St Mary's Trophy to get Le Mans flavour

The St Mary’s Trophy is always a crowd-pleaser at the Revival meeting. Watching a line-up of top drivers pedaling as furiously as they can in saloon cars from the Fifties or Sixties, often at lurid angles, has a unique way of engaging the public.

This year’s race is for Fifties saloons, and already we’ve revealed an incredible line-up of BTCC drivers present and past who will be taking part, but on top of that it now seems that there will be a few drivers taking part with more than a little Le Mans experience under their belts.

Methuen House Captain Anthony Reid is of course a man who has figured prominently in both camps, having been BTCC runner up twice and taken his place on the Le Mans podium on one occasion. Veteran Jackie Oliver famously won at Le Mans in a Ford GT40 in 1969 (as well as the Daytona 24 hours and Sebring 12 hours) whilst former Formula 1 driver Mark Blundell won at Le Sarthe in 1992 in the incredible Peugeot 905.

Blundell will pilot a 1959 Ford Zodiac with Kerry Michael, Oliver will once again be in his familiar, screaming, BMW 700, whilst Reid will once again take to the grid in the Don Law-prepared Jaguar Mk1 with which he won the St Mary’s trophy in 2012; the last time the event was held for Fifties saloons.

So, on the balance of form the smart money might be on Anthony Reid, but you can also bet that Blundell, Oliver, and the plethora of former BTCC champions taking part will have a lot to say about that.