Masters on Tour

Masters Historic Racing was thrilled to be invited back to the Circuit of the Americas in Texas to supply two support races to the United States Grand Prix, followed by a trip to Mexico to support the Mexican Formula One Grand Prix with their historic F1 cars. 

Cantillon and Wiltshire Steal the Show at COTA

Mike Cantillon and Stuart Wiltshire monopolised the top steps of the podiums for Masters Historic Single Seaters and Masters Endurance Legends respectively on a sunny weekend in Austin.  However, neither driver went unopposed.

Cantillon’s rival in the first of two F1 races was Cal Meeker, who snatched the lead from the pole-sitter – and then didn’t want to give it back.    The Williams FW07C driver dove down the inside of Meeker’s Tyrell 009 on more than one occasion, only to be rebuffed, but eventually scythed his way past into Turn 12 and began to pull away from the Canadian.  Any hope of a fightback from Meeker was scotched in the closing laps when his Tyrrell came to a halt at the last turn.  Jamie Constable slotted into second place following Meeker’s demise, while third  went to Steve Brooks’ Lotus 91, Brooks having overhauled Todd Willing’s March 721G for what was fourth place and became third.

“It was a fantastic race.  We had a great race, really clean, I finally got him about halfway through and pulled a gap on him.  I could see Jamie waiting for me to have a bang so had to keep on my toes, I’m so thrilled, I don’t know what to say,” exclaimed an elated Cantillon.

Cantillon doubled-up in Race 2, leading away from pole with Constable slotting in behind him.  The pair streaked away, exchanging fastest laps, but eyes were on Meeker, who started in 19th place and carved his way through into the top 10 on the opening lap, before crossing the line in sixth next time around.  Continuing to push, he was soon in fourth, in pursuit of third-placed Willing, but then spun it all away.  Initially unable to return the car to the track, the stricken Tyrrell caused the deployment of the Safety Car, bunching up the field and leaving just one green flag lap of racing when it pulled back into the pits.  That provided an opportunity for Constable, but Cantillon swiftly pulled clear and wrapped up victory by a margin of 2.1 seconds, completing a clean sweep of the weekend’s action.

Endurance Legends

In the other Masters’ Category to race at COTA, the Masters Endurance Legends, it was Stuart Wiltshire who took the double in his Acura ARX-05.  He led the field away from pole and raced to victory ahead of the Lola B12/60 shared by David Brise and Alan Purbrick.  George Kurtz ran a relatively lonely race to third in his Mercedes Benz AMG GT3, taking GT honours, after early close competitor Chris Ronson Jr. suffered a technical problem in his Oreca FLM09.

The podium result was the same on Sunday morning for race 2, but only after Brise wrestled the lead from Wiltshire and held on to it through a safety car period and the handover to Purbrick at the mandatory pitstop.  Wiltshire then started his pursuit of the Lola, clocking best sector times for the first time all race.  At the start of lap 12, he made it through, and he reeled off the remaining laps to chalk up his second victory of the weekend.  Kurtz again ran third and first of the GT category.

Mexican Delight for Hart

Only one week later the single seaters reconvened at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, supporting the Mexican Grand Prix.  Amongst those joining the grid for Mexico was Olivier Hart in an Arrows A3, who latched onto the rear of Cantillon’s Williams FW07C at the start of race 1.  Making a bold move to overtake under braking for Turn 1, the Young dutchman immediately bolted clear, leaving Cantillon to turn his attention to an approaching Jamie Constable. The latter got a run through the esses and dived inside into Turn 12, with Cantillon respectfully giving room, while Steve Brooks also had a look before Cantillon steadied the ship.  In the space of a lap Hart opened an advantage of three-seconds, and once into second Constable began chipping away at the leader.

But just as Constable got the lead down to two seconds, he spun under braking for Turn 1, leaving the Tyrrell 011B stricken on the track, prompting the deployment of the Safety Car.  He was able to get a push start but dropped a couple of laps, promoting Cantillon into second, and Brooks to third, while Hart’s buffer was eradicated.  Hart initially got clear at the restart, but Cantillon whittled the gap down to six-tenths of a second – then squandered all his hard work on the final lap with a spin in Turn 1, allowing Brooks through into second, with a recovering Cantillon able to hold on to third. 

Race 2 on Sunday morning began with Hart leading away from pole while Steve Brooks , in second, briefly resisted Cantillon’s advances second, until lap three when the Irishman breezed past along the straight and set off in pursuit of Hart, whittling away an advantage that had stretched to two seconds.  He set a sequence of fast laps and caught the Dutchman mid-way through the race.  After several unsuccessful attempts he attacked once more and ducked to the outside line around Turn 4, squeezing Hart almost onto the grass to  complete a fine move, though Hart remained glued to his tail.  A mistake exiting the final corner proved costly for Cantillon, as Hart used the slipstream to re-take the lead.  From there Hart pulled out a two-second gap to complete a weekend sweep.  Jamie Constable started in eighth place after his costly spin in Race 1 but quickly carved his way through the pack to move into third behind Cantillon at the finish.

Said Cantillon: “Wow, what an incredible race – and on behalf of the drivers I’d like to dedicate the race to Ron Maydon, for giving us the most incredible series, forever grateful, we want to see him back next year racing!”