Button takes Goodwood Members’ Meeting win in E-type Jaguar

Jenson Button took a second Goodwood win by taking his E-type Jaguar to victory in the Phil Hill Cup at the 83rd Members’ Meeting.

Having taken his first Goodwood success at last year’s Revival, Button qualified third in the famous ‘Cut 8’ Jaguar at the event for pre-1967 sports and GT cars inspired by the Sebring 12 Hours.

He took the lead at the start, but had to do it again when a frightening accident for Bill Shepherd (AC Cobra) on the Lavant Straight brought out the red flags.

The 2009 Formula 1 world champion managed to hold off the GT40 of Nikolaus Ditting, up from 10th on the initial grid, to lead at the restart. Ditting pushed and probed with the mid-engined Ford for much of the six-lap sprint, but Button looked secure.

That was until former GP2 and F3 racer Yelmer Buurman caught the lead duo in the Ferrari 250 LM he’d qualified fourth. Buurman had to take the restart from row three after a tricky first effort but proved the quickest on-track once up to speed.

Buurman, having set the fastest lap, overtook Ditting’s GT40 at Lavant on the penultimate lap and put Button under huge pressure. But the Jaguar held on to win by 0.33 seconds, the top three cars covered by 1s.

Jenson Button also ran his Brawn GP car at Goodwood

Photo by: Jeff Bloxham

“It’s an unusual category – we wouldn’t normally race against these cars,” said Button, who also demonstrated his 2009 title-winning Brawn at Goodwood. “They’re quite a bit stronger on braking, but it’s so much fun.”

The official Goodwood lap record had fallen the race beforehand. GT ace Phil Keen recorded a 1m18.141s on his way to winning the Bruce McLaren Trophy for pre-1966 Can-Am and Group 7 sportscars. His Lola T70 averaged 109.64mph on his way to pipping Nick Padmore’s previous benchmark.

For more on the 83rd Members’ Meeting, look out for our full online report and highlights, coming soon, and our special report in the June issue of Autosport magazine, out on 7 May.