Racecar client JD Classics secures another win at six hours of Spa race weekend

The team also competed in the Six Hours of Spa title race, with their Ford GT40’s potential win scuppered by an oil pump housing issue.

JD Classics was also supporting a customer Ecurie Ecosse Jaguar XK120, taking part in the Stirling Moss/ Woodcote Trophy race.

Following two wins and two pole positions at the previous weekend’s Goodwood Revival, JD Classics’ Competition Department picked up yet another win at the Six Hours of Spa meeting over the weekend.

It was in the combined Stirling Moss/ Woodcote Trophy event that JD Classics came out on top, with the team’s famous ex-Fangio C-Type storming to another dominant victory. The Maldon-based team was also competing in the Six Hours of Spa title race with a GT40, and supporting a customer XK120.

Qualifying for the Stirling Moss/Woodcote Trophy race took place on Friday morning, but the 40-minute session saw two red flags for accidents and oil spills, leaving time for only three or four competitive laps. It was enough for in-house racing driver Chris Ward, though, who put in a storming lap to qualify first in the Woodcote Trophy and ninth overall in the field.

JD Classics’ technicians spent Saturday morning preparing both the C-Type and customer XK120 for the start of the race that afternoon. As the lights went green, the JD Classic C-Type immediately began pulling away from the Woodcote Trophy pack and even reeling in some of the much more powerful Stirling Moss Trophy cars.

Chris Ward’s consistently quick lap times in the C-Type extended his lead lap after lap until he pulled in for the mandatory 60-second pit stop. Once out on to the track again it wasn’t long until Ward was back in the lead, pulling out a lead of 25 seconds over the next fastest Woodcote Trophy car when the chequered flag fell. Finishing sixth overall, the JD Classics C-Type had even finished ahead of many of the Stirling Moss Trophy pack.

In the Six Hours of Spa title race, contested by more than 100 of the world’s best historic racing cars, JD Classics first took to the track in Friday evening’s qualifying session. The team’s 1965 Ford GT40 was fettled over the 90-minute session, as it chased ever-faster lap times, eventually qualifying ninth in the competitive line-up.

As Saturday evening’s race began, the JD Classics car quickly made its way up the field, with Chris Ward roaring into sixth place by the end of Lap 2. By Lap 12, the team’s car was in third behind two other GT40s when the safety car was called out. With two separate safety cars on track, Ward was forced behind the front runners, losing 40 seconds behind the second-place car.

But by the time the race had entered its second hour, Chris Ward had caught and overtaken the second place GT40, leaving him to cut down the 17-second gap to the leading car. By Lap 28, the JD Classics GT40 was running in first where it remained until Lap 38 when Ward came to the pits to hand over to Andrew Smith.

Rejoining the race in 10th, the JD Classics car again began to make its way up through the pack, eventually making it to fourth position in a matter of laps. An oil pump housing issue then forced the GT40 into the pits, with two long stops needed to rectify the issue, and leaving Smith in 76th position. With one more driver change, the JD Classics car battled its way through the field, eventually crossing the line in 66th.

JD Classics Managing Director, Derek Hood, said: “Spa Francorchamps is still one of the best racing circuits in the world, but also one of the most demanding. To take yet another win for our ex-Fangio C-Type, and to take it at Spa, is an incredible achievement. In the six-hour race our technicians did a fantastic job fixing an issue with the GT40, and having led the race for a long period – and setting a fastest lap – we know it’s got the speed to take the victory next year. We’ll definitely be back.”

Click here for JD Classics web site - designed and built by Racecar

Click here for the Historic Racing News web site - designed and built by Racecar


Related Market and Auction Articles

4,930 articles