GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Anglesey Circuit, 27th June, 2026

Congratulations to our GT & Sports Car Cup Race Winners
Read Gomm & Nigel Greensall
Jaguar E-Type

GTSCC - Anglesey Circuit
27 June, 2026

Anglesey Glory for Gomm and Greensall

The sign on the paddock gate at Anglesey Circuit/Trac Mõn said STRICTLY NO ANIMALS, yet on Saturday afternoon pairs of Jaguars and Cobras topped the results of the second GT & Sports Car Cup race of the season. After a mesmeric early battle and a wonderful chase to the chequered flag, a maiden victory for the E-type low drag coupe of Canadian Read Gomm and new co-driver/mentor Nigel Greensall over the semi-lightweight version of John Clark/Ben Mitchell will long be remembered. The thunderous Shelby Cobra ‘Hairy Canary’ of Nick Sleep/Alex Montgomery, which had led strongly in the race’s formative stages, snatched third from the Daytona Coupe of David Smithies/Chris Clarkson, also on the lead lap with the Steve Jones/Ben Tinkler Lotus Elan closing to barely three seconds behind.

With the race stopped and restarted after Alice Locke’s Broadspeed GTS rolled languidly - without personal harm - after a rear wheel departed on the approach to Peel, at the Coastal circuit’s summit, a curious set of circumstances gifted Smithies a lap’s lead, for which, ever the gentleman, David subsequently apologised. Nonetheless, pursuers eagerly hounded his silver blue monster down, which made a superb spectacle on event organiser 750 Motor Club’s Alpha Live stream, broadcast for posterity on YouTube.

Another Jaguar, Jon Minshaw’s Pre-’63 roadster co-driven by Ben Cussons, immediate past chairman of the Royal Automobile Club, scooped GT3 honours, but by less than 15 seconds from the Austin-Healey 3000 of enthusiastic father and son Bill and Jack Rawles. Only a lap down were the XK120 of GTSCC debutant Tommy Waterfield, sharing with Oliver Marçais, seven seconds clear of Allan and Daniel Ross-Jones’ Triumph TR4.

A brace of MGBs finished one-two in GT3 after the quickest of three historied Lotus Elites retired. Mark Hope and Jason Minshaw, Jon’s brother, prevailed by 32 seconds over the sister car of Jonathan Hopper. Irishman Michael O’Sullivan and versatile Will Nuthall - subbing for Olly Bryant - salvaged Lotus honour in third, a lap behind.

In the invitation series’ 20th year, our discovery of Wales’ hidden secret unlocked a new challenge complimentary to Pre-1966 cars, with packs an sensational variety of corners, cambers and climbs, plus and a breathtaking descent through the Corkscrew - inspired by Laguna Seca - into each 1.55 mile lap. Take a bow Richard Peacock, the racer in charge of the former Ty Croes military facility when its track was reconfigured more than 20 years ago. What will never change is the outstanding topography and breathtaking panoramic views of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), Wales’ tallest mountain and the Atlantic Ocean, deep blue in the stunning sunshine which reigned on raceday.

Automobiles Historiques hosted the catering in a pit garage, the “GTSCC Experience Centre”, where Vanessa and Flavien Marçais oversaw the post-race presentations. The coveted Royal Automobile Club Family Award went most deservingly to Healey men Bill and Jack Rawles. Indeed, the latter also earned his share of the Driver of the Day prize, having done the middle stint in Alex Hewitson’s Healey before leaping into the family 3000, resplendent in an eye-catching livery reminiscent of legendary American entrant Briggs Cunningham’s many cars.

QUALIFYING

Two dozen teams arrived at spectacular Trac Môn, a new circuit for the majority of competitors, but sadly for J Paul Jesty’s equipe it was “an early bath,” as fabled rugby league commentator Eddie Waring used to say. Out for only the third time since Paul inherited it from his racer father Nick, the Mini Cooper S - in which Zandvoort returnee Dorset Racing’s Ellie Birchenhough was signed up as supersub alongside TTP’s Malc Fitzpatrick - was frustratingly sidelined by gearbox failure after five laps of Friday testing.

Thus 23 cars contested the half-hour qualifying session on Saturday morning. The Healeys of Jeremy Welch (in Oliver Marcais’) and Jack Rawles (in Alex Hewitson’s) were first to show, both immediately down into the 1m23s, with Marcais taking out Sir David Scholey’s hard-topped Jaguar XK120 initially, and Jack due to take over the family team car from father Bill. The Jaguars then stretched their legs, Ben Mitchell cutting a 1:21.421 in Clarky’s semi-lightweight to go top, but Nigel Greensall erased his mark 40 seconds later, then improved to claim pole with a 1:20.403 (69.40mph) shot.

Mitchell ameliorated his best to 1:21.334 which stood for P2, shadowed by Classic Formula Ford champion Ben Tinkler in Steve Jones’ Lotus Elan 26R on 1:21.575. The Healeys of Hewitson/Rawles, Marçais/Welch and Rawles/Rawles wound up fourth, sixth and seventh respectively, separated by 1.115s, with young Rawles leading the GT3 charge with 1:23.057 (67.18mph). The Warwick warriors were split by the famous ex-Dick Neil Dyna Glaze of Hawaii Shelby Cobra ‘Hairy Canary’ of Nick Sleep/Alex Montgomery on 1:23.561 for a solid third row grid slot.

Fourth and fifth in GT3, 0.226s apart, were the stunningly presented Pre-1963 spec wire-wheeled Jaguar E-type roadsters of Will Garrett/Tim Crighton and Jon Minshaw/Ben Cussons. Lofty Wiltshireman Crighton - veteran of several Race of Remembrance participations - had the edge in Hilton & Moss’ hard-topped Roman Purple example, although a hint of a top end misfire manifested itself. Minshaw, head of the Demon Tweeks emporium and a seasoned Anglesey tester, prioritised getting Cussons acclimatised to his dove grey hooded Valley Motor Sport car over ultimate pace in the preliminaries. With a 120-minute contest ahead, being 1.5s from the class pole on race morning was more than comfortable.

The trio of Lotus Elites in the pack, tended by marque expert Richard Purves and his JRP team, represented a hugely significant slice of the Type 14 model’s racing history. Benjamin Tarlow’s dark green car, co-driven by fellow American Mark Hamilton-Peters, was originally raced by genial Lancastrian Derek Bennett, later to achieve fame as founder of the Chevron racing car marque in Bolton. The white Ecurie Shirlee car of Irishman Michael O’Sullivan - with Will Nuthall subbing for Olly Bryant - was raced extensively in the USA by Bob Challman. Powered by 1216cc Coventry-Climax FWE engines, the most potent developing 120bhp, the Peter Kirwan-Taylor styled featherweights were in their element on the switchback track. Tarlow/Hamilton-Peters qualified a GT2-topping 10th overall on 1:24.863s (65.75mph), which Nuthall got within 0.544s of for 11th as the chequered flag came out.

The red stablemate of Americans Lee Hower/Tim Gregorio contested the 1961 Le Mans 24 Hours - in blue, to which it will return - entered by Equipe Los Amigos for Frenchman Jean-Francois Malle and Briton Robin Carnegie {Lord Northesk], but retired when its fuel tank sprang a leak after nine hours. The old warhorse still sports de Havilland-trained aerodynamicist Frank Costin’s period nose and flush screen mods, said to have been worth 12mph on the Mulsanne Straight 65 years ago. Yet to be treated to a full spec engine it brought up the rear of the pack.

Bang in the centre of the grid, 12th on 1:25.555, sat the imposing AC Cobra Daytona Coupe Tour de France tribute machine of David ‘Meerkat’ Smithies/Chris ‘Lord Borneo’ Clarkson, fitted with David’s spare gearbox in the month since its fleeting appearance at Silverstone. “We’d be happy just to finish the race,” smiled Chris after the session.

Next up, marginally slower, was the Healey of Crispin Harris and James Wilmoth, proudly flying the flag of St Lucia, its engine rebuilt following the early piston failure which spelled retirement at Silverstone. “Jeremy [Welch] did his magic and turned it round in record time,” said Crispin, who would start the car now nicknamed ‘Ali’ after his son.

The quickest of the torquey MGBs, rivals to the Elites, lined up 14th and 16th in the 26s, barely 1.2 seconds off the GT2 pace, courtesy of Mark Hope and Jonathan Hopper’s ace co-drivers Jason Minshaw and Chris Ward respectively. Chris arrived still beaming from a poignant Brands Hatch two-litre sportscar victory in the ex-Guy Edwards Lola T292, on the weekend after its first owner passed away at 83. Between them was the venerable but effective Jaguar XK120 of Entrant Sir David Scholey, with Oliver Marcais, partnered by versatile hotshoe Tommy Waterfield, current man to beat in 500cc F3 to Historic GP Coopers.

Allan and Dan Ross-Jones’ Triumph TR4 was 17th, in the 27s, 0.582s quicker than the Healey of Joe Ward [whose previous Anglesey appearance was under the nom-de-volant “Joe Litten”] and Chris Conoley. Revisiting their 1995 and 1996 Spa Six Hours partnership, driving different TVR Griffiths, the dynamic duo boasted a combined age of 153 years, two more than ‘young whippersnappers’ Smithies/Clarkson. A great statistic if ever Flavien and Vanessa decide to create a Balance of Performance adjunct to current GTSCC regs!

Alice and Richard Locke’s Broadspeed GTS was barely a tenth slower than the last of the GT3s, on an excellent 1:27.980 (63.42mph). Alice also led the Coupe des Dames trio, heading off the Morgan Plus 4 Super Sport of Sharlie Goddard/Graeme Smith and MGB of Beverley Phillips, backed up by recent birthday boy husband Chris and son Oliver. Richard Frankel and Geoff Turral’s Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA, second of the Touring Cars, and the aforementioned Hower/Gregorio Elite rounded out the combatants.

RACE

Conditions could not have been better for the 90-minute race, for which the red start lights went out at 1511. Clark bounded into the lead, pursued by Gomm and Hewitson, but Sleep was on the warpath. He snarled his yellow Cobra past the six-potters to wrest the lead on lap three and settled into a rhythm as his pursuers traded places. Most impressive was Jon Minshaw, who demonstrated his circuit knowledge by jostling his fleet GT3 E-type past the barking Healeys of Marçais and Hewitson, split initially by Steve Jones’ Elan, before calmly picking off the later spec Jags of Gomm and Clark to run second overall within five laps.

With the Hairy Canary out front, the spectacle of the Jaguars of Minshaw, Clark and Gomm howling round with the Healeys of Marçais, Hewitson and Harris - who worked his way to the head of the sub-set - was sensational. Particularly since Jones and Rawles Sr were enjoying a grandstand view as they endeavoured to tag along.

Gomm passed Clark a couple of laps before a five lap safety car interlude triggered when Harris’ Healey went herbaceous and straight off at Rocket, the uphill left/right chicane, and walloped the Recticel barriers nose first. The 207 car had just begun a skirmish with Marçais, whose sparring partner Hewitson had slipped behind Jones. Contrary to expectations, Crispin was able to reverse out of the cushioning, but it took a while to get back to the pits, where his crew set about prising the right front wing from the tyre with a hefty crowbar. Almost 10 minutes later the sturdy machine resumed.

Most of the frontrunners made their first pit stops as the caution was signalled, but leader Sleep came in a lap later. A notable late stopper was Hamilton-Peters whose Elite shot to the top of the lap charts and pitted two laps after the green flag brought the field back up to speed. It was in again a lap later, Tarlow now aboard and reporting that the engine would not pull. The race’s first retirement was posted after 20 laps. Only back in JRP’s workshop was the cause identified. The tiny nut retaining the points mechanism had worked loose, thus the rotor arm was shorting out on the distributor body under load.

Cussons led for a lap and Jack Rawles, in for Hewitson, for two before Montgomery rumbled ahead in Sleep’s bubble-topped Cobra. Knuckling down to the chase was Tinkler, now into the lone Elan, who usurped the Healeys of Welch (in Marçais’) and Rawles on successive laps to sit second. Double stinters Gomm and Clark were comfortable in fifth and sixth, ahead of Clarkson’s Cobra coupe and GT2 leader Jason Minshaw who passed Bill Rawles’ white Healey before a second full-course caution.

Alice Locke’s Broadspeed GTS, running 14th on its 28th lap, had turned turtle at Peel having shed a wheel when its studs sheared. Happily Alice scrambled out of the inverted car unscathed and was checked over at the medical centre. Dad Richard duly drove her across the North Wales coast to Chester station where she boarded a train back to London. The team will doubtless massage the gallant little car back to concours condition in the weeks to come.

This is where following the race became complicated, for the short lap length did not enable marshals to clear the stricken machine safely, so red flags were flown. Rather than all return to the pits, three cars - Nuthall in O’Sullivan’s Elite, Smithies’ Cobra and the Waterfield/Marçais XK120 - stopped on the grid behind the 750MC’s VW Golf safety car. Out by this time, incidentally, was double-stinting Will Garrett’s E-type with a worsening top end misfire. “It wouldn’t pull past 6000rpm, then started to fluff at 4750rpm so it was not worth risking the engine,” said the rapid Crighton, who did not get a run.

From the restart, with around 35 minutes on timekeeper TSL’s system, the Daytona Cobra, which had made its second stop from ninth under caution and re-emerged from the pits as normal, suddenly found itself with a lap’s lead! While David was embarrassed at the unfortunate sequence of events, it fired up Greensall and Mitchell, finishing Gomm and Clark’s Jags, and Sleep who with many of the final stinters, headed out from the pitlane to join the safety car crocodile, released at the conclusion of the lap.

But the drama was not over, for the Hower/Gregorio Elite pulled off on the inside of Church, resumed and conked out at Rocket. When the Healeys of Hewitson and Marçais arrived on the scene, Oliver - whose brakes had locked there before, like Harris’ earlier - tagged Alex’s left rear quarter, sending him off towards the Recticels on the exit. In what clerks reviewed and dismissed as a racing incident, both cars resumed, were driven back to the pits and retired.

Meanwhile, the quickest three cars on track unlapped themselves and clawed back the lost ground to Smithies in magnificent style. Greensall repassed the Cobra coupe with 15 laps to run, Mitchell did likewise to secure second six laps from home and Sleep blasted past to complete the podium with three tours remaining. Shuffled back to fourth, Smithies was more relieved that his steed had finished the race following Silverstone’s woes. Jones’ Elan, which led for a lap as the pit stagger unwound during Tinkler’s stint, was in his mirrors. Greensall’s 1:20.346 (69.45mph) fastest lap was fractionally inside his pole shot.

Minshaw and Cussons, who had a quick gyration, changed into his civvies and donned shades to watch the boss bring their Jaguar home a GT3-winning sixth from the pit wall alongside Clarky. Minshaw had to press on, for the Rawles family Healey was a competitive presence, indeed Junior shaded Jon’s best lap seconds later as the final leg’s status ramped up. Jack’s 1:23.501 (66.82mph) class standard was a fine effort. Despite an extra stop, their rival XK finished a lap down in eighth, with the Ross-Jones TR and the GT2-topping Hope/Jason Minshaw MGB both within 14 seconds..

Experts Minshaw and Ward, unleashed in the inter-stop phase, both pushed their Bs to the limit, Jason’s 1:26.520 (64.48mph) best lap in Hope’s pale blue one half a second quicker than Chris’ in Hopper’s red version. The cars were separated by the Ward/Conoley Healey, 11th overall. The O’Sullivan/Nuthall Elite - in which Will eclipsed Ward’s ultimate lap time - was third in class, a lap behind but one ahead of the Frankel/Turral Alfa, the surviving TC entry. The Goddard/Smith Morgan placed fourth in GT2, Sharlie rueing having missed the IN board a couple of times as her crew implored her to hand over to Graeme under yellows. The Hower/Gregorio Elite and the Phillips clan’s MGB were classified 16th and 17th, the last cars running.

ENDS - MARCUS PYE

**GTSCC Overall & GT4 Class Winners - Read Gomm & Nigel Greensall - Jaguar E-Type**

**2nd Overall - John Clark & Ben Mitchell - Jaguar E-Type**

**3rd Overall - Nick Sleep & Alex Montgomery - AC Cobra 289**

**GT3 Class Winners - Jon Minshaw & Ben Cussons - Jaguar E-Type**

**GT2 Class Winners - Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw - MG B**

**TC2 Class Winners - Richard Frankel & Geoff Turrell - Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA**

**‘The Royal Automobile Club Family Award’ Winners - Bill & Jack Rawles - Austin-Healey 3000**

**Automobiles Historiques ‘Drivers of the Day’ - Alexander Hewitson & Jack Rawles - Austin-Healey 3000**

**GT4 Class Podium - Winners Read Gomm & Nigel Greensall, 2nd John Clark & Ben Mitchell, 3rd Nick Sleep & Alex Montgomery**

**GT3 Class Podium - Winners Jon Minshaw & Ben Cussons, 2nd Bill & Jack Rawles, 3rd Tommy Waterfield & Oliver Marçais**

**GT2 Class Podium - Winners Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw, 2nd Jonathan Hopper & Chris Ward 3rd Michael O'Sullivan & Will Nutthall**

**TC2 Class Winners - Richard Frankel & Geoff Turrell**

**Royal Automobile Club Family Award, presented by past Chairman Ben Cussons to Bill & Jack Rawles**

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE CLASS WINNERS
GT2 - Mark Hope & Jason Minshaw, MG B
GT3 - Jon Minshaw & Ben Cussons, Jaguar E-type
GT4 - Read Gomm & Nigel Greensall, Jaguar E-type
TC2 - Richard Frankel & Geoff Turrell, Alfa Romeo Giulia GTA

The Royal Automobile Club Family Award
Bill & Jack Rawles, Austin-Healey 3000

'Drivers of the Day'
Alexander Hewitson & Jack Rawles, Austin-Healey 3000

GTSCC - Anglesey Results

Image Copyright:
Jon Elsey Motorsport Photography
Phil Newell
Jeff Bloxham

GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Anglesey Circuit, 27th June, 2026

GT & Sports Car Cup Race Report: Silverstone International Trophy 2026

GT & Sports Car Cup