JD Classics finished its hugely successful season of classic motorsport with its eleventh win and a second-place finish at the weekend’s Algarve Classic Festival. The team’s Costin Lister took victory in the Motor Racing Legends ‘50s Sports Car Race – as well as claiming the overall Motor Racing Legends title for the season – while its Bastos Rover SD1 finished second in the combined Historic Touring Car Challenge and Tony Dron Trophy.
The JD Classics Costin Lister was competing alongside a customer-supported Ecurie Ecosse XK120 in the Motor Racing Legends ‘50s Sports Car Race, with qualifying getting underway on Friday. John Young was in the Costin first, running in third place by Lap 3 before handing the drive over to JD Classics’ in-house racing driver Chris Ward. During the session’s final few minutes Ward made a late surge to take pole position with a blistering 2:09.1 time, while a puncture forced the XK120 to retire in 27th position.
During Saturday evening’s two-hour race, Ward took the wheel first and extended his lead to more than seven seconds by Lap 7. The team pitted on Lap 12, with the Costin Lister 16 seconds ahead, before returning to the race in 5th position. John Young tussled in the field until the leading car pitted on Lap 30, and the JD Classics’ car followed suit.
A safety car on Lap 34 bunched up the field, giving Chris Ward in the Costin Lister a chance to surge for the lead. Running almost two seconds a lap quicker than the leaders, Ward was able to take first-place with just ten minutes remaining, and take overall victory in the season’s Motor Racing Legends series. Another puncture for the JD Classics Ecurie Ecosse XK120 stopped the car’s impressive progress, as it made up ten positions in the first half of the race. Nevertheless, the JD Classics technicians were able to get it back on track to take the chequered flag.
The Bastos Rover began its campaign with qualifying on Friday afternoon, with ex-touring car driver Steve Soper producing a string of impressive flying laps that launched it into second on the grid. With just 25 minutes left of the session, the drive was handed to Chris Ward, who improved the lap times even further, but couldn’t quite catch the pole-sitting BMW CSL 3.0 of Eric Mestdagh and Pierre-Alain Thibaut.
On Saturday morning the race got underway with a flying start, during which Chris Ward stormed into the lead and finished the first lap four seconds ahead. By Lap 12, Ward was nearly nine seconds ahead, before dropping back to fifth during the pitstop and driver changeover to Steve Soper some laps later.
Soper’s stint, and the rest of the race, was plagued by some brake deterioration that saw the car struggle to catch the leading BMW, but it managed to make its way up to second place. One final driver change saw Ward now 25 seconds behind the BMW, before a last-minute drive through penalty ended the Rover’s chances of victory, crossing the line second, behind the victorious BMW CSL 3.0.
JD Classics founder, Derek Hood, said: “I’m immensely proud of everything the JD Classics team has achieved this season; this victory is our eleventh and we’ve got countless other pole positions and podium finishes to our name. A lot of hard work, preparation and dedication goes into each and every one of these races and we wouldn’t have anywhere near this level of success if it weren’t for the incredibly talented team of individuals that work for JD Classics.”
