From Legends Cars Championship Media –
• Connor Mills, 2023 Legends Cars Elite Cup Champ, back for new season
• Fellow race winners Andy Bird, Chris Needham, Oli Schlup all return
• Legends mainstay Mike Schlup also confirmed for upcoming campaign
Quality and quantity are two watchwords intrinsically linked with the Legends Cars Championship and Elite Cup and 2025 will be no different, with four of the quickest and most competitive drivers in the category officially confirmed as returnees for the eagerly awaited new season.
Helping to increase the total entry list to 24 competitors, with more registrations expected before the Legends Cars Championship curtain-raiser at Donington Park on 29th/30th March, the latest batch of drivers is headed by inaugural Legends Cars Elite Cup Champion Connor Mills (Upminster).
Winning three races in his title-winning campaign in 2023, Mills also claimed another victory in the overall Championship during a stellar campaign. Last season wasn’t as fruitful, although Mills did claim a win at Donington Park mid-year.
Also confirmed for his fifth season in Legends Cars is front-runner Andy Bird (Calne). After winning the first race of 2024, Bird consolidated with an excellent opening weekend at Donington to fly into the early points lead. Ultimately ending the season fifth in the Championship, he was fourth in the Elite Cup to confirm his credentials as a genuine title challenger in both competitions.
Having been third in the overall Championship the year prior, the multiple Legends Cars race winner is also a former Rookie Champion – his maiden campaign in 2021 also delivering a superb seventh in the outright standings.
One of the absolute fastest drivers in Legends is Chris Needham (Altrincham) and he is back to provide more spectacular racing. His standout performance from last year was a perfect hat-trick of wins in round 11 at Snetterton 300 Circuit, one of the few drivers to achieve the feat, and all the more impressive as he had missed the previous event.
Snetterton was also the venue for a sensational debut for Needham in Legends back in 2020, claiming a maiden win in the ‘Team Car’ he was sharing with Gareth Sheridan. Winning the Team Car crown the following season, claiming a race win too, the title was retained in 2022 and Needham was then fifth in the overall Championship a year later with two race victories.
Father and son duo Mike Schlup (Cuckfield) and Oli Schlup (Cuckfield) make welcome returns, the latter one of the true young stars of Legends Cars over the past couple of seasons. Taking three race wins last year, two of them in the Elite Cup, Schlup Jnr was fifth in the latter’s standings and inside the top six in the main Championship.
Certain to be a front-running challenger from the outset, Oli goes into his fourth full season in Legends Cars as one to undoubtedly watch. Schlup Snr, meanwhile, enters his 11th year of association with Legends racing and the former Team Car Champion will hope to better his best overall Championship finish of 12th position – achieved in 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Phil Cooper – Legends Cars Championship Owner:
“We really are looking very well set for another outstanding season of Legends Cars racing. The entry so far of almost 25 drivers is incredibly strong with so many Champions – and former Champions – as well as a whole host of race winners. Each year the bar gets higher in terms of the standard and quality of the drivers and 2025 is going to be no exception.
“Coupled with our superb calendar with MSVR, beginning with GT Cup at Donington Park in little more than three weeks and taking in support slots with British GT and BTCC, we firmly believe this season could be the best yet…and that’s saying something!”
Photo credits: Lewis Steadman, Flat Out Motorsport Photography, and George McNeill