A safety car period began fifteen minutes into the hour. The number 7 TVR Sagaris of team GTF slipped off the circuit at the entrance to Club with a suspected rear suspension failure.
Shortly afterwards, the Eclipse Motorsport's GT2 Mosler rejoined on lap 380, in a lowly 31st place. Later on this lap, Ferrari pitted and used one hit of fuel.
A couple of laps later Jet Alliance decided to bring in their car, the race leader. On the same lap, Topcat pitted from fourth.With the TVR safely removed from track, the safety car came in and racing began at 8:59am.
The Mazda Motors prepared number 86 Mazda MX5 of Mark Ticehurst, Owen Mildenhall, Mike Wildsand Jamie Corstophine ground to a halt, and was towed in with what is believed to be an electrical failure from 19th overall and a highly impressive, third in class.
Upfront, things began to hotten up. Despite being behind the wheel for several laps, Porsche driver Martin Rich suddenly posted times of 2:26.166 and 2:22.459 over successive laps – alarming his Jet Alliance team and preparing MJC Ferrari for a potential win. And, as time marched on, so the Porsche and Ferrari tussled. Continuing the good form of the last 60 minutes, the MJC Ferrari began to take five seconds per lap out of the leader's comfort zone, until the gap was down to two laps – albeit still a healthy margin.
Another impressive performance came from Topcat Racing's Marcos Mantis. The team's never say die attitude has stood them in good stead this weekend and at the end of hour eighteen they were 18th overall and 2nd in class behind the overall race leaders, the Jet Alliance team.
As daylight struggles to breakthrough at Silverstone, the spray and big rooster tails continue to serve as a reminder of the toil the drivers have been through in the past eighteen hours. While Porsche look destined to take the win, there are a lot of people at the circuit keen to see MJC Ferrari continue its Britcar dominance by scooping the 24 hour crown.
Class Standings After Eighteen Hours
Class 1
1 No.8 MJC Limited – Ferrari 430 GTC
2 No.1 Topcat Racing – Mosler MT900R GT2
3 No.4 Strata 21 – Mosler MT900R GT2
Class 2
1 No.22 Jet Alliance – Porsche 997
2 No.21 Topcat Racing – Marcos Mantis GT3
3 No.19 Chesterton Commercial Holdings – Marcos Mantis GT3
Class 3
1 No.42 Neil Garner Racing – Porsche 996 GT3 Cup
2 No.38 AMR Jota Sport – Aston Martin N24 GT4
3 No.44 Welch Motorsport – Seat Leon Supercopa
Class 4
1 No.83 Team LNT – Ginetta G40
2 No.91 Mardi Gras Motorsport – Honda Integra
3 No.73 Dave Cox Motorsport – Ford Escort Cosworth
