s example, too. During the stops, Simon Gusterson had sneaked up into second place in the Cortina class, with Dutton and Jonathan Mitchell in third and fourth. But then the safety car was back out again to allow for the recovery of Carl & Billy Nairn’s Mini.

The safety car had just missed the leader, so the entire field was sent through to catch up with the Mustang of Johnson, who momentarily found himself out on his own. This cost a few laps, so less than five minutes remained for a sprint to the finish line. It would become a mighty scrap as the leading cars went side-by-side into The Loop and out onto the Wellington Straight. Sharp initially challenged Johnson for the lead, but instead was passed by Greensall and Tordoff, the latter having passed Davison into Abbey. Into lap 15, Tordoff was up into second while Sharp got back at Greensall, but again the Falcon lost out coming out of The Loop, with Ingram and Hill coming past.

Lap 15 would be the final lap, so Johnson had to hang on to win this. In the end, he narrowly did, hanging out the rear at Club to claim victory by a tenth from Tordoff, Hill, Greensall, Ingram, Sharp and Davison. In eighth, Streather held on for the Cortina win, as two more Mustangs acted as a buffer to Henry Neal in second place and the emerging Peter Smith/Harri Reynolds Cortina in third. In 20th overall, Burnett bagged the Mini class win, from Lewis and Samways. After the race, though, the mandatory pitstop made by the Giddings/Streather was judged to have been too short. As a result, Neal was handed the class win, while Richard Dutton was promoted to third.