Gareth Burnett and Rudi Friedrichs put on a duel worthy of Richard ‘Mad Jack’ Shuttleworth as the ‘Mad Jack’ for Pre-War Sports Cars, named in honour of the pioneering racer, kicked off Saturday’s action at Donington Historic Festival. The encounter marked the 90th anniversary of the first Donington GP in 1935, which Shuttleworth won.

Friedrichs, in his Alvis Firefly Special, shot from fourth on the grid to take the lead at the start of the 50-minute race, with Burnett’s pole position-starting Alta Sports soon engaging the German in a terrific battle. Burnett hit the front at Redgate at the start of lap three, but Friedrich was back ahead a lap later, only for the Alta to claim the lead for good on lap six. The duel was broken during the mandatory pitstops, with Burnett gaining a clear advantage to win by more than 16 seconds.

“It was a superb battle with Rudi for half a dozen laps or so,” said Burnett. “I could see that he was quicker down the straights, but I could get him under braking through the corners. I had to work out where I could get him, then try to make a break on a clean bit of circuit. The car was running well. I had a few gear selection problems towards the end, but I’d backed off by then anyway. It was great.”

Friedrich admitted he was managing a problem. “I couldn’t get second gear,” he said. “I needed it at the two loops. Other than that, it was fine. Certain areas on the circuit Gareth was quicker and on others I was quicker, and we took each other several times.”

The Frazer Nash TT Replica of Robert and Joshua Beebee kept in touch with Burnett and Friedrichs in the early stages, and claimed a class win by remaining third overall despite a five-second penalty for a track limits violation.

In fourth, ex-Force India Formula 1 team owner Vijay Mallya put in a decent opening stint in his BMW 328, before seasoned professional Chris Ward took over and claimed fastest lap as he rose up the order. “That’s an awesome time,” said Ward. “It just goes to show how quick these cars are. A big thanks to the team at Blakeney-Edwards and Vijay for allowing me to drive the car. Vijay is getting quicker every time he gets in it.”

Dan Balfour’s Talbot 105 was fifth, with Alan Middleton claiming a class win in his Aston Martin 2-litre Speed Model in sixth overall.

Among those to wilt in the Donington sun was Sue Darbyshire in her trusty Morgan Super Aero. She ran as high as fourth, before pulling out. “I’m running a new engine first time out and it dropped a cylinder,” said Darbyshire. “We think the head gasket might have blown. It was always a risk coming here with a new engine, but it was going really well until it stopped.”

Other casualties included the Aston Martin Team Car Jonathan Lupton was sharing with three-time Le Mans 24 Hours GT class winner Darren Turner, Stuart Morley’s Bentley Blower and the Bentley 3-litre Speed Model of Vivian Bush and Duncan Wiltshire, which failed to make the start.

As part of his prize for victory, Burnett was presented with a framed copy of the original programme from the 1935 Donington GP, and a framed period copy of Motor Sport magazine which reported on the race.

The Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy for 1950s sports cars capped the 2025 Donington Historic Festival with a fine hour-long race as clouds rolled over the circuit at the end of a sunny weekend of classic motor racing.

John Spiers started from pole position in his Lister Knobbly but lost the lead out of Redgate for the first time to the rapid green Lotus XV driven by Kyle Tilley. The little Lotus opened a gap at the front as Spiers came under pressure from the Lister Costin Chevrolet of Max Lynn, who made a successful bid for second place at the start of lap eight. Sadly, his run came to a sudden halt a lap later. “It’s a lovely car with so much grunt and lots of speed,” Lynn reported. “But it’s a work in progress. It lost its brake fluid and ran out of brakes, so I had to call it a day.”

As he did so, the safety car was called. Shane Brereton’s Lister Knobbly had spun into the McLean’s gravel, and although he managed to coax the car back on track, Stephan Koenig’s AC Ace Bristol was also stranded out on track having lost a wheel.

The field took the safety car interruption as the perfect chance to take the mandatory pitstop, with Spiers the exception. As the clock ticked past the 30-minute mark, he then came in to hand his Lister over to Nigel Greensall, just as the race went green. It seemed a puzzling decision, but Spiers had a good reason. “There’s a new rule that says the owner must drive for 50 percent of the race, so I had to stay out,” he explained. “I hope the officials enforce it.”

As racing resumed with 28 minutes to run, William Nuthall’s Lister Knobbly assumed the lead from Tim Crighton’s Lister and Ollie Bryant, who had taken over the green Lotus from Tilley. Bryant demoted Crighton on lap 17, closed in on Nuthall and four laps later took what proved to be the decisive lead at Redgate. By the chequered flag, the Lotus was an impressive 33 seconds ahead of Nuthall’s Lister to claim overall Stirling Moss trophy honours in fine style.

“Thank you to Motor Racing Legends for a great Festival and it’s great to be back here,” said Tilley. “They’ve put on an excellent package of races and thanks to Ollie too for trusted me with his XV!”

“The Lister was good fun, but we were touch and go on fuel,” Nuthall revealed. “The safety car helped us a lot but I was trying my best to get to the end. Only just!”

The Cooper Monaco of Ollie Crosthwaite and Nick Finburgh just pipped Crighton to the final podium place, with Spiers and Greensall only fifth. “It went really well, happy with that,” said Crosthwaite. “It’s one of my Climax engines behind us, and I think it’s one of mine in the winning car as well!”

Motor Racing Legends owner Shaun Lynn was sixth in the yellow Lister Jaguar Knobbly, ahead of Richard Hudson and Stuart Morley’s Knobbly, with the Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy winner next up. In truth, Fred Wakeman and Patrick Blakeney-Edwards enjoyed a dose of luck to claim the victory for the drum-brake cars. Wakeman had stopped to hand over to Blakeney-Edwards before the pit window had opened, which earned them a drive-through penalty. But when the Jaguar C-type Chris Ward was sharing with owner Nigel Webb started to smoke, the Wakeman/Blakeney-Edwards Cooper T38 picked up the pieces and a prestigious victory.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti built a lead of 20 seconds in Gregor Fisken’s Shelby Cobra 260 having started from the front row. “I’m just loving the car on this circuit, I had a nice time,” said the Scot. “What more could you ask for?”

Franchitti admitted he reined in a little pace to save some tyre grip for Fisken, who took over after 13 laps. As it turned out, it was just as well he didn’t back off too much.

John Spiers started his Shelby Cobra from pole position but lost out to Franchitti on the exit of Redgate after the start. He then ran third to a soloing Matt Holme in another Cobra, remaining in close contention all the way to the pitstops when Nigel Greensall took over. Naturally, Greensall put in a charge having emerged ahead of Holme and gave everything to close the gap to Fisken up front. But 29 seconds with 20 minutes left was just too much to ask, although Greensall came close. He finished just 4.811sec off Fisken at the chequered flag.

“John drove a storming first stint, then I did everything I could to catch Gregor,” said Greensall. “We got closer and closer; we just needed a few more minutes.”

“It was just so much fun, which is what we’re here for,” said Franchitti. “It was just great to share the car with Gregor. I’ve driven most of the cars on this type of grid now: E-type, Ferrari 250 SWB, 260 Cobra and the Aston Martin. It’s an absolute privilege.”

“I was aware that Nigel would do a stellar job at the end because that’s what he does,” said Fisken. “Dario did a stellar job at the beginning, and I just concentrated on not being silly and putting it off. I could see the lap times were good enough.”

Holme made it an all-Cobra podium, with Ollie Bryant the best of the Jaguar E-types in fourth, ahead of Richard Meins and Rob Huff.

Run across two hours, each car was compelled to make two pitstops: a shorter one-minute stop and a longer refuelling pause of a mandatory five minutes. The format and an inevitable range of strategies among the field meant the final outcome only became clear in the closing minutes.

John Spiers put in a sterling stint at the beginning in his special ex-Peter Sutcliffe Jaguar E-Type Lightweight. He initially built a gap over Fred Wakeman’s AC Cobra, then held off a closing Rudi Freidrichs in another Cobra. As others peeled in for their first stops, Spiers gamely stuck it out, but took his stint too far. He was still out there beyond the hour mark, which was against the regulations, and he earned a drive-through penalty.

Partner Nigel Greensall took the pain, but the Jaguar might still have been in contention for a podium only for worrying noises to force him to switch off out on the track. The initial fear was a potentially expensive engine problem, although Greensall later reported the problem might have been clutch-related instead.

Meanwhile, into the second hour, a clear pattern to show who might emerge at the front after the strategies played out was still difficult to spot. Father and son team Shaun and Max Lynn led the way in their Lotus Elan, a model that has proven remarkably well suited to the Pall Mall Cup format in recent times.

So it proved again. Against their own expectations, the pair cycled back through to the lead in the final few minutes, and father and son were delighted to take the win. “Our strategy was for me to start, look for a safety car and if not go as long as we can,” explained Shaun. “I had to do the maximum amount of time, so at the one-minute stop I’d jump out for Max and then jump in again for the finish after the five-minute stop. We were always looking for the safety car, but it never happened, so I didn’t think we’d win. Thinking about it, we’re a good pairing because we’re close in pace to each other, so that played into our hands. The car is just amazing and we gave it absolute death. But we never really knew we’d got it in terms of the win.”

“He gave me the car P1 in class and fourth overall,” said Max. “Against all the cars with bigger engines, holding position is the toughest thing. Dad does a great job of that at the start every single time. When I got in it was basically a time trial, trying to hit a certain lap time every lap. The great thing about the Elan is because she’s so light, she doesn’t tire. We can do the same lap time at the start and at the end, and I think that’s a big advantage in these long races. Our brakes are fine, and our engine keeps on going because they are built to last.”

The pair finished 23 seconds ahead of the Jaguar E-type Roadster of Marcus Oeynhausen and Andy Newall. “We never thought we’d get on the podium,” claimed Newall. “Marcus did a fantastic first stint, then I just brought it back. It was just a case of keeping the lap times going. It hasn’t been the easiest weekend, and the problem we had came back in the last stint, so I was trying to manage it all. I enjoyed it.”

The AC Cobra of Friedrichs and Gary Pearson came in third, ahead of the Lotus Elans of Nick Matthews and Miles Griffiths, and Peter Reynolds and Daniel Quintero. Sam Tordoff and Andrew Jordan mixed it among the GTs to finish sixth in their Ford Mustang, ahead of Belgian pairing Olivier Meurens and Raphaël de Borman.

Smith, who was part of Bentley’s landmark Le Mans win in 2003, was the class of the U2TC field and steered his Lotus Cortina to a 43-second victory margin in the first race on Friday, with the Cortinas of Jonathan Mitchell and Richard Dutton completing the podium finishers.

In the Saturday encounter, Smith again prevailed, this time by 19 seconds over the Cortina shared by Peter Smith and Harri Reynolds. “It was great fun, again another good race,” reported the winner. “It was nice to race against Harri. I’ve known him for a long time and he’s a real talent.”

“I tried to put pressure on him, but I think he can handle it,” quipped teenager Reynolds, who is racing in the British GB4 single-seater championship this year. “I enjoyed it so much.”

Mitchell and Dutton again raced in close quarters, this time for third and fourth. The first non-Cortina was Alex Brundle, who enjoyed twirling a Mini Cooper S around Donington Park. “It was great fun, the Mini was revving away,” he said. “I decided to make a race where there wasn’t one to have!”

Ric Wood’s familiar blue Skyline started from pole position and led the early stages as Thomas pulled a move on Bailey at McLeans on the opening lap to run second. Mark Smith’s BMW was initially the best of the E30 M3s, but an early stop to check on tell-tale smoke signals from the car dropped him back. The BMW had had an overnight engine change after qualifying, but the problem this time emanated from the gearbox which eventually forced Smith to retire the car, sadly before four-time British Touring Car Champion Colin Turkington got a chance to drive.

Wood’s race only last until lap six, when he pulled the big Nissan into retirement with a broken differential. By now, Bailey had got back ahead of Thomas and the battle for victory was set.

Bailey stopped first on lap 15 to hand over to Middlehurst. “It was a good first stint, so hopefully we can keep it there in the lead,” said Bailey. “I got Julian back on the brakes in the end.”

Thomas waited until just before the pit window closed before pulling in for his mandatory stop, on lap 22. When he rejoined, he found himself not only behind Bailey but also the BMW E30 M3 of Darren Fielding, who relished finding himself ahead of the RS500, until it all got too much. A series of spins and two penalties, one for tracks limits and a drive-through for a pitstop violation, knocked him back.

Thomas now focused on closing the gap to Middlehurst, then engaged the green Nissan in a thrilling dice during the race’s final quarter. Lap after lap the two cars scrapped door handle to door handle through the Esses, Melbourne Hairpin and into Goddards, with Middlehurst giving no quarter. Finally, Thomas made a move stick and opened a small gap – only to suddenly pull off on the penultimate lap of a memorable race. That handed Bailey and Middlehurst their third victory together in this race at Donington.

“It was very close, we traded a bit of paint,” said Middlehurst. “I got a load of fuel surge, so I couldn’t get through the left-handers without the car cutting dead and I lost rear traction altogether, so I was fighting it all the time. Also, because Jonathan is so tall I was struggling with the seat which we couldn’t get forward enough at the pitstop. I could barely reach the pedals!”

Thomas described the duel as “the race of my life”, despite his late disappointment because of a fan belt failure on a car that was raced by Andy Rouse and Guy Edwards in period. “I gave it everything to catch the Nissan and was right on the limit everywhere,” said Thomas. “Andy would brake a little earlier in some of the corners, so if I could get good drive out of Coppice, I knew I could get him into the chicane. We touched three times, but this is touring car racing and this car is not a museum piece. I managed to work my way past him and was just pulling away, then the alternator light came on and the temperature was off the clock, so I switched off immediately. It’s an expensive engine.”

Thomas’s retirement elevated a grateful Fielding to second place. “I made it hard for myself,” he admitted. “I spun three times, and I picked up a couple of penalties. But it was a good race, actually. When I saw Julian behind me, I pushed a bit too hard and locked up the rears. But I’m happy with second.”

Another counting his blessings was Steve Dance, who picked up a podium third as well as a class win in his Ford Capri. “I lucked into that one,” he admitted. “It felt like a long race that went on forever!”

Toby Partridge and touring car legend Steve Soper finished fourth, despite a 10-second stop-go penalty for a too-short pitstop. “We didn’t really need the penalty, did we?” said ‘Soperman’. “But it’s still fun.”

Nic Wood’s Nissan was fifth, while Richard Meins and Jack Tetley completed the top six in their Jaguar XJS.

Tony Dron Trophy honours went to Raphael de Borman’s Ford Capri. The Belgian was left alone in the class after Mike Whitaker’s Rover SD1 was sadly unable to take the start, robbing us of a battle between two touring car icons.

Motor Racing Legends’ new GT3 Legends series kicked off 2025 in style at Donington Historic Festival with a pair of frenetic races on Saturday and Sunday.

In the first race ahead of lunch on Saturday, Jonathan Mitchell in his #007 Aston Martin V12 Vantage proved the class of an impressive 24-car grid packed with supercar exotica. From pole position, Mitchell stretched his lead to more than 30 seconds before taking his mandatory pitstop. By the chequered flag, the gap to the rest was out to 57 seconds after an emphatic performance.

Behind the Vantage, it was all to play for. Matt Holme led the chase in a Callaway Corvette, closely followed by Max Lynn’s Nissan GT-R, Christian Albrecht’s ex-Sébastien Loeb McLaren, Rob Hall’s BMW Z4 and Craig Wilkins’ Lamborghini Gallardo. But contact with Lynn on lap 9 meant Wilkins was forced to retire with damage and delayed the Nissan, leaving Hall as the closest challenger to Holme who was struggling with the traction control on his Corvette.

After the pitstops as Mitchell continued to extend his lead, Andrew Jordan consolidated Holme’s stint to secure second place, with Albrecht just 1.275sec behind the 2013 British Touring Car Champion at the chequered flag. Hall and Andy Willis finished fourth ahead of Lynn, with Nick Maton next up in his Lamborghini Gallardo.

On Sunday, Mitchell completed an emphatic double in his Aston Martin as he once again built a gap from the start, successfully negotiated the pitstops and steered clear of a serious threat to his victory. “This car feels really good straight out and it’s very friendly,” he said of what amounted to an unblemished weekend performance.

Once again, the race was much less settled behind him. Holme’s Corvette led the chasing pack from Lynn’s Nissan, Albrecht’s McLaren and Wilkins’s Lamborghini, with Hall’s BMW heading the next clutch of GT3 supercars. Kyle Tilley, sharing a Porsche 997 GT3 R with Ollie Bryant, then found a way past Hall, who picked up a five-second penalty for a track limits violation. “All the handling we enjoyed yesterday has gone,” reported Hall. “Now it’s oversteering.”

Mitchell made his mandatory stop on lap 17 when the pit window opened, while Holme also came in to hand over to Jordan. Once the stops had cycled through the Vantage was more than 26 seconds ahead of Albrecht, although within three laps Jordan was past the McLaren and looked set for another runner-up finish. But it wasn’t to be. In the final minutes the Corvette was withdrawn with a broken driveshaft. “Annoying, but that’s how it goes,” said Jordan.

That left Albrecht to inherit second place, 10 seconds ahead of Hall’s Nissan. Wilkins and Aaron Scott were fourth in their Lamborghini, well clear of a fraught pack jostling to make the top five. A soloing Steve Osborne in his Mercedes SLS got fifth, but only just, ahead of Massimo Vignali’s Audi R8 LMS and the Tilley/Bryant Porsche. Nick Maton’s Lamborghini claimed class B honours in eighth overall.