Nicholas Mee Racing Aston Martin (Photo Credit: Chris Gurton Photography)
While the Eclipse Motorsport run Ferrari of Sean and Michael McInerney and Phil Keen holds a commanding 15 lap lead at the top of the leaderboard in the Britcar 24 Hours places in the top ten and class podiums remain in flux.
Perhaps the best battle heading into the final hours of the race is the battle for second overall and the Class Three win. Nicholas Mee Racing and Marcos Racing International have been closely matched for much of the second half of the race, with a lap between them and the gap swinging back and forth with their differing pitstop strategies.
The twenty-second hour marked the final -reportedly – driver change stop for NMR with Formula Ford (and Aston GT4) driver Dan de Zille taking the car over for a final stint.
The stop dropped the Aston Martin team back onto the same lap as the chasing Lotus Evora – the gap just 43 seconds, though with the Lotus due a pitstop of its own in the near future De Zille managed the gap, keeping it stable until the beginning of the penultimate hour.
The other class where positions have changed is Class Four with the podium places changing hands. The Mardi Gras Motorsport run Honda Integra fell down the order after assorted driveshaft and gearbox failure, allowing the BMW M3 CSL entered by Dave Cox to take the final podium spot – reprising the same sort of performance the three Cox family members had last year in Ford Escort Cosworth.
At the head of the field Phil Keen took over the now dominant looking Ferrari for his final stint of the race
After fixing their earlier problems the no.27 Topcats Racing Marcos has broken back into the top ten, joining the team's Japanese driven car which ended the hour in fourth place overall and third in Class Three but 18 laps behind the lead pair.
2011 Britcar 24 Hours class leaders after hour 22
Class One:
1 – No.2 Ferrari – McInerney/McInerney/Keen
2 – No.3 Mosler – Beaumont/Fletcher/Draper/Hetherington
2 – No.6 Aquila – Mustill/Berridge/Evans/Marti
Class Two:
1 – No.27 Marcos – Upton/Huggins/Fletcher/Orton
Class Three:
1 – No.49 Aston Martin – Le Blanc/Van Lanschot/De Zille/Nimkoff
2 – No.57 Lotus – Euser/Prewitt/Brody/Freebird/McKinnon
3 – No.53 Marcos – Shimojima/Seya/Kakiuchi/Kikuchi
Class Four:
1 – No.89 BMW – Griffiths/Green/Forsbrey/Kirkpatrick
2 – No.84 Seat – Breukers/Thijssen/Jensiew/Han
3 – No.77 BMW – Cox/Cox/Cox/Stubber
Follow live coverage from The Checkered Flag here: http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2011/10/2011-britcar-24-hours-live-coverage/
