Excitement from the off as the Britcar 24hrs gets underway
Posted 20th September 2008 by David Cooke
The Tour arrived at a surprisingly sunny and warm Silverstone on Thursday for Britain’s answer to the Le Mans 24hrs.
The Britcar 24hr race is underway here at Silverstone is dramatic style before the start the No 2 pole sitting Eclipse Mosler did not take the start due to a last minute engine change. This left there team mate the No 3 car driven by Adam Sharpe to head the rolling start. As the flag dropped the madness began when the lead car’s tail stepped out as he crossed the line to begin the race. Carnage then prevailed as the Mosler span just missing the pit wall on the front straight, the 2nd placed TVR then span in avoidance hitting the wall hard under the bridge on the straight, he then carried back on to the circuit and was then t-boned by the Ginetta G50 of Richard Deane, the No 12 Marcos Mantis was also involved in the incident. Ambulances were straight at the seen for the injured TVR driver of Andy Neate, eye witnesses claimed the drive was unconscious as the car came to a stop along the pit wall. After Neate was cut of the car by fire crews he was then taken to the medical centre and then airlifted to a local hospital for further checks.
The No 2 Mosler joined the race under the safety car after the engine change but is in last place and 4 laps down. But after a few laps the car returned to the garage as began to leak oil around the whole circuit. The safety car was out for 58 minutes while the incidents were attended too.
Apart from that the racing has been clean so far Strakka Racing BMW has been in the pits but they are not admitting to any problem when speaking with Christian Vann he said “We got caught up in the crash at the start and picked up some debris.” Both Eclipse Moslers have also been in the pits with problems as the No 2 car is now over 30 laps down. The Orica Viper GT3 has been in and out of the garage with trouble, another nightmare for the team came last night as Ben Devlin walked out on the team just hours before the night qualifying. 2007 British GT Champion Alex Mortimer was called up to replace him.
James Kaye is up to 18th Place so far in the Mitsubishi Evo 10 after starting 51st. This car is not expected to last the full 24 hrs as the car was still on the drawing board 3 weeks ago and was only finished being put together Friday afternoon.
At the end of hour 2 the top five are:
1. No 9 Marcos Mantis
2. No 28 Tischner Motorsport BMW M3
3. No 29 Topcats Racing Marcos Mantis
4. Intersport Racing BMW M3
5. CWS 4X4 Spares BMW M3
