The overnight news from the Dunlop 24 Hours at Silverstone paddock is mixed as race day dawns. Of the 29 cars which made the entry, we are down to 28 but several cars who came to grief in the night qualifying session will make race start.
#76 Simon Green Motorsport Jaguar XKR-S.
The Simon Green Motorsport Jag ended its night qualifying session on a rope after the team battled all day to get the car past the scrutineers. The team of Simon Green, Freddy Hunt and Nigel Rata finally got the go-ahead to race in the minutes before the green light went on at the end of the pit lane. Freddy was at the wheel when the car stopped later in the session, after a low fuel run turned into a no fuel run.
#91 MARC Cars Australia and #92 Team Russia by Barwell Motorsport MARC Ford Focus.
The night qualifying session was not exactly easy for our friends from Australia. The MARC Cars Australia team and their customers Team Russia by Barwell Motorsport both suffered rear end damage to their Ford Focus V8 silhouette racers. The first to suffer was the Team Russia entry, which sustained damage to both rear wishbones and some extensive body damage in the opening minutes of the action. Nobody saw the incident and the team were not forthcoming.
The factory entered machine managed most of the session unscathed until it encountered oil at the Vale. One big shunt later and the car was limped back towards the pit lane, eventually to draw to a stop at the loop, causing the second of two night time safety cars.
The John Stack Ferrari 430 lies broken and abandoned in parc ferme. (Credit: Nick Smith/Theimageteam.com)
#16 John Stack Ferrari 430 Challenge.
We have no idea what happened to the John Stack, Alan Brown, Rory Brown and Aldo Riti Ferrari 430 Challenge. We don’t know who was driving it or exactly where the accident happened because the team were more than aware that it was game over as soon as the car got back. It was a big shunt, around the Wing area of the circuit and as you can see the damage is extensive.
#65 Mensley Motorsport Ford Fiesta.
Adopted as the darling of the paddock, the plucky little Ford Fiesta of Paul Mensley, Nick Boon, James Ashton, Mike Nash and Paul Anderton did rather well in the night session, keeping within a second and a half of their qualifying time. That was until a left rear hub failure. The car was returned to race control with nine minutes left in the session. The team recovered the car to the garage, replaced the hub and sent their final driver out to complete his three mandatory laps at night with five minutes left on the clock. Kwik-fit, eat your heart out.
