Eclipse Motorsport makes a pitstop by night (Photo Credit: Chris Gurton Photography)
Hour seven saw the Aquila challenge falter at the Britcar 24 hours as a broken driveshaft confined the team to the garage.
The seventh hour began with the field still under the safety car and the No.6 Aquila had a comfortable lead of three laps. The 51-minute safety car period came to an end early in the hour and the racing resumed.
Then, 35 minutes into hour seven and the No.2 Eclipse Motorsport Ferrari, who had been catching the Aquila at a rate of about five seconds a lap, suddenly jumped up into the lead. The yellow Aquila had stopped out on track at Vale, and it continued to slide down the standings for the rest of the hour whilst the car was recovered and then worked on in the garage.
The No. 3 Topcats Racing Mosler received a 30-second stop/go penalty soon after the safety car came in. Despite this though, the team still managed to finish the hour in second, thanks to the failure of the Aquila.
Another Topcats Racing car – the No. 53 Marcos, also received a stop/go +30 penalty during hour seven, as did the Class Four No.99 MG.
Further down the field, the No.4 Mosler, which had earlier been suffering a fuel pressure regulation problem, was now fixed and setting lap times that were on a par with the leaders. They would have been back in contention but, unfortunately for the team, the repairs had left them 40 laps down.
2011 Britcar 24 Hours Class Leaders after Hour Seven:
Class One:
1 – No.2 Ferrari – McInerney/McInerney/Keen
2 – No.3 Mosler – Beaumont/Fletcher/Draper/Hetherington
3 – No.1 Ferrari – Gamski/Robinson/Gaw/Dryburgh
Class Two:
1 – No.27 Marcos – Upton/Huggins/Fletcher/Orton
2 – No.5 Porsche – Konopka/O’Donnell/Myszkowski/Lewandowski/Edwards
3 – No.30 Ginetta – Tomlinson/Short/Turkington/Simspson/Nicoll-Jones
Class Three:
1 – No.57 Lotus – Euser/Prewitt/Brody/Freebird/McKinnon
2 – No.49 Aston Martin – Le Blanc/Van Lanschot/De Zille/Nimkoff
3 – No.46 Lotus – Storey/Mitson/Gower/Rowland
Class Four:
1 – No.83 Lotus – Chamberlain/Randeria/Fillingham/Webb
2 – No.88 Honda – Smail/Meins/Lillingston-Price/Harding
3 – No.89 BMW – Griffiths/Green/Forsbrey/Kirkpatrick
Follow live coverage from The Checkered Flag here: http://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2011/10/2011-britcar-24-hours-live-coverage/
