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Victory for Cottingham and Girardo in Algarve

Motor Racing Legends wrapped up their 2018 season at last weekend’s Algarve Classic Festival which saw James Cottingham and Max Girado put on a faultless performance in their Tojeiro Jaguar to convert pole position to a win in the dusk-to-dark two hour 50s Sports Car race.

The 50s Sports Car qualifying session, saw the Cottingham/Girado Tojeiro Jaguar secure pole position two seconds clear of the pack, ahead of the Cooper Monaco of Justin Maeers and Charlie Martin, with Patrick Blakeney-Edwards and Fred Wakeman in third in the Cooper T38, the first of the Woodcoters.  

In Saturday’s race, Chris Ward – who shared the drive with John Young – took the lead on the first lap in the Lister Knobbly from 5th position on the grid and over the following laps, continued to ease ahead. Early retirements came from the Frazer Nash of Martyn Corfield with a poorly sounding engine and the Jaguar D-type of Steve Brooks and Martin O’Connell was retired on lap 12 with gearbox failure.

 

As the light faded, the order changed. A surprise pit stop by the leading Lister Knobbly of Young/Ward, dropped them down the order. Young was sent back out, only to pit again a short while later – collecting a pit lane speeding penalty in the process. This saw the Lister drop to third behind the Cottingham/Girado Tojeiro and the now race leaders – the Cooper Monaco of Martin/Maeers.

With just twenty minutes of the race to run, the Martin/Maeers Cooper Monaco had eked out a healthy lead, but a late driver change and fuel stop left them exiting the pit lane just seconds behind the Tojeiro Jaguar of Cottingham/Girado which went on to take the win. The Cooper Monaco finished second and in the final laps, a hard charging Chris Ward caught up to finish on the podium in third place in the Lister Knobbly.  

It was a double podium result for Patrick Blakeney-Edwards who co-drove Fred Wakeman’s Cooper finishing fourth overall and on top of the Woodcote podium, as well as 6th overall and second step of the Woodcote podium sharing Martin Hunt’s HWM. The Maserati 250S of Martin Stretton and Richard Wilson overcame a lack of headlights to finish third overall.

 

Thus the curtain falls on the 2018 Motor Racing Legends’ year. We hope you have enjoyed all the events and look forward to crowning the season’s winners in January in the usual style at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall. The date of the Awards Dinner is Wednesday 23rd January 2019 – details will follow soon.