Over 300 cars, 21 races, and a program spanning nearly a century of racing. From July 24th to 26th, the Silverstone circuit hosted the first edition of the BRDC Classic, bringing Formula 1 single-seaters, prototypes, Sports, GT, and Touring cars back to the track.
The roar of the cars that have written some of the most fascinating pages in motorsport history has returned to resonate on the Silverstone track.
The 2026 BRDC Classic , organised with the involvement of the British Racing Drivers’ Club, brought together over 300 racing cars over a weekend featuring 21 races and a programme capable of recounting the evolution of motorsport, from the cars of the 1920s to the most modern GT3s.
A first edition under the new name that inherited the legacy of the great historic events held at Silverstone, bringing the action on the track and the sporting value of the cars featured back to the centre of the event.
The debut of the GP Icons
Among the most eagerly awaited new features of the weekend was the debut of the GP Icons , a category dedicated to Formula 1 single-seaters with three-litre engines built between 1966 and 1985.
Sixteen cars from eleven different brands brought back to the English circuit shapes, colours and sounds belonging to one of the most fascinating eras of the top motor racing series.
The first race in the category’s history was won by Lukas Halusa , driving the Brabham BT49 . A particularly significant victory for a car that had come close to victory at Silverstone in 1982 but failed to achieve it.
Keith Frieser dominates among the Endurance Icons
There was also great interest in the Endurance Icons , the new series reserved for sports cars and prototypes from the 2000s.
The Audi R8, Bentley Speed 8, Cadillac Northstar, MG-Lola and numerous other protagonists of endurance racing returned to compete on the track that hosts the British Grand Prix.
Keith Frieser dominated both races in the Zytek 09S . On Saturday, he finished ahead of Niklas Halusa’s Audi R8 and Mike Newton’s MG-Lola EX264, while on Sunday he finished ahead of Shaun Lynn’s Bentley Speed 8 and Maxwell Lynn’s Cadillac Northstar.
Mike Newton himself was one of the weekend’s most popular protagonists. The British driver returned to racing with the same MG-Lola he used at Silverstone in the 2005 and 2007 Le Mans Series, bringing it back to the podium after nearly twenty years.
Aston Martin protagonist among the GT3s
The BRDC Classic also hosted the final round of the GT3 Legends season , a category dedicated to the Gran Turismo cars that have graced the main international competitions over the last few decades.
In the first race Jonathan Mitchell took victory in the Aston Martin V12 Vantage GT3, ahead of Graham Davidson and Danny Winstanley in the Audi R8 LMS Ultra.
The second race, however, rewarded Davidson, who was favored by Mitchell’s retirement after just three laps. Winstanley finished on the podium again, this time in second place, ahead of the Aston Martin shared by Kyle Tilley and Christian Albrecht.
Fifty-two cars in the Pre-’66 GT Sprint
One of the largest fields of the entire weekend was the Pre-’66 GT Sprint , which fielded 52 cars.
Andy Wolfe and Julian Thomas , driving a 1965 Shelby Daytona Cobra Coupé, won in a race that featured a close battle between some of the most iconic Grand Tourers of the 1960s.
Among the illustrious names present at Silverstone was Sir Chris Hoy . The six-time Olympic cycling champion took second place in the two-litre Sports car race, sharing a 1975 Lola T292 with Alex Brundle. Hoy also took part in the pre-’66 Touring Car race in a Ford Falcon.
A journey through almost a century of competitions
Alongside the new GP Icons and Endurance Icons, the programme included pre-war sports cars, Formula Junior single-seaters, historic touring cars, prototypes from the 1950s and cars from the more recent eras of GT racing.
A diverse set of categories that allowed spectators to observe the evolution of the technology, performance, and design of racing cars, always keeping the sporting competition central.
The first BRDC Classic thus concluded on a positive note, confirming Silverstone as one of the symbolic venues of international motorsport and as the ideal setting to bring cars born to race back to the track.
Not just an exhibition, but a weekend in which history came back to life at the speed for which it was designed.