Tyler Read (Weedon) sealed an outstanding Legends Cars Championship title triumph with two races to spare at Snetterton 300 Circuit on Sunday, 21st September, to put the icing on the cake of a truly remarkable season – one which, of course, also delivered the Elite Cup crown earlier in the year.
Third place in Heat One of round 12 on Sunday afternoon at the Norfolk track put the overall Legends Cars Championship out of reach, but Read then went on to take his 12th win of the year in Heat Two and third place in the Final. He had already chalked up his 11th race victory of 2025 in Heat One of round 11 on Saturday, 20th September, before finishing third and second in the day’s other races.
Carrying an advantage of 500 points into Sunday’s action, and with only 600 points still up for grabs at that stage, it was going to take a miracle for Read to be overturned. But the competition, led by outgoing double Champion Will Gibson (Farnborough) and Oli Schlup (Cuckfield), was fierce.
Gibson won both of the weekend’s Finals to end the year as Vice-Champion, taking his tally of wins for the season to seven. Schlup, who was equally rapid across all six encounters, also bagged a brace of wins, Heat Two on Saturday and Heat One on Sunday, and concludes 2025 third in the standings.
In the Masters and Rookie divisions, Irish duo Peter Barrable (Dublin) and Owen Lawlor (Dublin) have mirrored Read’s achievements by adding their respective main season class titles to the Elite Cup ones they both achieved at Croft in North Yorkshire back in August. Finally, the Team Car crown has been shared with the No.11 and No.52 cars tied on points.
In terms of class race wins this weekend at the USA Snetteron 300 festival, Barrable claimed three Masters victories with Mike Schlup (Cuckfield) taking two and Nathan Anthony (Horley) one. In the Rookie battles, Graham Butler (Rye) earned four wins with David Bonser (Tamworth) taking two.
Read, Schlup and Gibson all winners Rd11
Champion-elect Read made the perfect start to the weekend in Saturday’s opening Heat, stealing the win on the line by 0.079 seconds. Ross Marshall (Stirling) had taken pole in the grid draw and led initially before Read, who started fourth, hit the front. Marcus Pett (Boston), Gibson and Oli Schlup were all in contention, with an electric Aaron Cooke up to sixth from 20th on the grid.
Read continued to lead into the second half of the race, although the challenges became more frequent as the lead contenders jostled. Cooke made his way into second on lap three, Schlup moved to the lead of the group on lap four and then Cooke took a turn at the front as well.
Into the sixth and final lap Schlup headed Read, Gibson, Cooke, Pett and Andy Bird (Calne), and the leader was still there into Murrays for the last time. On the drag to the line, though, Read was able to nose ahead as Gibson pinched second and Schlup had to settle for third from Pett, the impressive Cooke and Bird.
If race one was close, Heat Two’s finish was insanity! Schlup made a good start from the second row to leap into the lead by the time the field headed to Wilson Hairpin. Making the early running and trying to break the tow, Schlup was soon joined by Bird who went on to grab the lead on lap two.
Behind, third was traded by Gibson, up from 12th on the grid, Jack Parker (Wolverhampton) and, with a couple of laps to go, Read who had progressed from 15th at the start. Bird was just a tenth ahead of Schlup into the sixth and final lap and a grandstand finish was in prospect once again.
This time Schlup managed to edge ahead on the sprint to the flag, pipping Bird by 0.041 seconds, with Read a fraction shy – just 0.064 seconds covering those three. Gibson claimed fourth, half a second shy of the podium, with Parker fifth and Luke Simmons (Lingfield) closing out the top six.
Gibson grabbed his sixth win of the season in the round 11 Final, and by the smallest margin of the day – a mere 0.023 seconds at the line. He, Read and Schlup, starting 16th, 17th and 18th on the grid respectively, all stormed through the order in double-quick time with Read the fastest of the trio to do so. Remarkably, less than three quarters of the way through the opening lap he was in second.
Following a Safety Car on lap three racing swiftly resumed and Barrable, who had built a lead of almost two and a half seconds, was soon swallowed up by the championship front-runners. Read took the lead at the start of the fourth tour, Gibson went second and, at the exit of Riches, Schlup was third. Further around the lap at Coram, though, Schlup went wide and lost a hatful of places.
Read and Gibson ran bumper-to-bumper for the remainder of the eight lapper, pulling well clear, and on the sprint to the flag Gibson timed it to perfection to get the win. Schlup fought back well to make it three podiums for the day, just ahead of team-mate Parker, with Cooke impressive again to finish fifth from the back of the grid. Matt Knight (Shoreham-by-Sea) rounded out the top six.
Remarkable Read claims 2025 crown with two races to spare
Gibson had drawn pole for Heat One of round 12 on Sunday and unsurprisingly took the early lead, while Read – starting from 18th on the grid – had to be more cautious initially as it all became very busy into Wilson Hairpin. The lead quartet of Gibson, Oli Schlup, Parker and Bird quickly formed but all the while Read was progressing.
Up into fifth and then slicing past Bird for fourth into Murrays on the penultimate tour, it was anyone’s guess who may emerge in the podium placings and over the final 2.97-miles the pace was red-hot. Parker led onto the last lap from Gibson and Schlup, the latter then producing a stunning move on the outside at Agostini to leap from third to the lead.
As they emerged from Murrays for the final time, Read looked to be nosing ahead of Schlup on the inside as they sprinted towards the finish line. But a very timely push for Schlup, from team-mate Parker, just made the difference in Schlup’s favour – winning by 0.058 seconds from Gibson, with Read third to claim the title and Parker fourth. Insanely, only 0.079 seconds covered the top four.
The newly crowned champion started Heat Two from pole and, unsurprisingly, led away as Schlup charged from 12th to third within just a handful of corners and Gibson gained nine places from his starting slot of 18th. By lap three Read and Simmons had paired off at the front with Barrable and Schlup trading third, and on the fourth tour Simmons made his way into the lead.
Into the sixth and final tour the top two were 3.4 seconds clear of the tight battle for third and at the finish line Read was able to get the drive to pip Simmons by just 0.037 seconds, the runner-up spot still a very welcome podium return for the latter. Gibson managed to shade Barrable for third at the flag, with Cooke and Bird there again in fifth and sixth.
Knight surged from ninth to the lead at the beginning of the round 12 Final, with Schlup, Gibson and Read all making immense progress to be second, third and sixth at the end of lap one. Shortly after, though, the race was red flagged due to oil deposited at Riches. When the race re-started, Chris Dewey (Wisbech) led away but he was then usurped by Nick Price (March).
Simmons, showing great speed again, grabbed the lead on lap two and held firm until lap four when Gibson dived by. With another grandstand finish in the offing, any one of Gibson, Read, Simmons, Cooke or Schlup could’ve claimed the victory but there was a poetic ending for the outgoing champ as he took the win from Cooke, a superb best-yet Legends finish of second, with Read third.
Tyler Read – 2025 Legends Cars Champion – Rd11 Heat One and Rd12 Heat Two Winner:
“What a year it’s been! We’ve had our ups and downs, just like anyone else, but to come out on top is just an awesome feeling. Coming into Legends three years ago we found it quite hard, but soon got top 10 finishes and won both Rookie titles that first year as well. Craig, from Pro 24, said it was a three-year deal and he was right. Once we got in with Craig the car was completely different, the car this year has been awesome – a dream to drive. I can’t thank him and the team enough.”
Will Gibson – Rd11 Final and Rd12 Final Winner:
“It was always going to be a bit of a dog fight [Rd12 Final] and come down to the last lap, I think that puts us on 53 career wins – I’m very, very happy. Every Legends win you get is special, and that one definitely was. I can’t win it [the title] every year, it’s just not fair! Tyler [Read] has absolutely fully deserved it this year, he’s driven maturely, fast, and his team are great – big congratulations to him.”
Oli Schlup – Rd11 Heat Two and Rd12 Heat One Winner:
“That was close [Rd11 Heat Two], I didn’t know whether to go left or right past Andy [Bird] at the end. I went for the inside and, yeah, it was a tight squeeze but just managed to get in front. Race one on Sunday was a really good race, I just want to say thank you to my team-mate because he was a massive help in that one. Jack [Parker] was helping me out the whole race, brilliant team-work.”
Provisional 2025 Legends Cars Championship Points
Champion – Tyler Read, 5795pts
2nd Will Gibson, 5310pts
3rd Oli Schlup, 5115pts
4th Jack Parker, 4235pts
5th Chris Needham, 3815pts
6th Marcus Pett, 3800pts
Legends Cars Championship Masters Cup Champion
Peter Barrable
Legends Cars Championship Rookie Cup Champion
Owen Lawlor
Legends Cars Championship Team Car Champions
Car No.11 and Car No.52
