The Wolf CN of Motionsport has carried James Fletcher and Pete Storey to their first race win of the Britcar Endurance Championship season in the first of two races at Silverstone. The #25 CN Prototype battled race long with the Mosler of Martin Short, claiming victory through Woodcote on the last of 43 laps.
Early action saw the Wolf romp away at the front of the pack chased by the Mosler ‘SuperGT’ of Short. The job of chasing was passed to the BMW M3 GT4 of Kevin Clarke and Anna Walewska but the BMW couldn’t keep pace with James Fletcher at the wheel of the Protype race leader. A 30 second lead saw Fletcher into the pits but Storey couldn’t keep up the pace. The Mosler of Short was returned to second place by the stops.
Championship protagonists in the form of the Neil Garner Motorsport Mosler MT900 GT3 of Javier Morcillo and Manuel Cintrano and the FF Corse Ferrari 458 Challenge of the solo-running Calum Lockie were unable to keep up with the leading pair. Lockie drove a considered race to sixth overall but an un-opposed victory in class 2. For the first time this year all the class one runners finished and finished in a solid block.
Nathan Freke and Ian Stinton for Stark Racing took fourth in the class ahead of the Rapier SR2 of Mike Millard.
Lockie finished three laps clear of his sole classified class rival, the Porsche 997 GT3 Cup from Newbridge Motorsport, driven by Guillume Gruchet. An extended stop for the Ferrari 430 Challenge of Charlie Hollings and Peter Gbedemah left the visiting Track Focussed machine stranded in the pits from just before two thirds distance to the end of the race, meaning the pair failed to classify.
The sole other classified runner, the #36 Century Motorsport Ginetta G50 of Nathan Fresle and Zoe Wenham, split the class two finishers for seventh overall.
While there were no retirements officially, the Jensen Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT3 of Alistair Lindsey developed gear shift issues, which caused a brief off track moment. Jensen Lunn took over the car, which replaces the Chevron totalled in an accident at Oulton Park, before he developed an overheating issue which forced the car to the pits. The team couldn’t get the problem sorted in time for the second race of the day an so they packed up and headed home.
The final casualty of the race also managed to take second place! The Short Mosler looked set for victory, leading the race with six seconds of advantage into the final lap. Coming through Brooklands on the final tour however disaster struck. The cam chain on the LS7 V8 snapped, robbing the car of power and Martin Short of a victory on debut.
That left the Wolf CN to take victory, with none more surprised by the result than Pete Storey at the wheel of the car. He was so surprised by the turn of events he turned in two cooling down laps before heading to pit lane to prepare for qualifying for the second race.
The Mosler was packed away and gone before the start of the final race.