Motor Racing Legends (MRL) is set to give historic motorsport fans another great treat in 2015. All of its grids will be seen at world-class international meetings, with calendar highlights including a full season for the Historic Touring Car Challenge and some very special races for the Pre-War Sports Cars. The Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and the Stirling Moss Trophy return in force, as does the Le Mans Legend support race at the Le Mans 24 Hours – this year for cars from 1949 to 1968.
MRL grids will be appearing at
– Donington Historic Festival (May 2,3,4)
– Brands Hatch GP Circuit ( May 23,24)
– Le Mans 24 Hours (June 10-13)
– Silverstone Classic (July 24,25,26)
– Spa Six Hours Meeting (September 18,19,20)
– Algarve Classic Festival (October 23,24,25)
The youngest cars in the MRL ‘stable’ of race series, those in the Historic Touring Car Challenge (HTCC), have a very busy season. They’ll be out at the Algarve Classic Festival, Donington Historic Festival and Silverstone Classic and, new for 2015, there will be a 40-minute Touring Car race at the Spa Six Hours. HTCC features Touring Cars from 1966 and Groups 1 and 2, and Group A Touring Cars, such as raced in the British and European Touring Car Championships between 1972 and 1985.
At the opposite end of the age spectrum, the Pre-War Sports Cars return with a vengeance, and will be seen at three major international historic race meetings in 2015. The season starts at the Donington Historic Festival. It is 80 years since the first-ever Grand Prix at Donington Park, giving a special significance to the pre-War grid there. For the first time since 2009, the MRL pre-War Sports Cars will return to the Silverstone Classic, where they will form the oldest grid. And finally they will head to Portugal in October for the Algarve Classic Festival.
The hotly-contested and highly glamorous Stirling Moss Trophy (fresh from its success in taking the Race Series of the Year title in the International Historic Motoring Awards) and Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy will both be entertaining spectators at five historic motorsport events in 2015. Each grid will be out in force for their own individual races at the Donington Historic Festival, the Brands Hatch GP Circuit, the Silverstone Classic and the Spa Six Hours. And in the Algarve in October, cars from both grids will combine to end the season in spectacular style when they stage a stunning two-hour race into the dark for the Motor Racing Legends ‘50s Sports Cars – one of the highlights of this meeting.
On June 13, Motor Racing Legends will once more stage the Le Mans Legend. A sensational grid of 61 historic Le Mans cars will race on the full Le Mans circuit just a few hours before the start of the modern 24 Hours endurance event. The age range for cars taking part has been extended for 2015, allowing an even wider selection of iconic race cars to compete in the historic motorsport spectacle that is one of the highlights of the world-famous event. In a change to recent years, cars will be accepted from 1949 right up to, and including, 1968. This will bring such iconic cars as the Ford GT40, Porsche 908 and 910 and the Alfa Romeo T33/2 into the mix – in addition to the plethora of sports and GT cars from the 1950s and 1960s that so famously ran at Le Mans in period.
Motor Racing Legends’ Chairman Duncan Wiltshire said, “We are very much looking forward to what promises to be a superb season of historic motorsport in 2015. The quality of cars, drivers and events is second to none, and we anticipate delivering a tremendous amount of entertainment to our competitors and to historic motorsport fans.
“I am delighted to confirm that both EFG Bank and JD Classics are to continue their much-valued support for the Woodcote Trophy and for the Stirling Moss Trophy and Historic Touring Car Challenge respectively. In addition, Millers Oils, Lister Cars and the Traditional Oak and Timber Company will all be continuing their association for 2015.”
2015 Motor Racing Legends Calendar
2-4 May Donington Historic Festival, Donington Park, UK
Pre-War Sports Cars, Historic Touring Car Challenge, Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy, Stirling Moss Trophy
23-24 May Brands Hatch Masters Festival, Brands Hatch, UK
Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy, Stirling Moss Trophy
13 June Le Mans 24h, Le Mans, France
Le Mans Legend
24-26 July Silverstone Classic, Silverstone, UK
Pre-War Sports Cars, Historic Touring Car Challenge, Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy, Stirling Moss Trophy
18-20 September Spa Six Hours, Spa Francorchamps, Belgium
Historic Touring Car Challenge, Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy, Stirling Moss Trophy
23-25 October Algarve Classic Festival, Portimao, Portugal
Pre-War Sports Cars, Historic Touring Car Challenge, Motor Racing Legends ’50s Sports Cars
