The final championship rounds of the Classic Touring Car Racing Club season provided plenty of close racing on the Silverstone International circuit.
While some categories’ title destiny had already been settled (subject to official ratification) in the previous round at Snetterton, others were still to be decided. Pre-’66 Touring Cars went right to the wire, as Jake Swann provisionally sealed the deal in his self-built and run Ford Anglia.
Others celebrating included Todd Hawkins (BOSS) and Ian Bower (Pre-’93 Touring Cars).
Pre-’66 Touring Cars
Teenage starlet Oliver Law scored his first CTCRC Pre-’66 Touring Cars wins with two impressive drives aboard father Justin’s Lotus Cortina. But attention was equally focused on the title showdown between Ian Thompson (Cortina) and Jake Swann (Ford Anglia), with the latter prevailing (provisionally).
On the back of four consecutive wins, Piers Grange was gunning to extend his winning run in his ex-Leo Voyazides Ford Falcon. He started well by topping the times in qualifying, 0.8 seconds quicker than the next best. That was Andrew Hack, back with his Mini for the first time since the Donington season-opener, who was fractionally quicker than Law.
Fourth fastest was 2024 champion Thompson, 0.4s slower than class rival Law. The Anglias of Billy Kenneally and Swann were next, separated by just a couple of tenths.
Swann came into the weekend with an eight-point buffer over Thompson in the standings, and ended Saturday with seven still in hand after each driver finished second in class in the opening race – the difference being Thompson’s fastest lap.
Thompson enjoyed a thrilling scrap with Law for Class F honours, the pair also getting involved with Grange and some of the Pre-’83 runners at times. The two twin-cam Cortinas traded paint on more than one occasion before Law eased to a 3s victory after they had shaken off Grange.
“I tried to be fair,” said Law. “We had a little bit of contact but I’m sure we all had fun.”
As Grange’s big V8 faded over the last two laps, Class C winner Hack came through to third overall. Swann got the jump on Kenneally’s similar car on the opening lap and matched Thompson’s result with second in Class C, fourth overall.
Grange still took Class A honours in fifth, ahead of Kenneally, sixth, who was slowed by gearbox woe. Both Anglias and Grange had been passed by Billy’s father Pat in his Cortina – only for it to run dry on the final lap.
Brendan Rooney won Class E in seventh, just half a second ahead of Adrian Oliver’s similar Hillman Imp. Class D laurels went to an emotional Will Sharpe on his club debut. The one-time MG Owners’ Club champion was driving the Austin A35 his late father Andy had raced with the club almost 40 years ago.
“He was sitting in the car with me,” said Sharpe. “We’ve got a trophy – we might have only beaten one car but, Dad, that is for you.”
Law led Sunday’s rematch from the start but Thompson wasn’t giving up on his title ambitions without a fight. He closed to within around 1.6s of Law with the fastest lap (in class) as the race approached half-distance. But Grange’s Falcon, which was quicker still, was looming large in Thompson’s mirrors.
Grange and Thompson tangled under braking for the sharp right-hander at Village. The Cortina was sent into a spin, dashing Thompson’s title hopes, while the Falcon picked up heavy front-end damage.
While Law kept Grange at bay to record his second win of the weekend, Thompson’s recovery drive took him to third on the road, with the clerk of the course then promoting him to second at Grange’s expense.
Meantime, Swann was having to deal with additional class opposition in the form of Barry Sime’s Mini, which joined the fray having been in action on the National circuit the previous day.
Starting from the back of the grid, Sime had caught class leaders Hack and Swann by the end of the first lap. Sime split the pair a couple of tours later and the two Minis then enjoyed a ding-dong for the rest of the contest. Sime eventually got the better of Hack to win Class C in fourth overall.
Swann dropped back behind the enthusiastically driven Cortina of Michael Kenneally (in for dad Pat), who had climbed from the back of the grid. But, with Thompson dropping points too, third in class was more than enough for Swann to seal the title (subject to official confirmation).
It was a hard-earned success for the Cambridgeshire-based engine technician who built and developed the Anglia himself, running on a tight budget.
Behind Swann, Gary Prebble came from the back to beat Rooney to Class E honours in his Hillman Imp, having missed Saturday’s action while running a customer at Oulton Park. The Sharpe family A35 was victorious in Class D again, this time with Will’s brother Henry at the wheel.
Pre-’83 Group 1 Touring Cars
Having waited five years between Pre-’83 victories prior to his success at Snetterton last time out, Tom Harvey promptly broke new ground by securing his first-ever weekend double.
Having his second Pre-’83 outing in the superb Jaguar XJS he acquired last year, Tom Butterfield was the pacesetter across the weekend. But the V12-powered machine requires further winter fettling before the Yorkshireman can pursue an intended title challenge next year.
Butterfield’s pole lap was 0.4s quicker than leading Class B man Nick Williamson in his V8-powered Rover SD1. The quickest of the two-litre cars were next, with Bob Bullen outpacing fellow Ford Escort Mk1 man Harvey by around a third of second.
Harvey was marginally quicker than Welshman Mark Osborne in his Triumph Dolomite Sprint, back in action after a stop/start year of reliability issues. Sadly, Osborne’s engine woe struck again and he was unable to start the races. Outgoing champion Jonathan Corker was also a non-starter after suffering camshaft failure.
So sixth qualifier Neil Philpotts inherited fifth on the grid with his Mitsubishi Lancer, back in action having sourced a turbocharger from North America. Leading front-wheel-drive exponent Simon Jeffs (Volkswagen Golf GTi Mk1) was promoted to the third row on his first appearance since an abortive Oulton Park outing.
Jeffs’ fellow Golf runner Duncan Leftley was also back in action at a circuit where the cars have traditionally gone well. Leftley qualified outside the top 10 and his race didn’t last long after early contact left him with a bent rear axle.
A good start from Williamson propelled him past Butterfield into the race lead. Philpotts got off to even more of a flyer and briefly reached third, only to get caught out on the rubber marbles left by the preceding race for modern GT machinery.
The Lancer was sent fishtailing into a spin. It pulled a tyre off its rim as it ran over a kerb, forcing the Wirrall man out of the race.
Having already clinched the title, Nic Grindrod jumped from row four to run third ahead of fellow Escort man Harvey. Carl Shreeve (Dolomite) got the better of Jared Knight (Escort Mk2) for fourth as Bullen and Jeffs slipped into the clutches of the leading Pre-’66 cars.
Butterfield rounded Williamson to take the lead at Stowe on the fourth of 12 laps. The Rover wouldn’t last much longer after picking up a puncture. Grindrod too was a casualty when his engine gave up the ghost.
The mid-race sort-out left Harvey in second, having briefly dropped behind the on-song Shreeve, and Bullen third after the second Escort also got back ahead of the charging Triumph. But they were still several seconds behind Butterfield’s Big Cat.
That all changed in the closing laps. Rising temperatures and a high-end misfire were taking their toll on the Jag, and Butterfield lost further time when encountering traffic in yellow flag zones. Suddenly the two-litre cars were buzzing all over the big V12.
When Butterfield had a couple of big slides, Harvey pounced and was followed through by Bullen and Shreeve. There was no stopping Harvey from there as he charged to a second win in three races, with Bullen making it an Escort one-two, 1.6s in arrears.
Butterfield thundered back past Shreeve on the final lap to grab third. Perhaps trying a little too hard to retaliate and secure an elusive podium, Shreeve then spun into the gravel at Stowe – gut-wrenchingly undoing his hard work.
So Butterfield was a class-winning third overall, well clear of Knight in fourth, who finished less than 0.5s ahead of Jeffs.
Harvey was beaten away by Bullen, a flying Knight and Butterfield at the start of Sunday’s race, with the big Jaguar then powering past the Escorts to lead.
Kent driver Harvey fended off a further challenge from Jeffs’ Golf before mounting his comeback. He dived ahead of Bullen, who had already lost out to Knight, at Village on lap two of 12, then picked off Knight next time around.
Meantime, Butterfield’s XJS opened a lead of nearly five seconds over the first third of the race. But, feeling the big V12 begin to tighten, the Yorkshireman pulled off shortly before half-distance.
Harvey had eased well clear of the chasing pack by that stage so inherited a comfortable lead which he held to the chequered flag. It was his third win in four races and sets the Harvspeed man up nicely to hit the ground running in 2027.
“This is my whole life,” the true racer admitted. “I can’t think about winning a race enough – it just means everything.”
Behind Harvey, Bullen got back past Knight at Abbey and was followed through by Jeffs half a lap later. The R Bullen Recovery Escort and Akai Golf then engaged in hard-fought duel for the rest of the race, including a bump under braking for Village on the final lap.
Jeffs emerged ahead to secure second position, his best result since the start of 2024. Bullen was third and Knight fourth.
The race was further enlivened by the charge from the back of the previous day’s non-finishers. Williamson came through to win Class B in fifth overall and clinch runner-up position in the standings for the second year running.
The Rover was only half a second clear of Philpotts’ Lancer and Shreeve’s Dolomite wasn’t far behind, having headed the two Class B cars early in the race.
Butterfield’s non-finish handed Class A honours to the Series 1 Jaguar XJ6 of Mike Broadway.
Classic Thunder & Historic Thunder
The ever-spectacular Dave Farrow took another Classic Thunder win in Rick Kerry’s V8-powered BMW 1 Series, before James Janicki broke the Bavarian stranglehold by powering his two-wheel-drive Nissan Skyline to victory in the season finale.
A damp track in qualifying mixed up the order a little, especially for those – like Janicki – on slick tyres. Last year’s Silverstone double winner ended up mid-grid in the mixed field also comprising BOSS, Pre-’93 and Pre-’03 runners.
It was champion-elect Joe Collier who took pole position in his BMW M3 E46, more than a second clear of Farrow. A couple of Pre-‘93/Pre-’03 entries made the most of conditions to qualify on the second row.
Outgoing champion Ian Bower, in his less powerful E36 M3 made it to row three, alongside Kevin Denwood’s E46 Compact version.
Making his first Classic Thunder appearance of the season, Antony Unitt (E46 M3) came next, just ahead of Chris Mackenzie’s 4-litre version.
As Collier and Farrow led Saturday’s race away, a good start for Denwood catapulted him to third, while leading BOSS man Piers Grange passed Bower into Stowe on the opening lap for fourth.
Farrow dived past Collier to grab the lead into Club at the end of the first lap and continued to hold sway until half-distance when he ran wide at Chapel. Collier swept past and the pair then traded the lead for the rest of the race.
As the 1 Series’ driveshaft began detaching itself from the car’s differential, the smokescreen Farrow was trailing became thicker and the thicker. On the final lap it began to fill the cabin too but, with the finish line in sight, the Lincolnshire racer wasn’t going to give up.
Farrow held on to win by less than 0.2s after a terrific battle between the pair.
Grange passed Denwood for third on track before both began slipping down the order from mid-race. So Unitt and Russell Dack (E46 Compact) came through to third and fourth in their bullet-proof Beemers.
After an early-morning diff change, Janicki was pleased to work his way forward to fifth overall and second to Farrow in Class A. Behind Grange, Colin Voyce (Ford Escort Mk1 turbo) came through from a lowly grid slot to finish seventh in Thunder and first of the Historic runners.
On treaded tyres and still in his back-up machinery, Bower slipped outside the top 10 but still took the honours in Class C.
After an overnight diff change, Farrow took up his pole position for Sunday’s race. But, unsure the car felt right, he pitted on the green-flag lap for the EDF Motorsports crew to give it a check, and so would start the race from the pitlane.
Collier was thus unchallenged into the first corner, with Unitt and Dack slotting in behind. But Mackenzie’s spin into the gravel on the exit of Club at the end of the first lap brought the race to a halt after a short run behind the safety car, and meant they’d have to do it again.
This time, as he went to accelerate, Collier’s car didn’t engage fourth gear properly and he was swamped by the pack. The Derbyshire man then had to take evasive action around a spinning Giuseppe Callari (E46 M3) and dropped even further back.
Suddenly, from row three of the grid, Janicki found the road open up in front of him. The Skyline pilot needed no second invitation to roar through the gap and into the lead. Unitt briefly nosed in front as he hung on around the outside, but Janicki powered back ahead down the Hangar Straight.
As Janicki continued to lead from Unitt and Dack, Collier and Farrow were charging through the field. Farrow’s climb was interrupted as the 1 Series cut out and required a quick reset, but Collier had reached second by the time of a safety car intervention to retrieve Callari’s stranded car.
Unfortunately, with time ticking down, no further racing laps were possible and Janicki took the chequered flag from Collier, Unitt and Dack, with Farrow left as the last classified finisher in Thunder.
Voyce again took Historic honours ahead of rival Martin Reynolds (Ford Escort Mk2), wrapping up the Historic Thunder title (provisionally) in the process.
Blue Oval Saloon Series
The irrepressible Piers Grange continued to lead the way in the all-Ford series with another pair of comfortable wins aboard his Smith & Jones-powered, aero-laden Escort Mk2.
But too many points dropped in the first half of the season, and being unable to score full points with only one other car in his class, meant Grange was effectively out of championship contention.
Instead, the title showdown was between the Mk6 Fiestas of Class D men Todd Hawkins and Will Hunt, who had 10 points to make up but had saved his double-points joker to the final round.
Sadly, Hunt’s weekend got off to dismal start when his engine blew after only two laps of qualifying, forcing him out of Saturday’s race.
With class rival Martin Reynolds (Escort Mk2) otherwise engaged on Silverstone’s National circuit, Grange had a free run to top the BOSS times in qualifying, despite the difficult track conditions. Guest driver Lucas Dryden (Fiesta XR2) was next quickest, ahead of Hawkins and Hunt.
Come the race, Grange mixed it among the Classic Thunder runners en route to victory in BOSS by almost a minute. Reynolds came through from the back of the grid to finish second, despite a recurrent issue with his engine cutting out.
Another half-minute adrift, non-scoring Dryden was best of the smaller-engined cars as he finished third in BOSS.
Best battle of the race was fought out between Hawkins and the XR2 of Michael Rudge. Settled on the final corner of the final lap, Hawkins’ Mk6 pipped the older Fiesta by just 0.36s.
Having sourced a scrapyard engine, Hunt worked into the night to get back on track in Sunday’s race – only for disaster to strike on the opening lap. A broken throttle cable sidelined the Stanley Hunt Jewellers-backed car, a crushing disappointment for the Lincolnshire driver.
At the head of the BOSS field, Grange again mixed it among the Classic Thunder runners. The Cheshire racer took a comfortable BOSS victory in the truncated race. Reynolds drove around his mechanical limitations to again finish second.
Among the smaller cars, Dryden had to work hard to keep Rudge at bay in the relatively short green-flag running that was possible. Rudge picked up the points for winning Class D ahead of Hawkins, who was effectively on a championship victory lap.
Pre-’93 Touring Cars
Victory for Ian Bower in the opening Pre-’93 Touring Car contest sealed (provisionally) his fourth overall title in the category. Bower was a non-finisher the next day as Daniel Gandesha picked up his first Pre-’93 win.
Bower returned to action having missed the previous round at Snetterton, albeit still in his less potent spare BMW M3 E36 while repairs to his primary example are ongoing.
It was Gandesha’s similar car that set the pace in a damp qualifying session, managing to go 1.5s quicker than Bower’s best. Both set their times on their first flying lap as conditions appeared to worsen.
Third in Pre-’93 was Plymouth veteran Graham Myers (E36), who notched up the 200th race start of his lengthy career. Steve Walden switched his entry to his trusty E36 while the Willhire 25 Hours-winning Ford Sierra Sapphire that he intends to race in BOSS is still plagued by gremlins. He qualified fourth overall.
There was also a return for Mark Fynney in his 2-litre Vauxhall Astra GTE, an overall winner earlier in the year, after missing the past few rounds.
In drier afternoon weather, Bower quickly hit the front of the Pre-’93 section in the opening race. Despite having to manage a potential overheating issue, Bower was largely untroubled en route to his sixth Pre-’93 win of the season.
Gandesha stayed clear of Myers to claim second, as the latter completed the podium in his Jagermeister-liveried car. Myers had been under severe pressure from Walden in the second half of the race but the pair were split by Dave Cave’s Pre-’03 BMW as they crossed the line.
Category dominator Bower could not add to his tally on Sunday as a fuel-surge issue caused him to twice visit the pits before calling it a day.
So an early clash between Gandesha and Myers, deemed a racing incident, proved decisive. Gandesha scampered to his first Pre-’93 victory in the truncated contest. 2019 champion Myers had to settle for second in the race – as well as this year’s championship standings – with Walden third.
Fynney brought his Astra home safely to take Class D honours in both races.
Pre-’03 Touring Cars
After facing more than his fair share of mechanical issues over the second half of the season, Kam Tunio finished the year on a high. He took his Honda Civic Type R to a double victory in Pre-’03 Touring Cars.
Recording a quick early lap in tricky conditions put Tunio well clear of his rivals in qualifying. His marker was in fact good enough for fourth overall among a field packed with powerful Classic Thunder machinery.
With a second consecutive title already in his pocket (subject to official ratification), Dave Cave was effectively on an extended victory lap. He qualified his BMW 328i E36 mid-grid among the combined field.
A thin Pre-’03 entry also featured overseas visitor Guillaume Le Meur. Making his second appearance of the season, the Frenchman didn’t enjoy much better fortune than he had at Donington. He managed only a handful of laps in his 328i before being sidelined for the weekend.
Inevitably, Tunio’s little Civic slipped back behind the Thunder machinery in Saturday’s race. But he was still nearly half a minute clear of Cave – who enjoyed a tussle with some of the Pre-’93 runners – at the chequered flag.
Sunday’s race featured an early red flag and was then truncated by a lengthy safety car. In between times, Tunio did enough for his ninth Pre-’03 victory of a successful season. Having dominated Class C, it placed him second to Cave in the overall standings.
There was always at least one Pre-’93 car separating Cave from Tunio, but the Salisbury racer brought his car home safely for another class win to cap a successful defence of his title.
Full results are available via the TSL website.
All images courtesy of CTCRC official photographer Steve Jackman/Eat My Pixels
