An eclectic grid of 41 sports cars from the 1950s lined up for the 50-minute Royal Automobile Club Woodcote Trophy and Stirling Moss Trophy as racing for the Silverstone Festival got underway on Saturday morning.Under bright blue skies, Bonamy Grimes held the lead from pole aboard his 1959 Lotus 15, with Maxwell Lynn moving up to second through the opening sequence of corners in his Lister Costin Chevrolet.Lynn, who started third in the car he was sharing with Andy Wolfe, soon took the lead down the Hangar Straight as Grimes fought back on the following tour through Aintree, before Lynn asserted himself back at the front down the Wellington Straight.Nigel Greensall's Lister Knobbly moved up to second at Becketts with Grimes demoted to third, as the leading trio engaged in a thrilling tussle over the following laps, running three-wide at one point through Aintree and onto the Welling Straight. Behind, the Cooper T38 of Frederic Wakeman/Patrick Blakeney-Edwards, Andrew Smith's Cooper Monaco and the Lister Jaguar Knobbly of Tim Crighton completed the top six prior to the mandatory pitstops.Greensall was the first of the leading runners to visit the National pitlane on lap seven, where co-driver John Spiers already waited having pitted the Lister Costin both were also sharing. But with the Costin hobbled by damage, Greensall remained aboard the Knobbly for the rest of proceedings.At the same time out on track, Grimes found himself back in the lead as Lynn suffered a spin into Vale before rejoining second, six seconds in arrears with both heading to the pits on the following lap. The early pitstops moved Smith into the lead and when the Cooper Monaco driver made his pitstop just after the halfway point, he rejoined 17s in the lead ahead of Greensall and Johnny Mowlem, now in for Grimes.Mowlem soon moved into second and took the lead along the Hangar Straight four laps from the end, but just moments later through Club a mechanical problem brought the Lotus to crawl, allowing Smith to retake a lead he would never lose as he claimed victory in the Stirling Moss Trophy.With Mowlem pitting, Greensall claimed second and first in class for disc brake cars over 2000cc from the Lotus 15 of Richard Wilson/William Nuthall, the duo having quietly gone about their business and rising from seventh on the grid. John Burton's Jaguar Alton was the highest placed drum-brake runner in 16th.

Tenth overall and victory in the concurrent Woodcote Trophy went the way of brothers John and Gary Pearson in their Jaguar D-type Short Nose, having battled with the the D-type of James Hanson and Paul Pochciol, which led before the pitstop phase and eventually finished third overall, behind drum-brake runners Rick and Joseph Willmott (Jaguar XK140 Gomm Special).

Later in the morning, Danny Winstanley claimed victory on his debut in GT3 Legends as the category made its bow at the Silverstone Festival, with 35 cars taking to the world-famous circuit.The multiple Caterham champion started the 50-minute race in third aboard his Audi R8 LMS and kept the leaders insight, which consisted of MRL Touring Car Ambassador Rob Huff and 2019 British GT champion, Graham Davidson.The latter's Aston Martin Vantage never fell more than two seconds behind Huff, but with the BMW Z4 driver required to remain stationary for longer due to his Pro status at the mandatory pitstop, it meant victory was always unlikely. Davidson inherited the lead and was initially declared the winner - the race having been red flagged with five minutes remaining after a heavy shunt for Freddie Lillingston-Price's Lamborghini Gallardo exiting Woodcote - but the Scot was pinged post-race for a short pitstop which dropped him to second behind Winstanley.Completing the podium was the Z4 of Olly Bryant from the Audi R8 of Julian Thomas in fourth overall and victory in class GT3B, Nick Maton's Gallardo and Huff, charging after serving a longer pitstop as an elite driver, sixth, while Robert Oldershaw Jr's Aston Martin DBRS9 claimed GT3A honours in 19th overall.