Shaun and Max Lynn kept it in the family by bringing home a Lynn 1-2 in the first Masters Endurance Legends race of the Spa Six Hours weekend. Lynn’s Peugeot 908 hit the front after a safety-car restart, passing the BR Engineering BR01 of Portuguese hotshoe Rui Aguas on the Kemmel straight, and maintained his lead all through to the end. Meanwhile, son Max – racing the second of three BR01s in the field – shone by making up multiple places during his first stint before pitting early to leapfrog most of his rivals and win the P2 class in the process.

“Yes, I got Rui on the restart”, said Lynn Sr on his decisive move. “I’ve got more power than me, and he gave me the space, as the professional that he is. It was a great race in tricky conditions, and made even more special by Max taking second place!”

“Yeah, it was good fun”, said an elated Lynn Jr. “I got Kriton on the second lap, then Tandy into the Bus-Stop, and then Christophe on the Kemmel straight after the restart. I pitted early for the undercut, and it worked!”

Halted longer at the stops because of his elite-driver status, Aguas was stopped in his stride when the race was prematurely halted because of Marcus Jewell’s Porsche 996 GT3 RSR grounding to a halt at La Source with less than five minutes to go. This held the Portuguese driver in a four-car train led by Jamie Constable, who took third overall in his Pescarolo 01, ahead of Kriton Lendoudis’ Peugeot 90X, Aguas and Antoine d’Ansembourg in the Dallara-ORECA DO-05. Meanwhile, the polesitting Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 of Christophe d’Ansembourg was beaten away by Aguas at the start, and lost places at the restart before being delayed at the stops.

“I took the first two or three laps to get the tyres up to temperature”, said Constable. “After the safety car I managed to pass Christophe, but after the stops I didn’t quite know where I was! The last five laps were very, very slippery but I held on…”

In the GT section, Nick Padmore did the early running in a Ferrari 458 GT2 shared with Christopher Stahl, leading Phil Quaife in the 458 GT3 shared with James Thorpe. After the stops, though, Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen and Oliver Mathai came through to claim a German 1-2 in their respective Audi R8 LMS Ultra and Aston Martin Vantage V12 GT3 cars, while Michael & Sean McInerney took their Mosler MT900R by the scruff of its neck to claim a fighting third ahead of Quaife/Thorpe and Jason Wright in another 458 GT3.

“It was a very good race”, said Mathai, as race winner Graf von Oeynhausen had to rush to his next race. “It was extremely slippery, I think someone lost some oil. In fact, I took it easy, this is my first outing in the car, so no risk. But it was great fun all the same!”

On a damp track following incessant overnight rain, d’Ansembourg’s Lola-Aston Martin DBR1-2 led away from the start chased by Aguas, Shaun Lynn, Constable’s Pescarolo 01 and Tandy’s Lola B12/60, but Aguas dipped past at the start of lap 2. Behind the first five, Lendoudis and Max Lynn had moved up at the cost of Antoine d’Ansembourg who now had Keith Frieser’s Zytek 09S breathing down the Dallara-ORECA DO-05. Among the GTs, Quaife had converted pole into an initial lead of a couple of ticks, but Nick Padmore was coming through in the 458 GT3 and soon harried Quaife for the class lead. In the pits, meanwhile, Mike Furness proved unable to get his Courage LC75 going, and was the race’s first retirement before it got going properly.

At the front, Aguas took the BR Engineering BR01 P2 car to places hitherto unseen, now leading seniors d’Ansembourg and Lynn by four seconds, both dads having left behind Constable and Tandy by eight seconds. Behind them, Lynn Jr and Lendoudis swapped places, the Greek losing out to the second BR01.

On lap 3, Lynn Sr was into second place after d’Ansembourg tripped up to return just a second ahead of Constable, with Tandy having lost a spot to Lynn Jr, who was definitely the man on the move in these opening stages. In GTs, Padmore now led Quaife by three seconds, and the Ferrari 458 GT2 was now forced to defend from Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen’s Audi R8 LMS Ultra and Oliver Mathai’s Aston Martin Vantage GT3, two more of the very quick and very recent GT3 cars.

At the start of lap 4, Aguas led Lynn Sr by 7 seconds but soon the safety car was out, negating all existing gaps, as Felix Haas’ McLaren MP4-12 GT3 took a trip across the travel – but when the German managed to return to the track under his own steam, green-flag racing resumed on lap 5, just as the pit window opened. At the restart, Lynn got a run on Aguas to take command, while Constable, Tandy and Lendoudis jumped d’Ansembourg Sr at Les Combes.

On the next tour, Lynn Jr and Tandy were the first to make their mandatory stop, allowing the d’Ansembourgs to move up to fifth and sixth places. Next time around, Aguas, Lendoudis, d’Ansembourg (A.) and Frieser followed suit, promoting Constable and David Brise in the Lola B09/80 shared with Alan Purbrick to a momentary second and third. In GTs, Padmore’s lead over Quaife had increased to some 15 seconds, but with Count von Oeynhausen now in second place, 11 seconds down on the leading Ferrari 458 GT2. Mathai was still fourth ahead of Ben Clucas in the Porsche 996 GT3 RSR shared with Marcus Jewell.

On lap 8, Lynn Sr, Constable, Brise and d’Ansembourg (C.) were the last of the stoppers, with Padmore making it in only seconds before the pit window closed. With Aguas held in the pits longer because of his elite-driver status, Shaun Lynn now led son Max by 22 seconds, with Constable and Lendoudis a further 10 seconds behind, and in a fight of their own. Tandy was sixth ahead of the younger d’Ansembourg, but Antoine’s father had been held up during the stops and now languished in 14th place. In seventh, but again lapping considerably quicker than anyone else, was Aguas, leaving Frieser, Purbrick and Xavier Micheron’s Riley & Scott MkIIIC well in his wake. In fact, such was the pace of the Portuguese star that he back up to fifth on lap 11 and eyeing up Lendoudis and Constable right ahead of them.

In GTs, the GT3 cars of Graf von Oeynhausen and Mathai had relieved the Ferrari 458 GT2 now driven by Christopher Stahl from its early lead. In fact, Stahl had also dropped behind Sean McInerney in the Mosler MT900R started by brother Michael, with James Thorpe – having taken over from Quaife – and Marcus Jewell now in fourth and fifth in the GT section, ahead of Jason Wright’s 458 GT3.

But then, with less than five minutes remaining, the red flag was out – Jewell had stopped at La Source. This handed Shaun Lynn the win ahead of Max Lynn who in the proces stook P2 class honours, while it interrupted the four-car battle between Constable, Lendoudis, Aguas and d’Ansembourg Jr. Tandy was seventh ahead of Frieser, Micheron and Purbrick. Marcus Graf von Oeynhausen prevailed in the GTs, leading home Mathai, McInerney, Thorpe and Wright.