Gallery and Report: The Historic Grand Prix Zandvoort 2023

By Marcel Hundscheid / Speed-O-Graphica

The annual Historic Grand Prix recently took place at the Zandvoort circuit in the Netherlands. For three days, around 25,000 enthusiasts could enjoy a celebration of motorsport. Summer weather conditions, with the North Sea beach literally around the corner and the presence of a range of historic vehicles made the party complete.

Masters Historic Racing was present with five series including the Racing Legends, Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Cars, GT Trophy and Sports Car Legends. In addition, the program also included the historic F2 and F3, F3-500 and Dutch Vintage Sports Car Club, Hankook NK HARC 82-90, HGPCA Race for Pre 1966 Grand Prix Cars and RECO NK GT&TC 66-81 + Triumph Competition.

The absolute highlight was the presence of 29 iconic Formula 1 cars. Never before have this number of Formula 1 cars been seen in action on the track during a major international historic motorsport event. No less than three races were scheduled for the three litre F1 cars. It was an unprecedented treat for the public, but also for the drivers, the field of almost thirty cars was unique.

Unfortunately, the races did not go without a hitch and, especially on Saturday, even the red flag was used in addition to the safety car. Immediately after the start in the sprint towards Tarzan corner things went wrong between the LEC of Peter Williams and the Tyrrell P34 of Jonathan Holtzman. Unnecessary damage to both cars resulted after hard contact with the crash barrier.

After an 11-minute safety car phase, the race was restarted, but then it went wrong again, after which a Fittipaldi F8 ended up in the gravel trap. The race director then decided to wave the red flag and then turn the clock back ten minutes. In the end it was Ken Tyrrell who won the eventful race in his Tyrrell 011.

The day before, Michael Lyons won the first race in a Lotus 92. Ken Tyrrell rounded off his successful weekend with a second victory at Sunday’s third race.

In addition to the Formula 1 cars from the period 1966-1985, the public could also enjoy races between historic Formula 2 and Formula 3 cars. Formula 3 was represented by the cars with 500cc engines and a separate series for the screaming 1-litre engines. The HGPCA, open to pre-66 Grand Prix cars, was represented by a fine field of thirty single-seaters from days gone by.

The number of participants in Masters Endurance Legends compared to the Racing Legends was rather poor. However, the fight between former multiple Le Mans winner Marco Werner and Christophe d’Ansembourg made up for it, until the Belgian retired with technical problems.

On Sunday d’Ansembourg managed to solve the problems and battled it out with Werner once again. It was very impressive to see how Werner did everything to follow the Lola Aston-Martin DBR1-2, which was actually a LMP1 car. Werner drove the less powerful Lola B12/80 LMP2 car, although the difference was just 2.477 seconds after 25 laps around the Zandvoort race track.

Dutch father-and-son duo David and Olivier Hart won the Masters Sports Car Legends race from the pole in their Ferrari 512M, despite a strong challenge from Henry Fletcher in his Chevron B26 during the first part of the 40-minute race.

The second race was turned into a thriller between Henry Fletcher and Steve Brooks (Lola 70) until the very last lap of the race. It was David Hart who led the first part of the race before the mandatory pit stop. The Dutchman faltered with a puncture as the wheel remained stuck and he had to retire.

In the combined grid of Masters Gentlemen Drivers and Pre-66 Touring Cars it was Dutch driver Olivier Hart who won narrowly the Gentlemen Drivers. Hart was overtaken by Julian Thomas shortly before a red flag situation due to a loose wheel from Laurent Jaspers’ Jaguar E-Type. Thomas subsequently lost it entering Tarzan corner, handing back the lead and victory to Hart. The 60-minute Masters Pre-66 Touring Cars was reigned by Thomas and Andy Wolfe in their Ford Falcon.