McInerney-Ferrari takes overall win at scorching Britcar 24 Hours

The Michael McInerney Ferrari 430 took victory at the hottest Britcar 24 hour race ever but the he Eclipse Motorsport team didn't have it all their own way.

“The things that happened to other people gave us the opportunity to get back in the race. The team themselves have worked incredible hard to get the car ready, so however good for us, it feels equally as good for them,” the winners told MotorsTV.

During the race many cars were in the number one spot but the F430 was there when it mattered. The #6 Nigel Mustill Aquila proved it had the speed, taking pole position and fasted lap (2:04.019), but the fragile nature of the car proved to be its undoing, suffering a burst water pipe and drive shaft failures to eventually finish ninth overall (second in class).

The final two hours provided a close on-track battle for second overall between the Nicholas Mee Racing (Aston Martin GT4) of Karsten LeBlanc/Christiaen Van Lanschot/ Dan De Zille/Robert Nimkoff and THE Marcos Racing International (Lotus Evora) of Cor Euser/Hal Prewit/Jim Brody/Dik Freebird, WHO WERE seperated by just one lap after 22 hours of racing.

Both the cars made their final stops at the same time with an hour and 19 minutes to go. Their respective garages remained tense throughout the final stages as previous incidents proved. The gap remained the same until the chequered flag with LeBlanc crossing the line in the #49 Aston Martin, followed closely by the Evora.

“I've just come from America - this is the most amazing thing” Nimkoff later told MotorsTV.

Topcats Racing Mosler MT900R GT2 looked to have secured the win, leading the Eclipse Ferrari by 3 laps. However luck was not on their side. Freddie Hetherington was behind the wheel when the Mosler's throttle stuck open and a small fire caught from the gearbox under braking into Luffield. This resulted in a huge incident, the car burying itself deep into the tyre wall, ending the team's race.

Battles for the podium places were heavily contested throughout the event. Early contenders included the Ginetta UK (Rollcentre Racing) factory G55 effort piloted by an extremely strong line-up of Lawrence Tomlinson/Martin Short/Colin Turkington/Mark Simpson/Matt Nicoll-Jones. However an engine management problem ended the strongly-favoured team's assault after just three hours.

The second of the three Topcats racing entrants, the Marcos Mantis GT3 of David Upton/Neil Huggins/Emily Fletcher/James Orton, was running in the top three until the second half of the race where the team struck problems, including a brake pad change, drive shaft problems and an oil leak, losing them 5 laps, followed by an ignition switch issue. If that was bad enough the team were then hit with a 30 second stop-go penalty before the Mantis finally made light contact with a production class car that resulted with them being stranded on the International straight.

The star performers of the race was the Japanese crew of Yosuke Shimojima/Ryu Seya/Masashi Kakiuchi/Kikuchi competing in the third Topcats Racing entry (Marcos Mantis GT3). After the first hour of racing the team found themselves in 54th place, 17 laps from the leaders, but during the night they drove the wheels off the Mantis to eventually finish third overall, take a class win and rank as the only class 2 car to finish. The class 2 podium was completed by ARC Bratislava (Porsche 997) 267 laps behind and third Thorney Motorsport (BMW M3 E92 GT3) 351 laps behind.

Another outstanding performance came from the Carvell Motorsport & Retro Gti, who entered their 15-year-old VW Golf MK3 and finished 13 overall and fourth in class 4.

“It did what nobody thought it could have done” the overjoyed team told MotorsTV.

Meanwhile Jota had three Mazda MX5's entered. The #86 car, driven by Major James Cameron/Brigadier Mike Hickson/Sergeant Mike Browning/Tony Jardine finished 24th overall and took a top ten in class as it competed to raise money for armed forces charities. The team's #75, driven by UK journalists,finished 16th overall and 6th in class while the #45, which was hoping reliability would see them contend, retired early.

The great weather for the weekend enticed a record crowd of around 10,000 people to Silverstone, though the heat caused Peter James, driving Jason Plato's ex WTCC touring car, to suffer heat stroke, leaving him in the circuit’s medical centre.

Results

Overall
1. Michael McInerney-Ferrari 430-573 laps
2. Nicholas Mee Racing-Aston Martin GT4-560laps
3. Marcos Racing International-Lotus Evora-559 laps
FL. Nigel Mustill Aquila CR1-2:04.019 (lap 103)

Class 1
1. Michael McInerney-Ferrari 430-573 laps
2. Mustill Aquila CR1
3. Topcats Racing-Mosler MT900R GT2
FL. Nigel Mustill Aquila CR1-2:04.019 (lap 103)

Class 2
1. Topcats Racing-Marcos Mantis GT3
2. ARC Bratislava-Porsche 997
3. Thorney Motorsport-BMW E92 M3 GT3
FL. ARC Bratislava-Porsche 997-2:13.016 (lap 3)

Class 3
1. Nicholas Mee Racing-Aston Martin GT4
2. Marcos Racing International-Lotus Evora
3. Topcats Racing-Marcos Mantis GT3
FL. Topcats Racing-Marcos Mantis GT3-2:14.668 (lap 349)

Class 4
1. Brunswick Automotive-BMW M3 E46
2. Red Camel-Jordans.nl-Seat Leon FR 2.0 TDI
3. Dave Cox/Race Car Spares & MMC Motorsport-BMW M3 CSL
FL.Dave Cox/Race Car Spares & MMC Motorsport-BMW M3 CSL 2:21.577 (lap 343)


James Foster