GT3 Legends | Paul Commons Motorsport

In an exciting new dawn for Motor Racing Legends, Shaun & Max Lynn rounded off a brilliant Day 2 of the Donington Historic Festival by coming out on top of a fantastic Pre-66, David vs Goliath battle to take Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup victory aboard their Lotus Elan.

Although Shaun Lynn’s Aythorpe Promotions business acquired Motor Racing Legends in Mid 2024 the 2025 Donington Historic Festival was the first event to really show the vision of the new owners. On track, new rules ensuring car owners take up a greater share of the driving duties combined with significant time penalties for elite drivers has really levelled up the playing field whilst trackside the show seams to have been taken up a notch for the spectators.

Indeed, accessibility was second to none and the individually allocated awnings for each competing car was a great touch, shades of Goodwood and some of the big European events. The demonstration runs for the Super Tourers and Williams FW22 in the very capable hands of James Davison were great additions too; Watching the latter through the Craner Curves and Old Hairpin was simply breathtaking! That noise!

Grid sizes seemed to have improved also, especially regarding the pre-war machinery where a mammoth 36 cars lined up for the first race of the day. Not bad for cars approaching 100 years old (ignoring the debate on continuation models)! And the quality of racing proved equally impressive as, after a great battle with the Alvis Firefly Special of Rudi Friedrichs, Gareth Burnett eventually claimed victory aboard his Alta Sports.

The first half of the race saw the duo swap positions on numerous occasions as Friedrichs was faster down the straights but the Alta of Burnett was stronger under braking. 2^nd gear would however prove to be a problem for the Alvis in the second half of the race leaving Burnett to pull out a relatively healthy margin of 16 seconds at the flag. Meanwhile Rob and Josh Beebee couldn’t quite keep in touch with the 2 leading machines as they rounded out the podium positions in their Frazer Nash TT Replica.

After a successful pilot event at Silverstone last year, the new for 2025 GT3 Legends series made a welcome debut at this years festival. Catering for GT3 machinery homologated between 2006 and 2012 a very healthy grid of 24 cars, across many a brand, had been assembled for the first of two races over the weekend.

But whilst GT3 is all about balance of performance, Aston Martin V12 Vantage pilot, Jonathan Mitchell, would prove to be in a league of his own. Up against the likes of former BTCC champ Andrew Jordan, Mitchell put in a stellar drive which not only saw the Aston man claim victory by more than 57 seconds but perhaps even more impressively set fastest lap of the race!

The battle for the remaining podium positions was far less clear cut however as Andrew Jordan fought back from his 30 second elite driver time penalty (after taking over the Matt Holme Corvette). Finding himself in fifth after the stops the long time touring car pilot was able to slip past the Nissan GTR of Max Lynn, BMW z4 of Andy Willis and McLaren of Christian Albrecht over the remainder of the 50 minute race to claim a fine 2nd. Albrecht meanwhile would complete the podium positions having gotten the better of Willis during the closing stages.

The Historic Motor Racing News Pre 63 GT race can always be relied upon to provide a stunning grid and this occasion was no exception as Dario Franchitti leapt into an early lead aboard Gregor Fisken’s Shelby Cobra 260. John Spiers and Matt Holme in similar machines would keep the multiple IndyCar champion honest but Franchitti had built a healthy lead by the time the car was handed over to Fisken. Healthy enough that even the traditional Nigel Greensall late charge (taking over from Spiers) would not be enough as American Muscle would lock out the podium positions.

The highlight of the festival for many in recent times however is the Saturday evening Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup and a mouth watering grid of 24 Pre-66 largely GT machines would line up for the 2025 edition, a race where strategy is often just as important as outright pace.

Fresh from a strong performance in the Pre-63 GT race it was pole-sitter John Spiers who would lead the early stages of the 2 hour race aboard his Jaguar E-Type Lightweight with another E-Type in the hands of Mark Donnor soon upto second and the Rudi Friedrichs Cobra 3rd. But with the requirement for 2 pitstops, (of both 1 and 5 minutes in length) it was all to play for.

Indeed, after choosing to make their short stop first, it would be Max Lynn (taking over from father Shaun) who would emerge in the lead aboard the nimble Lotus Elan at the half way point with the Gary Pearson Cobra (having taken over from Friedrichs) close behind. Surely just a temporary stint in the lead given the horsepower deficit?

Not so, in fact Max Lynn was driving he and Shaun right into contention with consistently fast lap times, so much so that by the time Shaun Lynn emerged from his longer stop with just under 15 minutes remaining they were still in the lead. And with the demise of both the Mark Donnor / Alex Brundle and John Spiers / Nigel Greensall E-Types it was a comfortable one at that as the father and son pairing would go on to take a memorable 23 second victory.

Marcus Oeynhausen, aboard his Jaguar E-Type, had put in a strong drive over the first half of the race which left Andy Newall in a strong second of those who had elected to take their long stop first. But whilst they gained a position through the demise of the Donnor / Brundle machine, their combined pace was no match for Max Lynn leaving them having to settle for second as the pitstops unwound.

Gary Pearson meanwhile carried on the great early work of Rudi Friedrichs to claim the final step of the podium in the AC Cobra; thankful i’m sure that the race distance had been shortened by an hour for 2025 with the Lotus Elan of Miles Griffiths closing at a fair rate of knots over the final stages.

Earlier in the day former Le Mans 24 hour winner Guy Smith claimed a second U2TC win of the weekend aboard his Ford Lotus Cortina as Harri Reynolds (son of Welsh rally legend Julian) and man of the weekend, Jonathan Mitchell rounded out the podium positions in similar machinery. Disappointingly only 13 cars made the start of Saturday’s race despite returning to standalone grids for 2025. Let’s hope numbers improve as the season progresses.

Sunday’s racing meanwhile would see Jonathan Bailey and Andy Middlehurst claim Historic Touring Car Challenge victory aboard their Nissan Skyline, Kyle Tilley and Olly Bryant (Lotus 15) first home in the combined Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy / Stirling Moss Trophy race and Jonathan Mitchell take a second dominant GT3 Legends victory of the weekend. Elsewhere victories in the HRDC Gerry Marshall Trophy, Jack Sears Trophy and Dunlop Allstars would go the way of Simon Lewis / Alex Brundle (Jaguar XJS), Peter Smith / Harri Reynolds (Lotus Cortina) and Mike Whittaker Snr (TVR Griffith) respectively.

Overall day 2 of the Donington Historic Festival had been one hell of a spectacle and possibly the best yet. I had my doubts about switching to the GP circuit and reducing the length of the Pall Mall Cup race but in the end both proved to be a success. Although I do yearn for a return of the 60’s and 70’s Sports Prototypes, it’s clear Motor Racing Legends is now in very good hands, and long may it continue.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Harry Barton and Oliver Reuben retained their Silverstone GP Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup crown with a convincing win aboard the Nigel Reuben Racing prepared TVR Griffith.

Now the traditional curtain closer for the Motor Racing Legends Series, the Silverstone GP meet had attracted a healthy entry with over 30 cars lining up for the Pre-66 3 hour ‘into the evening’ enduro and possibly more impressively an almost similar number of entrants for the brand new GT3 Legends pilot event for 2006 to 2012 GT3 spec cars. Quite some achievement!

The opening day’s track activity would centre around the Pall Mall Cup however with a 50 minute qualifying session preceding a late afternoon start for the 3 hour main event. And it was a pair of Jaguar E-Types that made the most of the damp morning track conditions to form the front row of the grid, headed by the Marcus Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff / Andy Newall machine.

The pole-sitting Jaguar would however drop back early on and be forced into an early stop with Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff suffering from cramp. Conversely the TVR of Harry Barton had made great progress from it’s relatively lowly 6th position on the grid, with the young historic racer quickly hitting the front and building a comfortable lead over the other front row starting E-type of Richard Kent and Lotus Elan of Simon Evans.

Pall Mall Cup rules dictate a two stop race, one of 60 seconds and the other 5 minutes in duration (for re-fueling) and it is this niche set of rules that brings in-race strategy to the fore. As it was both the Griffiths of Barton and Elan of Evans opted to take their longer stop first, the former having no option courtesy of a faulty transponder, which left another Elan in the hands of Max Lynn in the lead of the race with the similar machine of Miles Griffiths in hot pursuit for much of the middle stint.

The Nigel Reuben Racing prepared TVR of Harry Barton and Oliver Reuben was however in a league of it’s own on the day and as the final pit stops unwound would find themselves with a healthy advantage entering the final third of the race. The class 4 competition may have been a little light on this occasion, with the stablemate TVR not able to enter following damage at Spa and the Alex Brundle E-type a non starter courtesy of timing chain issues, but the pairing hardly put a foot wrong; Barton (back in the car for the final stint) eventually crossing the line with a commanding winning margin of 1 minute and 42 seconds.

Simon Evans and James Littlejohn have formed a formidable partnership in recent years and put in possibly the performance of the day to claim second aboard their Lotus Elan. Whilst not able to compete with the 5 litre Ford powered TVR, Evans and Littlejohn were able to keep the eventual winners honest and it was quite some achievement to end the event on the same lap! Littlejohn was particularly rapid on the day and managed to set a lotus Elan lap record with a 2.23.944 on well used tyres!

In fact Lotus Elan’s would make up 1 third of the field with the nimble 1600cc machines featuring heavily in the battle for the remaining podium position. Miles Griffiths had starred throughout the race and seemed to be heading for that final step of the podium following a race long battle with Shaun and Max Lynn but tragically suffered a front end issue with only minutes remaining. This left Shaun Lynn (the man now in charge of Motor Racing Legends activities) and son Max to claim third with Andy Wolfe and Ben Tinkler fourth. Wolfe and Tinkler’s result, in yet another Elan, all the more remarkable having started from the pit lane!

A healthy contingent of Porsche 911s, usually found in their own stand alone Peter Auto races, had entered this years event and it was the David Danglard and Phil Quaife machine that proved the class of the field as they claimed class 3c honours with an excellent 11th. And talking of excellent performances Can Bitirim and Dave Gardener defeated many a more powerful machine to bring their MGB home in 13th to to register class 3b top spot. Meanwhile Pre-63 GT honours would go the way of Grant Williams and Ciprian Nistorica aboard their E-type with 17th overall.

Earlier in the day the GT3 Legends series made a successful track debut and it was British GT stalwart Jon Minshaw who found himself in an early lead before a collision with the similar BMW Z4 of Rob Hall put them both out of contention. Instead it was the Lamborghini Gallardo of Jack Tetley who lead for much of the opening stint but Nick Maton, having taken over for the second half of the race, could not keep Andrew Jordan at bay. The former BTCC champion, aboard the Chevrolet Corvette, appeared in top form however, producing sub 1m 58 second lap times on his way to record a 17 second victory for he and Matt Holme.

In fact it proved a good day for Jordan as Andy Middlehurst and Jonathan Bailey had earlier claimed Historic Touring Car Challenge victory aboard their JRT prepared Nissan Skyline. On a drying track Middlehurst swapped positions on more than one occasion with the similar machine of Ric Wood but had made the conscious effort to look after the tyres of his wet shod machine. This proved pivotal as Wood was forced into retirement having ‘destroyed’ his whilst Bailey (replacing Middlehurst for the second half of the race) just had enough rubber left to reel in Darren fielding (BMW M3) over the closing stages to claim victory.

Having driven through what can only be described as monsoon conditions on the way to the circuit we were treated to a fabulous golden hour to round out the day. And just like the weather the Motor Racing Legends season had also ended on a high with the GT3 Legends series a clear hit. Hopefully, under the guidance of Shaun Lynn, the series can go from strength to strength as it would be great to see grids such as the Historic Touring Car Challenge attract the numbers we were used to in seasons past.

RESULTS

GALLERY