Fifty years to the month after Swedish veteran Jo Bonnier lost his life at Le Mans in a Cosworth DFV-powered Lola T280, Mark Richardson charged his ex-Bonnier 1790cc T290 to victory in Saturday’s wet Thundersports race at Donington Park.
Shaking it down post-rebuild for next month’s Le Mans Classic, the celebrated RHS Chelsea garden builder, whose father Peter and uncle Jeremy competed against Bonnier in period, qualified third but tactically left the pitlane late for the rolling start. He made light work of passing Kiwi Warren Briggs’s ex-Fred Parkhill Donnybrooke Can-Am-contending McLaren-Chevrolet M8E for the lead on lap six of 20, before streaking away.
