Hour nineteen of the 2012 Britcar 24 Hours saw more action in varying forms, including debris being brought into play, which called for yet out another Safety Car period. This occurred when the #52 Corum Sport Chevron GR8 suddenly shed the rear half of its bodywork on the centre of the main straight, and then the marshals were able to retrieve the cover, and return it to its rightful owners.
MP Motorsport still leads overall, as well as Class 2, but was coming under increasing pressure from the #17 Mosler of Neil Garner Motorsport and the MB Racing Aston Martin #18, as the lap times tumbled as conditions were still dry, but with clouds overhead. The Mosler suffered a stuck left rear wheel nut, as two mechanics tried to loosen the nut with a torque wrench, but it was to no avail.
Team LNT seems to relinquish any chance of an over all Class win, as the G55 #6 was held in the pits for at least five minutes, as the team deliberated over what their next course of action would be, before the car was eventually released. It has been a very demanding event for the team, with a car that has never done a 24 hour race before.
Intersport Racing moved up the order once again, and are now lying in 7th place overall, and are still 2nd in Class 3. Perfection Racing’s Aston Martin still holds the Class 3 lead, now in 4th place overall, and MMC Motorsport’s E46 CSL has now moved up to 8th place.
The Rogue Motorsport MR2 was still sitting in the pits, with repairs still ongoing to the #67 car, and Optimum Motorsport were about to let Emily Fletcher exit the pits, before further problems required another trip to the garage, but the team still retain their second position in Class 2, ahead of GT Racing’s #37 Porsche 993.
Class 4 was heating up at the front, as the Dutch Red Camel.nl team’s lead had gone down to just one lap, with Brunswick Automotive’s M3 closing in on their exhaust fumes, with Team Toyota GB still keeping in touch with a podium finish in 3rd place.
2012 Britcar 24 Standings After 19 Hours:
Class One:
1 -MB Racing – West/Wall/Brown/Cripps
2 -Neil Garner Motorsport – White/Cintrano/Morcillo/Sharp
3 – Team LNT – Tomlinson/Kimber-Smith/Dean/Simpson
Class Two:
1 – MP Motorsport – Poole/Symons/Bardwell/Abra (Overall Leaders)
2 – Optimum Motorsport – Osborne/Mowle/Fletcher/Rattenbury
3 – Topcats Racing – Huggins/Bankhurst/Black/Solivellas
Class Three :
1 – Perfection Racing – Spires/Jensen/Johanson/Holmgaard/Klosterman
2- Intersport Racing – Clarke/Radcliffe/Hayes/Gibson
3 –MMC Motorsport – Cox/Borness/Cox/Cox
Class Four :
1 – Brunswick Automotive – Griffiths/Green/Kirkpatrick/Forsbrey
2 – RedCamel.nl – Thijssen/De Heus/Breuker
3 – Team Toyota GB – Hodgetts/Death/Death