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From Legends Cars Championship Media –
• Tyler Read takes advantage in Legends Cars Championship and Elite Cup
• New points leader one of six drivers to taste victory at Brands Hatch Indy
• Chris Needham, Jack Parker, Oli Schlup, Peter Barrable, Connor Mills win
• Championship resumes at Kent venue’s full GP Circuit in three weeks
American Speedfest produced some of the very best Legends Cars Championship and Elite Cup action of the season at Brands Hatch Indy Circuit over the weekend, 7th/8th June, with six winners from the six races contested and a return to the top of the points table for Tyler Read (Weedon).
Rounds five and six of the campaign, which also acted as rounds three and four of the 2025 Elite Cup, delivered tremendous competition throughout and thrilled the thousands of spectators who lined the circuit and packed the grandstands at the hugely popular annual USA themed festival.
Chris Needham (Altrincham) claimed his second win of the year in Heat One on Saturday, although not in the manner he would’ve liked when the result was declared after a single lap due to oil on the track and timetable congestion. Jack Parker (Wolverhampton) raced to a long-awaited first 2025 win in Heat Two, before erstwhile points leader Oli Schlup (Cuckfield) starred to win a rain-lashed Final.
Round six on Sunday began with a maiden outright win for Peter Barrable (Dublin) in Heat One, before Read took his victory tally for the season to four in Heat Two. Connor Mills (Upminster) rounded out the event with a great victory in the round six Final, doubling his wins for the year.
In addition to his richly deserved and very popular first outright Legends Cars Championship race win on Sunday morning, Barrable claimed four Masters class victories across the weekend with Nick Bridgeman (Baldock) and Stephen Treherne (Islington) sharing the other two. Rookie class dominator Owen Lawlor (Dublin) was victorious across both rounds on another strong weekend.
Needham, Parker, Schlup take the spoils on day one
Read had drawn the round five Heat One pole, with the returning Luke Simmons (Lingfield) alongside, and it was Read who led away with Needham slicing past Simmons on the run to Druids. Needham then grabbed the lead but, further behind, a multi-car tangle at Paddock Hill Bend and oil on the track resulted in the Safety Car being deployed, and then red flags on lap three.
With the timetable tight the race did not re-start, so a result was declared from lap one with Needham winning ahead of Read, Simmons, Andy Bird (Calne), Marcus Pett (Boston) and top Masters finisher Barrable. While Heat One ended with something of a whimper, Heat Two a couple of hours later delivered plenty of bang for its buck with a classic Legends Cars battle.
Chris Dewey (Wisbech) was the early leader after a great launch from the second row, before Matt Knight (Shoreham by Sea) hit back and led into lap two when racing fell under caution due to a spinner on the first tour. Racing didn’t resume until lap six, with the distance increased from 10 to 12 laps, and Knight stayed out front until lap seven when Mills made his way by.
Parker took over the lead on lap eight and Gibson was up to second, the pair working together as Mills and Schlup closed in. There was nothing to split those four over the final three laps, with Schlup rising to second on lap 10 before Gibson moved back through at the start of the penultimate tour.
At the flag on lap 12, Parker took his long awaited first win of 2025 by a mere 0.032 seconds from Gibson, with Schlup two tenths back in third and just 0.013 seconds ahead of Mills. Pett, meanwhile, produced a fantastic drive to a dead-heat fifth with Knight, having started down in 23rd on the grid.
Rain well and truly arrived ahead of the Final, and the weather worsened throughout the last track action of the day. Mike Schlup (Cuckfield) made the early running and opened a strong lead on the opening tour, but son Oli was flying and had amazingly climbed from 21st to fourth on lap one alone.
Schlup Jnr passed his Dad on lap two and Mills, who had started down in 20th, was soon up to second place and beginning to make his presence felt. Those two pulled well clear of the rest and Mills soon started to intensify his challenge – getting the lead on lap eight. Schlup smartly moved back through the next time around at Paddock, but the always tenacious Mills wouldn’t give in.
Due to the circuit’s curfew, lap 11 became the final tour and Schlup just saw off Mills – who had fastest lap – by a tenth at the flag, brilliant driving from both in very tough conditions. They were over seven seconds clear of Needham in third, up from 22nd on the grid, with Read fourth, Simmons fifth and Gibson sixth. Parker who had a spin early on, fought back to ninth position.
Maiden victory for Barrable as Read and Mills win again
Bright, if breezy, weather welcomed everyone to the track on Sunday and in Heat One of round six Oli Schlup made the most of pole position from the grid draw to lead away. The action swiftly fell under Safety Car conditions though, due to a stricken car on track after a tangle at Paddock. At the lap seven re-start the top six was Schlup Jnr from his father Mike, Barrable, Mills, Gibson, Treherne.
Barrable was on a charge immediately, moving up to second straight away and then getting a great run through Clearways at the end of lap eight to slingshot into the lead. Able to keep the four behind at bay, Barrable took a fabulous breakthrough overall win by less than a tenth from Schlup, with Mills third and Read only 0.009 seconds shy in fourth. Gibson was another half second back in fifth.
Simmons had pole for Heat Two of the day and had a top battle early on with Jamie Moylan (Naas), the latter winning out by lap four as Read, Pett, Parker and Gibson moved through into contention. Read climbed to the lead ahead of lap six and when Gibson moved into second shortly after, they worked together to try and gap the rest of the front-running pack.
Having pulled 1.5 seconds clear by the start of lap nine, the fight for the win was between those two but try as he might Gibson – up from 19th – wasn’t quite able to usurp Read on the sprint to the flag on lap 10. The difference was a scant 0.083 seconds in Read’s favour. Parker overturned Moylan for third, who was delayed by traffic on the final tour, with Needham fifth and Mills sixth from 21st.
With less than an hour to prepare the cars for the round six Final, teams and drivers had a rapid turnaround and the race was a proper barnstormer and the very best of Legends action. Bird set his stall out early and led well for almost half the race, with Knight driving extremely well behind as the championship front-runners began to work their way towards the upper order.
Into lap seven less than a second covered the lead seven, with Bird from Knight, Barrable, Needham, Mills, Read and Gibson. The order chopped and changed with fractions in it, Needham moving to the front and then Mills, and they traded places with some terrific driving. As the conclusion neared, Needham was back on top and there was absolutely nothing to separate the podium contenders.
With two laps to go it was Needham from Read and Mills, but the latter then sling-shotted his way into the lead and Needham found himself back in fourth in the blink of an eye. Mills held on to win by just 0.061 seconds from Read, with Gibson third – only a tenth covering the top three. Needham claimed fourth, Knight was an excellent fifth and Barrable capped a strong weekend in sixth.
Chris Needham – Rd5 Heat One Winner:
“I’m happy for the points winning that one, but it’s obviously not the way I’d like to win. We’re still trying to catch up to the rest with the new [water-cooled] engine. We don’t go testing, we just turn up at the races so we do our testing while we’re racing! I’m very happy in the wet, I really enjoyed the Saturday Final and we have a good wet set up, but we’re getting there in the dry as well.”
Jack Parker – Rd5 Heat Two Winner:
“It’s been a mixed weekend with the results, we’ve had some great highs like the win but some lows as well – getting tangled up in a couple of incidents. We do seem to get some bad luck this year, but at the end of the day we’re all good racers and we’re all enjoying it which is the main thing. With the new engine we’re still figuring it out, you’ve just got to keep finishing, getting the points.”
Oli Schlup – Rd5 Final Winner:
“Saturday was good overall, in race two we got third from 17th and the Final in the wet was amazing, really good fun. We’re only halfway through the season but it shows how quickly it can change with the points. The team has done such a good job with the car but I do feel I’ve flicked a switch this year, I’ve got the racecraft now and can get to the front and make a win happen.”
Peter Barrable – Rd6 Heat One Winner:
“It’s great to get my first win today in the national Legends, we’ve had the speed a few times so it’s really good to get the win. I really like the new style of driving with the new engine, it’s more like Formula Ford back in the day, so it’s definitely the way forward for Legends. I feel I’m closer to the ultimate pace this year, Oulton didn’t show it with the results but this weekend we have.”
Tyler Read – Rd6 Heat Two Winner:
“I’ve had a great weekend and scored some good points. Taking the win in Heat Two [on Sunday] was amazing and set the bar for the Final, where I made my way from the back to the lead. After a great battle, I had to settle for a very close second place! I can’t wait for the next meeting to race on the GP Circuit, I’m looking forward to the challenge and hoping for some more great results.”
Connor Mills – Rd6 Final Winner:
“We’ve been consistent here this weekend, we’ve done everything right in terms of what we could do and it’s good to end with a win in the Final – it was a strong race. Unfortunately, the DNF we had at Oulton set us back but we’re keeping chipping away, that’s all you can do, and we’re definitely in the hunt. The wet race on Saturday was good, I absolutely loved it and could race like that all year!”
Legends will be back at Brands for round seven of the Championship season on Saturday, 28th June, as part of the Super Touring Power 3 event on the full GP Circuit. This year’s Elite Cup will conclude on 2nd/3rd August at Croft in North Yorkshire, alongside the British Touring Car Championship.
Provisional 2025 Legends Cars Championship Points (after Rd6)
1st Tyler Read, 2845pts; 2nd Oli Schlup, 2690pts; 3rd Connor Mills, 2660pts;
4th Will Gibson, 2605pts; 5th Jack Parker, 2295pts; 6th Chris Needham, 2140pts
Provisional 2025 Legends Cars Elite Cup Points (after Rd4)
1st Tyler Read, 1885pts; 2nd Oli Schlup, 1850pts; 3rd Will Gibson, 1840pts;
4th Connor Mills, 1775pts 5th Chris Needham, 1495pts; 6th Marcus Pett, 1470pts
Photo credits: Yuugen Visuals, Den Devlin and George McNeill