The No.3 car began Hour Twenty-One ahead of the No.2 car, but things soon changed - Photo Credit: Chris Gurton Photography
Hour Twenty-One of the Britcar 24 at Silverstone began with a bang as the race leading Topcats Racing No.3 Mosler crashed out of the event.
The car was being driven by Freddie Hetherington at the time, and he fortunately emerged from the incident unscathed. The throttle on the Mosler MT900R was stuck open going through Brooklands and the car went straight-on over the gravel and was buried deep into the tyre wall.
On seeing the accident damage – the car had a hugely crumpled front-end – it was clear that its race was over.
The incident promoted the No 2. Eclipse Motorsport Ferrari, which had been leading for much of the event, back into the lead. The extraction of the Mosler from the safety car was done under the protection of a safety car, which remained deployed for the first fifteen minutes of the twenty-first hour.
The No. 49 Nicholas Mee Aston Martin – a class three car no less – was promoted up to a net second place (assuming it completed enough laps to overhaul the stricken Mosler, which it did), and the No. 57 Marcos Racing Lotus Evora, also a Class Three motor, inherited a net third place.
Things almost unravelled for that No. 57 car when it was give an 8-second stop/go penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Fortunately for the team, the margin over the next team was sufficient for them to avoid losing a place.
2011 Britcar 24 Hours class leaders after hour 21
Class One:
1 – No.2 Ferrari – McInerney/McInerney/Keen
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.68 BMW – Clarke/Gibson/Radcliffe/Hayes
Class Four:
1 – No.89 BMW – Griffiths/Green/Forsbrey/Kirkpatrick
2 – No.84 Seat – Breukers/Thijssen/Jensiew/Han
3 – No.88 Honda – Smail/Meins/Lillingston-Price/Harding
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