A pair of Formula Junior contests were the headline action as the 2026 Donington Historic Festival roared into life on Friday.
In addition, a further contest from the Historic Motor Racing News Pre-'63 GT field saw the first tin top racing content of the event, alongside qualifying sessions for five other categories, as the majority of the near-400 entries took to the track across the day.
Pole sitter Stuart Roach powered his Alexis Mk2 to victory in the day's opening Formula Junior contest for 1958-1960 machinery, finishing three seconds clear of the Lola Mk2 of Andrew Hibberd, with the similar car of Robin Longdon completing the top-three.
In the second contest for 1961-63 cars, Alex Ames controlled the event in a glorious Brabham BT6, with Clive Richards (Lotus 22) and Philipp Buhofer (Lotus 27) completing the podium. Meanwhile, Lucas Halusa delivered a stirring comeback drive. Starting third, he stalled as the lights went out and dropped to the tail of the 28 car field, but fought his way back up to fifth after 16 laps of racing on the National circuit.
The 25-minute HMRN Pre-'63 GT race was won by the Jaguar E-Type of John and Gary Pearson, with the Austin-Healey 3000 of Michael/Gordon Russell giving chase.
The qualifying session for the GT3 Legends series, featuring the newest cars at the event, ended with the Aston Martin V12 Vantage of Jonathan Mitchell taking pole by seven tenths of a second, though at one stage, less than half a tenth covered the top-three at the top!
Meanwhile, the Rob/Josh Beebee pairing secured pole for the first 'Mad Jack' Pre-War Sports Cars contest in their 1932 Frazer Nash TT Rep, half a second clear of the 87-year-old BMW 328 of ex-F1 Team Principal Vijay Mallya.
Tom Waterfield's Cooper T53 topped the 34-car entry for the Historic Grand Prix Cars Association, a scant 0.076s clear of the similar car of Rudi Friedrichs.
Former BTCC champion Andrew Jordan and teammate John Tordoff claimed pole for the Royal Automobile Club Pall Mall Cup, topping a colossal 44-car entry, while James and Harvey McBrien topped the field of 36 near-identical MGBs in the Generations Trophy.
Donington Park's premier historic racing fixture continues over the next two days, with the RAC Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy set to join the action on Saturday. Sunday's timetable features the first action from the Historic Racing Drivers' Club package of series, including the Gerry Marshall Trophy, Allstars and Classic Alfa Challenge and the Top Hat Pre-'66 Touring Cars.
Tickets for this weekend's event are available on the gate, with reductions for 13-15 year olds and free entry for under-13s. For more information, click here.