Dominant Lyons Sets The Standard At Zandvoort Masters with two wins

Multiple FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship race winner Michael Lyons earned yet more silverware for his already jam-packed trophy cabinet at Zandvoort in The Netherlands over the weekend, 31st August/1st September, with two emphatic race victories.In front of 46,000 spectators at the Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort, the 22-year-old qualified on pole position by 0.7 seconds and followed-up with a pair of sensational wins at the wheel of the Lyons Racing Team’s 1977 Hesketh 308E – the car more regularly driven by Michael’s father, Frank.Switching from the RAM Williams FW07, which he steered to double wins at Silverstone in late July and the Nurburgring in Germany three weeks ago, the Felsted racer was immediately at home in the older 3.0-litre Hesketh and set the standard from start to finish.In race one on Saturday, Michael led away with ease from the front of the grid and despite an early Safety Car period he still went on to claim the victory by a mammoth 28 seconds. He also posted the fastest lap of 1m36.354 seconds.Beginning Sunday’s encounter from pole position once again, he completed the 16-lapper 23 seconds clear at the head of the field and produced a slightly quicker best lap than in the first race, a time of 1m36.285 seconds.“It was a really fun weekend, fantastic crowds on the dunes around the track, everything ran smoothly and it was great to outpace the others in an older car like the Hesketh”, said the Essex youngster, “To take two more wins, poles and fastest laps is exactly what we set out to do.“Qualifying was good but race one was quite difficult, the conditions were pretty windy so it made the track quite dirty with sand blowing across. There were a few caught-out by that, which led to a Safety Car, but we had a good re-start and won comfortably. Race two was great, we had good pace and capped the weekend off nicely with another win.”With Michael piloting the Hesketh, dad Frank contested the two Zandvoort races behind the wheel of a 1976 McLaren M26 and achieved a best finish of fifth in class in the second encounter, having been seventh in class in race one. Michael’s mum Judy, driving her trusty Surtees TS9, took a best result of the weekend of second in class in Saturday’s outing.Hot on the heels of this weekend’s FIA Masters Historic Formula One Championship action, Michael will switch back to contemporary racing next weekend, 7th/8th September, in his Ferrari 458 Italia for rounds 11 and 12 of the International GT Open at Spa-Francorchamps. The famous Belgian track will also play host to the penultimate event of the Historic F1 season on 21st/22nd September.


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