Lukas Halusa and Alex Ames would claim a gripping Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup Victory aboard the Halusa family owned Jaguar E-Type to round out a quite brilliant day 2 of the Donington Historic Festival; a festival which appears to be going from strength to strength under the relatively new Motor Racing Legends Management team.

Stacked entry lists were a pleasing theme of the weekend and the day 2 closing 2 hour Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup race was no exception with some 42 pre-66 machines taking the start, headed up by the glorious ‘Low Drag’ Jaguar E-Type Lightweight of Lukas Halusa and Alex Ames.

But, despite Halusa opening up a healthy early lead, a plethora of well driven Lotus Elans would ensure the ‘big cat’ would not run off into the distance. Indeed Connor Kay proved a thorn in Halusa’s side throughout the first stint and by lap 13 had reeled in the E-Type and made a decisive move down the inside of Redgate to take the lead.

It turned out the leading E-Type was suffering from a slipping clutch and issues with second gear throughout the race but Halusa appeared to be able to work around the problem and was able to keep Kay within his sights until both machines made their first of 2 mandatory stops as the race approached half distance.

Pall Map Cup rules mandate 2 pitstops during the race, 1 of 5 minutes to allow for re-fueling and a second shorter stop requiring the competing car to remain stationary for a minimum of 60 seconds. On this occasion the leading Elan would choose to take the shorter stop first with car owner Dominic Mooney jumping in whilst the E-Type would opt for the longer stop first as Alex Ames took over the reigns.

And it would be the middle stint that proved pivotal to the outcome of the race as Mooney’s pace, despite not being in the car for all that long, was not as strong as his young co-pilot. Ames on the other hand was able put in lap times that were almost on par with Halusa throughout his time behind the wheel meaning the Austrian, once re-installed, would emerge from the car’s final stop in the effective lead as the race entered it’s final stages.

The battle for second meanwhile was really heating up as two strong stints from Kyle Tilley had left the Elan he was sharing with Christian Glaesel (although not according to the timing sheets) in second as the pitstops began to unwind, with the similar machines of Connor Kay and Dan Eagling in hot pursuit. But whilst Kay was able to find a way past Glaesel with 20 minutes remaining, Eagling would find himself beached in the Redgate gravel after his attempt to take third.

With the pressure from behind eased Glaesel was able to wrap up the final step of the podium for he and Tilley whilst Kay rounded off a stellar drive by claiming second and class 3a top spot aboard the Elan shared with Dominic Mooney. Halusa however was just too far in front by this point allowing the Jaguar man to manage his pace to the flag and wrap up an excellent 13.8 second victory.

Further back, behind many an Elan 26R, 3 more E-Types and a couple of Cobras Doug Muirhead and Jeremy Welch would claim class 1b honours aboard the Lotus 11 with 20th overall, Mark and James Bates would top the battle of the 2 litre Porsche 911s to cross the line first in class 3c (22nd) and Steve and Josh Ward (Ginetta G4R) would take class 6 with 23rd position overall. Meanwhile Malcolm Paul and Rick Bourne saw off the MGB challenge to claim the class 3b win with 24th position overall in their TVR Grantura.

Earlier in the day, Jonathan Mitchell claimed a controversial GT3 Legends victory by performing his mandatory pitstop during an early safety car period before the opening of the pitstop window. As it turned out the drive through penalty received as a result of the misdemeanor was less time consuming than pitting under green, thus ensuring the Aston Martin V12 Vantage man would leapfrog the fast starting similar machine of Graham Davidson to take a 22 second victory.

A forty minute encounter for the Pre War Sports Cars would precede the GT3 Legends with the best part of a century difference in technology providing an entirely different challenge to the competitors, no dreaded BOP here that is for sure! As it was Josh Beebee had qualified the Frazer Nash TT Replica on pole but, as many suspected, it would be Rudi Friedrichs aboard his Alvis Firefly Special who would quickly find himself in the lead.

The Beebee’s would turn out to be the closest challengers with Josh taking over from father Rob at the earliest opportunity however Friedrichs had built a significant lead over the opening stint, so large in fact that he was able to entirely cover off his additional 15 second pitstop penalty and go on to record an 11.3 second victory. Behind an earlier off for Max Sowerby (Talbot Lago T23) had ensured the final step of the podium would belong to the Bentley 3/4½ Litre of Louis Fox who had slipped past the similar machine of Charles and James Morley in the second part of the race.

Julian Thomas had looked set for Historic Touring Car Challenge victory before a trip through the Copse gravel trap with just over 5 minutes remaining would drop the Ford Sierra RS500 man to the bottom rung of the podium. Instead James Kellett, aboard the BMW E30 M3, started by Ashley Muldoon, would be first to see the chequered flag following a phenomenal second stint which saw the current GT3 endurance cup professional first reel in the similar machine of Darren Fielding before inheriting the lead following Thomas’ off-track excursion.

Earlier the Nissan Skyline challenge faltered after Simo Arthur turned in on the similar machine of Andy Middlehurst at Redgate on lap 1 causing a puncture for the latter and an early retirement. Arthur would however keep Thomas honest for a large part of the race before and off at Coppice at half distance proceeded a significant amount of smoke protruding from the back of the Japanese machine.

In many respects the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association race was the highlight of the day as the front four competitors were all in with a shout of victory as the event entered the final stages. Tim Child, aboard his Brabham BT3/4, had lead for much of the first half of the 25 minute encounter before swapping positions on numerous occasions with the Cooper T53 of Tom Waterfield allowed the chasing similar machines of Will Nuthall and Rudi Friedrichs to bring themselves back into contention.

Traffic and yellow flags would however condemn Nuthall and Friedrichs to fighting for the final step of the podium, with Nuthall snatching third at the final opportunity. Waterfield meanwhile would take overall victory after Childs looked certain to cross the line first but for a final lap trip through the Old Hairpin gravel trap. What a race!

The Generations trophy is an excellent new initiative by Motor Racing Legends whereby family teams of at least 1 generation apart battle for victory aboard the stipulated MGB Roadster. And boy was this a hit with the competitors as some 34 machines lined up for the 1 hour mandatory pitstop race; polesitter Aimee Watts (daughter of touring car legend Patrick) highlighting the appeal when stating that racing alongside her Dad was just too good an opportunity to miss!

But whilst the the field contained some absolute novice drivers it would be the vastly experienced duo of Nick and Harry Whale who run out winners of the event; ex BTCC racer Nick soon finding himself in the lead after starting third and son Harry completing the job after a great post pitstop battle with Bobby Verdon-Roe. Ian and Joe Warhurst would cross the line second but would later be penalised for a short pitstop, leaving Rob and Toby Adlington to claim second after Toby slipped past Aimee Watts at the Chicane late on in his first every car race!

The Second Pre-63 GT race was the only real disappointment of the day in terms of entry levels with just 12 cars making the start, compounded by the fact the Halusa’s Ferrari 250 GTO ‘Breadvan’ was unable to take part following issues in race 1. Despite the numbers the racing proved exciting however with the Lotus Elite of David Alexander and Rich Fores, Healey 3000 of Michael and Gordon Russell and Jaguar E-Type of Toby Partridge and Steve Soper all in contention for victory post the mandatory stops.

There was however no stopping ‘Soper-man’ in the second half of the race as the legendary racer went on to record a 18 second victory for he and Partridge. Meanwhile Rich Fores would bring home the nimble Elite in second whilst James Dorlin set fastest lap of the race in Alistair Dyson’s E-Type as the current BTCC man recovered to third by the chequered flag.

Sunday’s action would see the Historic Racing Drivers Club (HRDC) enter the party with race wins going to Michael Whitaker, Ben Colburn and John Spiers / Nigel Greensall. Whitaker would lead home a Rover SD1 1-2-3 in the Gerry Marshall Trophy Series whilst Ben Colburn claimed a combined HRDC Allstars and Classic Alfa Challenge victory aboard his Alfa Romeo Alfasud Sprint. John Spiers and Nigel Greensall meanwhile came out on top of all Ford Mustang podium in the HRDC Top Hat Pre 66 Touring Car encounter.

Elsewhere Jonathan Mitchell would claim a second GT3 Legends race win of the weekend whilst Andy and Chris Middlehurst would make up for a disappointing first Historic Touring Car Challenge encounter by dominating race 2 in the Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R. Gary Pearson and Alex Brundle would dominate the 1 hour long Royal Automobile Club Woodcote and Stirling Moss Trophy aboard their Lister Jaguar Knobbly, Rudi Friedrichs would again find himself on the top step of the Pre War Sports Cars race and Tom Waterfield would claim a second HGPCA victory of the weekend.

The Donington Historic Festival is always an enjoyable day out but this year it felt like the standard had gone up a notch; all thriller and absolutely no filler in 2026 with the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association a welcome addition. Entry levels were absolutely fantastic with even events that have struggled for numbers in recent years, the Historic Touring Car Challenge springs to mind, producing high quality grids. Maybe a return to the more flowing nature of the National circuit helped but one thing is for sure, the Donington Historic Festival has firmly cemented it’s place as one of the highlights of the Historic racing calendar. Well done MRL!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY