Britcar Races into the Night with Exciting Season Finale at Brands Hatch

Monday, 21 November 2011 08:00

The 2011 Britcar Into The Night Race treated the big crowd of fans at the Brands Hatch circuit to spectacular racing.

This wasn’t the only treat with a floodlit pitlane and barely lit track creating a unique atmosphere and bringing a flavour of Le Mans to Brands Hatch. It was the Marcos Mantis of Owen O’Neil and Henry Fletcher who took the chequered flag in the darkness after three hours and one minute of racing to taking victory for Topcat Racing.

The drama began before the first lap of the race with the Barwell Motorsport Ginetta G55 of Mark Lemmer, Ben Butler and Tom Kimber-Smith, which had qualified on pole, pulling off as the cars took off for their first warm up lap. The Go Green Motorsport Honda NSX of David Fenn, Rob Fenn and Rob Barff did not even make the warm up lap after suffering from engine problems.

With the pole sitter being pushed back down pit lane to the garage it was the Dodge Viper of Craig Wilkins and Aaron Scott who led the field away as the cars set off on their first lap. The first safety car was called only a few laps later to after the Lotus Elise of Richard Chamberlin and Nigel Greensall went into the gravel trap. After the restart on lap six Scott immediately began to build margin over the field only to retire to the garage with a fuel pressure problem a few laps later. The GT3 Racing Dodge Viper rejoined the race at the two hour mark, 119 laps down, but Scott and Wilkins were still able to take the overall championship victory by virtue of the points received for starting the race.

The retirement of the Viper saw the Porsche of Rod Barrett and Jay Shepherd inherit the lead. It looked like the second placed Ginetta of Lee Mowle, Joe Osbourne and George Murrels would take this from them but it was the Marcos Mantis of Topcats Racing’s Neil Huggins and Jon Harrison who overtook both to take over the lead of the race on lap 23. However after overtaking the Porsche the Ginetta fought back, putting pressure on the leader before both cars pitted. Behind them the Barwell Motorsports Ginetta of Lemmer/Butler/Kimber-Smith rejoined the field 27 laps down after the drive shaft was replaced in a staggering 24 minutes.

Power steering issues saw the end of any chance of the Huggins/Harrison Marcos Mantis retaking the lead after their pitstop. It was their Topcat Racing team mates Owen O’Neil and Henry Fletcher who looked set to be the new lead challengers as they began to slash the margin to the Barrett/Shepherd Porsche. The O’Neil/Fletcher Mantis took the lead on lap 95. They then began to build margin on the field, extending their lead to three laps before being one of the last cars to pit.

This setup an exciting race to the finish in the final hour of the race as the Barrett/Shepherd Porsche edged closer to the O’Neil/Fletcher Mantis. The Eurotech Racing Porsche of Morgan, Phillip and Gareth Jones was able to overtake the Mowle/Osbourne/Murrels Ginetta for third but with their two pit stops to the one completed by the two leading cars were unable to challenge further. A final safety car on lap 177 saw the gap between the leading Mantis and Porsche reduced to just five seconds. With traffic to get past first Barrett had a battle on his hands in the Porsche but pushed hard only to see the team’s chance of victory slip away after a spin.

After three hours and one minute and a record 201 laps which began in the sun and ended in the darkness, the Top Cat Racing Marcos Mantis of Owen O’Neil and Henry Fletcher took a comfortable victory ahead of the Rod Barrett and Jay Shepherd Porsche and the Eurotech Racing Porsche of Morgan, Phillip and Gareth Jones.

In the Production GTN race, which ended at the two hour mark, the Intersport Motorsport BMW M3 of Wayne Gibson and Kevin Clarke crossed the line first ahead of the Mazda MX5 of Mark Ticehurst and Owen Mildenhall and the Lotus Elise of Simon Phillips and Ben Gower.

Britcar Into the Night Race Top 10:
1. O'Neill/Fletcher, Marcos Mantis, 201 laps
2. Barrett/Shepherd, Porsche 997, +13.507s
3. Jones/Jones/Jones, Porsche 997, +23.835s
4. Mowle/Osbourne/Murrells Ginetta +2laps
5. Mardenborough/Heitkotti, Nissan GT4, +2 laps
6. Bailey/Schulz, Ferrari 430, +3 laps
7. Norris-Jones/Mussi, Lotus Exige, +9 laps
8. Huggins/Harrison, Marcos Mantis, +21 laps
9. Lemmer/Butler,Kimber-Smith, Ginetta G55, +31 laps
10. Bryant/Bryant, Marcos Mantis, +32 laps By Chelsea Woods , Photos by Marc Waller