1 / 26

Gallery: Kinrara Trophy races into sunset

08th September 2018

Andrew Evans

Featuring a fleet of the most desirable classic GT cars, there was an understandable buzz around Friday’s Kinrara Trophy race.

The first incident happened almost right off the line. Gary Pearson made a slow start from the front row in the Ferrari 250 GTO, and Richard Meins in the E-Type clipped his rear corner. The bodywork damage put the Ferrari out of the race almost on the spot, while the E-Type tumbled down the order.

Niklas Halusa, driving the Ferrari 250 GT “Breadvan” and Jon Minshaw in the E-Type had better luck from the front and soon scampered away from the rest of the field. For much of the first half hour of the race, they traded places in a captivating battle. Madgwick proved a favourite overtaking spot for both cars.

However, as the cars approached the driver change window, Minshaw dropped the offside into the dirt leaving the Chicane, allowing Halusa to blow past and establish a gap. Minshaw soon pitted to give driving duties to Phil Keen, while Halusa remained out for two further laps before handing over to Emanuele Pirro. The Ferrari’s slightly longer stop gave nearly a two second advantage to the Jaguar.

The race’s biggest incident occurred soon after, approaching St Mary’s. The Tom Alexander-entered Aston Martin DB4 lost control to the outside of the circuit, spinning back across the infield right in front of Rob Huff in the Meins E-Type. Both Huff and the second DB4 took evasive action across the grass, having missed the spinning Aston by a matter of millimetres.

Pirro by this point had slashed the gap to Keen, and passed again at Madgwick. However, he was baulked by a pair of duelling backmarkers – the Devis Ferrari and the Rosina Maserati – allowing Keen back past as he slotted between the two. Once again, Pirro regained the lead, this time around the outside of Madgwick. This time Pirro made it stick, and he took the chequered flag with a healthy advantage over Keen.

The action hadn’t quite finished there though. As the sun set, Huff was battling back up through the pack, taking third from the Chris Milner E-Type in the closing laps – despite a dislodged bonnet!

Photography by Tom Shaxson and Peter Summers