Britcar 24 Hours - Hours 15-18

Lukas Lichtner Hoyer has lapped Keith Robinson as the race gets back underway.  The Ferrari man though responds and grabs the lap back by 06:53

Phil Keen is pushing very hard as he attempts to mount a recovery drive for the delayed Eclipse Mosler - 2:13s and 2:14s compared to the leading pairs 2:20s - The Mosler though is still down in 38th place and 56 laps off the lead lap.

Up to fourth overall is the Jota Aston Martin the #38 car though is being reeled in by the recovering #1 Topcats Mosler.

Another recovering Mosler, this time the #4 Strata 21 car, is about to grab 9th overall from the G40.

07:02 and the Safety car is on track again - the TVR is missing presumed troubled.

Keith Robinson pits from second - his 3 hours are up - the JetAlliance Porsche appears to have escaped any penalty - Phil Dryburgh has climbed aboard the Ferrari.

We're green flag racing again at 07:09 - the TVR appears on the end of a tow rope in pitlane - It had expired on the apex at Bridge.

The constantly fast pace of the Eclipse Mosler is beginning to pay off - the car back up to 33rd and taking around 30 seconds per lap out of many of the cars ahead - Keen pits though and will lose 33rd to the Clonis diesel - the #85 car's fuel efficiency means that this car has only pitted 5 times in over 15 hours!  It does so for the 6th time at 07:44

It looks like the Ferrari has been assessed a further one lap penalty for a pit lane offence (Phil Dryburgh going through the red light at pit lane exit).

The Strata 21 Mosler is up to 8th but pits, Piers Masarati climbs aboard - and the Topcats car is about to take the Jota Aston for 4th

We have steady but light rain again.

The Eclipse Mosler pits again - the team change the rear left Dunlop and the car is sent on its way.

The rain is getting heavier as we get towards full daylight.

Lucas Ordonez is doing well in the rain - 2:18s in the Nissan.

The #86 Mazda MX5 is going well too - up to 18th overall.

The Clio is recovered with front wheels pointing in opposite directions.

08:14 and Piers Masarati is about to grab 7th place from the pacey #44 SEAT.

Positions at 15 Hours

#22, 8, 42, 1, 38, 49, 32, 44, 83, 4, 35, 45, 52, 37, 46, 59, 91, 86, 51, 21, 81, 73, 98, 26, 79, 54, 89, 57, 94, 99, 58, 87, 77, 85, 74, 2, 33, 80, 29, 7, 72, 34, 92, 19, 76, 39, 43, 82, 50, 84, 68, 75, 60, 6, 3, 48, 56, 71, 36, 16

A quick breakfast break and we're back to see the end of another Safety car period on the dot of 9am, the #86 Mazda of Mike Wilds comes back on the end of a tow rope, the TVR on a flatbed, the #7 car looking very gravelly and with what looks like broken suspension at the right rear corner.

John Gaw is flying along in the MJC Ferrari despite now streaming wet conditions. Gaw is taking 10-12 seconds a lap out of Martin Rich but the Porsche responds - the gap now closing by 4 or 5 seconds a lap.

The #86 Mazda has rejoined in 25th position.

The Eclipse Mosler is back into the top 30 - up to 28th at 09:24

The pace of the Ferrari has got the lead gap under 2 laps once again, John Gaw aboard as we get towards the end of the 18th hour, Keith Robinson unable to look back on a fine run earlier without kicking himself for a pitlane speed penalty (32 mph) - This one isn't over yet though.

Archie Hamilton was getting himself pumped up before getting back aboard the #45 SEAT "I'm really enjoying it - I adapted to the Front Wheel Drive car quite easily and we had a great run last night to get the car up from 19th and into the top 10."  The sister #44 car is running in sixth with #45 currently 11th.

The Japanese crewed #59 Topcats Marcos is suffering with a failing starter but is still running in 15th position. Steve Hyde in the sister #21 car is still smiling despite the 15 minutes the crew lost with a diff change - "We were fifth at that point so it's a bit frustrating."

6am proved to be a bad time for Synchro Motorsport, the Jazz type R going into the back paddock for attention and the Civic towed back into pitlane. The Jazz though was soon back underway.

Strata21 are delighted with Piers Masarati's efforts, fast pace and a featherlight throttle foot meant that the #4 Mosler was using "less fuel than a California valley girl in a Prius" - Thanks for that one Melindi Scott!

At Vantage Racing Stuart Hall was waiting to get back aboard the #52 car, running 13th at the moment "I had a great first stint, up from 27th to 8th overall, and I've been having a good old dice with the Jota car when Sam was aboard too." 

The #86 Mazda is a retirement, the team unable or unwilling to confirm the cause just yet.

Another car recovering from earlier woes is the Red Bull/ Lanzante Lotus, a broken front upright at 3am was the latest issue, costing the team 20 minutes - The car though is still in the overall top 20.

Lucas Ordonez and Alex Buncombe were revelling in the pace of the RJN Nissan in the wet - both at times faster than the remaining Group 1 cars.