Video: 2026 Sussex Trophy full race | Goodwood Revival

Saturday afternoon saw cloudy but dry conditions when the flag dropped. The front row was locked out with talent: the Lotus-Climax 15 of Johnny Mowlem and Bonamy Grimes sat alongside the Lister-Jaguar 'Knobbly' Ecurie Ecosse of Gordon Shedden and Saif Assam, and the fellow Lotus-Climax 15 of William Nuthall and Massimo Bettati. There was no time to waste as the three launched toward Madgwick — Grimes nailed the start to take an early lead while Gary Pearson dropped a wheel wide onto the grass in his Jaguar D-type 'long-nose'.

This 45-minute, two-driver race is a marathon, not a sprint, and so demanded calculated patience. But racing is still racing; the pack remained fiercely close as a Lister-Jaguar ‘Flat Iron’ hounded the rear of Pearson's D-type, while James Cottingham battled side-by-side in his Tojeiro-Jaguar against Ben Mitchell’s Lister-Jaguar ‘Knobbly’. Drama soon struck as Mark Donnor limped onto the grass to retire his Lister-Jaguar 'Costin', while Nick Jarvis’ Lister-Chevrolet 'Costin' began spitting flames into the path of its rivals just as the safety car was deployed.

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As the pack bunched up under the safety car, Grimes’ hard-fought lead vanished and the battle for the podium spots was blown wide open. The Lister-Chevrolet 'Knobbly' and Tojeiro-Jaguar ran bumper-to-bumper in pursuit of second, separated by a mere 0.2 seconds. The drama intensified once the pit lane window opened, sparking frantic chaos as cars dived in for the mandatory driver changes.

And as drivers leaped from their cockpit the grid was completely shaken up. Amid the flurry of stops, the Kellison-Chevrolet J4 was forced to retire, but a tactical pit strategy paid off handsomely for the leading Lotus-Climax 15, now in the hands of Mowlem, as it comfortably retained its front-running position. Despite a brief moment running wide onto the grass, Mowlem looked devastatingly fast out front as the final cars completed their stops for the remaining 20 minutes of the race.

With every passing lap the intensity heightened. The number 11 Lister-Jaguar 'Costin' spun off the track, while a late-race battle ignited between the number 66 Jaguar D-type 'long-nose' and the number 16 Lister-Jaguar 'Flat Iron'. The two hounded each other all the way to the flag, this thrilling Jaguar scrap a highlight of the final laps.

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Up top, the superb drive by Grimes and Mowlem in the Lotus-Climax 15 proved untouchable. They crossed the line with a massive 16-second cushion over second place, capping off a dominant performance. The Sussex Trophy stayed true to form in 2026, another reminder (if we needed one) why we love this race each year at the Goodwood Revival.