Race report: St. Mary’s Trophy Part 1 – Revival 2021

The brilliant all-rounder was never headed after blasting into an early lead from the front row. The Frenchman was on stellar form aboard Bill Shepherd’s improbable Ford Thunderbird, but pole-sitter Andrew Jordan also starred in his Austin A40, as did Le Mans hero André Lotterer during the early running in an Austin A105 Westminster. Unfortunately, the German was forced to retire the car ten minutes in which promoted Jordan to second.

Emanuele Pirro also put on a bravura performance aboard Geoff Gordon’s Alfa Romeo Giulietta Ti, battling Jordan during the early running, while man on the move in the first half of the race was former World Touring Car Championship star Andy Priaux in the BMW 700. The Guernseyman made up a remarkable 20 places from his lowly grid position. Sportscar ace Benoît Tréluyer also shone in Adrian Willmott’s Austin A40 early on, only to tag Matt Neal’s Jaguar Mk1 heading towards Lavant 17 minutes into the 25-minute encounter. Unfortunately, their clash also resulted in Stuart Graham’s Jaguar becoming an unwitting casualty.

Despite the Thunderbird’s tyres being worn to the canvas in the closing stages, Dumas clung on for a convincing win. Jordan survived a lurid moment exiting St. Mary’s on the final lap after a thrilling display of car control for second place, while fellow Austin A40 man Marcel Fässler made up for his slow start and jumped Pirro on the dash to the line to claim the final podium position.

Image by James Lynch.