The sun has set on the Dunlop 24 hours and the rain has arrived.
What began as a light drizzle just before 9pm then turned into a torrential downpour that left drivers on their team radios saying the cars were undrivable. The organisers took notice and the safety car was scrambled. It Briefly went in at around 9:20pm but was then straight back out for a spun car. It finally went in at 9:40.
The Team LNT Ginetta is still leading although it’s been into the garage twice for some problems around the rear wheel area. It had a three lap lead before the problems but this is now down to a single lap. The Peter Cook Audi is in second place having had several drama’s including quite a big off but fortunately it escaped hitting anything solid.
The MJC Ferrari has moved up to third place and is three laps down on the leader. Their slower strategy may be paying off as they seem to have had a trouble free run so far. The Marco Schelp Porsche is in fourth but is a further lap behind third place.
The incredible Beachdean Aston team’s progress continues and they were now up to fifth before their most recent stop. Johnny Adam has been racing in Germany and has just arrived at the circuit for his first stint taking over from boss Andrew Howard. He would probably be considered the faster of the team mates so progress looks set to continue.
The MARC cars/Barwell Ford Focus now moves back up to fifth and has so far been reliable. Their team mates in the Team Russia car seem to have had all the bad luck and are currently in the pits undergoing repairs after a crash. Speedworks continue to pursue Beachdean as the two Aston’s battle for position although Speedworks have nearly dropped a lap back from them now. The Osbourne/May/May Porsche is in eighth with Radical in ninth. The Radical is considerably faster than the Porsche and so they will soon be past into eighth.
Tenth is the St Bas Koeten Racing Seat, still having a strong race leading their class by a lap.
Alice Powell has just gone out for her second stint in the works Aston Martin. She has some work to do as Andrew Palmer, Aston Martin’s new CEO has just brought the car in in fifteenth, fifth in class. Palmer was interviewed on the PA after leaving the car and was hard on himself saying he was the slowest driver in the team. However he was full of praise for Alice;
“How she’s not in an LMP car or even F1 I don’t know. She should have a super licence by now. There’s four of us in the car and she’s seconds a lap quicker than any of us. She’s properly quick, really fast.”
The Fiesta is still going although had a brief garage visit earlier in the evening. Due to others misfortunes they are now up to twenty fourth overall.
The Rollcentre racing BMW seems to have retired having not been seen for hours. The Simon Green Jaguar has also pulled out with gearbox problems. A new gearbox is being delivered but they will be out of contention by the time it arrives. The team say they will take the car out for the finish but they won’t be classified as they won’t have completed enough of the race.
We are now close to a quarter of the way through the race. Our next update will be on Sunday Morning. By Marc Waller
