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Britcar 24 Hours –
Hours 22-24 The Chad Porsche takes fifth place as Martin Rich hands over the Eclipse Mosler to George Haynes, but nearby there is drama looming as the Rollcentre crew responds to a call that the second placed car is stuck in fifth gear. The BMW 120d is recovered to the pits, fuelled and leaves immediately – evidently a lack of diesel was the problem! Martin Short confirms that the second placed Rollcentre Mosler is currently being fuelled but is stuck in fifth gear, after being hit from behind by another runner. “It’s still doing 2:05s but the problem will be pulling away from the pit.” The Rollcentre car currently has 8 laps in hand over the chasing Paragon Porsche. The Mosler pits, engine cover off, rear pad change underway and with that task list completed, and with a helpful shove from a couple of crew members, plus a bucketful of revs., the car is on its way, still with three laps in hand on the Paragon Porsche. A 1:57.423 from the fourth placed Duller M3 might be the sign that the cars chasing the Rollcentre Mosler are trying to exert pressure, the Mosler though is powering on, Stuart Hall now aboard and lapping in the 2:04s. Under 2 hours to go and the Chad Porsche drops to fifth as it makes what should be its final pit stop, the Eclipse Mosler is now up into fourth place again. The Safety Car is scrambled “because the circuit at Brooklands requires sweeping” but the Rollcentre Mosler is initially rather struggling to make the pace of the queue. Bad news though for Chad’s Porsche crew who had just pitted and were then held at the end of the pit lane to allow the (long strung out) queue to pass. Also held is the 911virgin Porsche from 8th, which had been fuelling as the Safety Car was scrambled. That costs the #20 car both 7th place and, crucially, third in class. Just 100 minutes of the race to run and as the race goes green the field stream through. The #32 Duller Motorsport car fuels and continues with no driver change or tyres. The leader is next to pit, fuel tyres and JC-W to the finish should see the #1 BMW home. The class 4 leading VW Golf pits for a fuel top up with 90 minutes to go, as Mark Sumpter stands by to take over in the third placed Paragon car. Marcel Fassler is pushing on in a bid to reduce the deficit to Sumpter. Another class battle yet to be settled is that for third in Class 1, with the Morgan attempting to chase down the #57 RJN Nissan. The Class 3 leading Team Thrush Honda Integra is in electrical trouble in the pits with 75 minutes to go - leading their class by six laps, a lead which had been as much as 20 laps at one point. The problem looks easily serious enough to cede the class win to the #67 Pete Daniels Motorsport Honda Civic Type R. The CWS BMW, second in Class 1, gets a pitlane speeding stop/go penalty. Sumpter’s first flying lap is the fastest of the race so far for the #39 car, fending off the #32 Duller car and the task is made even more difficult by a stop go for pitlane speeding for the #32 M3. The Eclipse Mosler evidently still needs to be refuelled to finish the race and it has 4 laps in hand over a now charging Nigel Greensall’s Chad Porsche, these two also battling for third position in GT3, 60 minutes remaining and the Team Thrush heartbreaker is complete as the Integra stays lifeless in the garage and the #67 Pete Daniels Motorsport Honda Civic sweeps into the class lead. Greensall posts the fastest lap of the Chad Porsche’s race with 45 minutes to go before pitting, no fuel but a left rear puncture and again the front right wheel on the #15 car doesn’t want to play ball. Bad news for one battle which looked possibly to be going down to the wire, but which is now putting Greensall’s sixth place within reach of the chasing GTS Motorsport BMW. . With the team still trying to remove the wheel from the Porsche, the Chad car, so long in the top five, is dropping down fast, falling behind the GTS BMW, 911 virgins Porsche and TJH Honda to lie 9th as the last half hour of the race beckons. A late entrant into the top 20 is the Buddha Motorsport Aston Martin V8 Vantage N24, currently 6th in GTC with 40 minutes left to run. The Team Thrush Honda meanwhile finally rejoins the race, now of course second in class and seven laps astray of the Pete Daniels Honda. 30 minutes remaining and the leader pits for a splash of fuel, the lead advantage a massive 29 laps. 20 minutes remaining and the Chad Porsche is still in the pit garage and will lose ninth overall to the #54 Simply Racing Porsche 964 RS. There’s a late fuel stop for the ISL Motorsports Marcos Mantis, no, not fuel but a problem? Could this stump the first of the Marcos home? It seems not, the car is circulating after a long stop. The Morgan meanwhile is now fending off a late challenge from the first of the County EMC Porsche 968s (the #70 car) in a battle for 17th with, unsurprisingly, the sister #71 car still in close attendance. The Jaguar leaves after a lengthy pitstop as does the Chad Porsche, justly retaining a top ten finish for the hard working, hard charging but ultimately luckless Chad team. All in all it has been a superb display from Duller Motorsport, in particular the #1 BMW Z4M crew, which takes a dominant and deserved double at this event. Rollcentre Racing will be disappointed with second place but there were just too many minor issues and bad luck under Safety Cars for the Mosler, indeed any of the Moslers, to take the laurels today. It has been a great run too from the Paragon Motorsports team taking a fine overall podium – and class win. There are always more tales of bad luck than can be easily summarised, but particular mention has to go to the Topcats team whose immaculate Marcos ran very high up for so long. 5 minutes to go and there’s so much more to recognise. The Apex Jaguar has made a fantastic start to its racing career, lots learned and data gathered by the boys. Team Top Gear has added something special this weekend, 39th overall as a finish is to be applauded – next time though boys please remind your camera teams that this is a live motorsport event and not a closed set, some of their attitudes were pretty atrocious towards other team personnel. The Simply Racing boys - with their road car engined elderly Porsche 964 with a top ten finish and a class win, and all this after blowing thir only engine on the second lap of the first qualifying session.
RJN Motorsport - bringing their pair of Nissan 350Zs against the odds. Richard Thorne Motorsport - for bringing its new Morgan Roadster to a strong debut finish. Eclipse Motorsport - bring their Mosler home for their first 24 hour race finish. And many, many more after an enjoyable, charming and thoroughly worthwhile event.
Class
Winners Graham Goodwin (utterly knackered) Top 24
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