Topcats Racing’s Marcos Mantis GT cars showed to a crowded Castle Combe that even a £½ m GT2 Ferrari can’t necessarily beat the years of development that have gone in to making the aging Marcos one of the fastest racing GT cars in the UK.
Although the Marcos of Neil Huggins and Raphael Fiorentino was pipped to pole position by 1 tenth of a second by the Aaron Scott Ferrari, the championship leading GT2 Ferrari of Gamski/Robinson sat on the second row for the start of the race, as did the Ferrari 430 of Cameron/Edmonson. It was a great sight to see the Marcos fronting the prancing horses.
Topcats-the Racing Team synonymous with Endurance Racing was faced with a new challenge this weekend, competing for honours in the launch of the very first GT Trophy Endurance Race….read team correspondent Jon Harrison’s thrilling account of the race.
Topcats Racing could taste victory in the closing stages of the race at Snetterton on Saturday in the 150 minute Britcar Endurance Championship, but bad luck put an end to the team’s expectations of an outright win.
Despite opposition from the class 1 contenders of McInerney/McInerney in the Mosler MT900GT3 and the Gamski/Robinson Ferrari 430 GT2, the flying Topcats Racing Class 2 Marcos Mantis, driven by Huggins and Fiorentino, were odds on to win the race as the final pit stops played out.
Ben Clucas, driving the Topcats Racing Runnymede Mosler in the Dutch Supercar Challenge at Silverstone GP is all over the back of Martin Short’s ‘Development’ works Mosler, but, oh boy, does Short’s new aerodynamic kit make his car pull away down the straights. Clucas finally makes a ‘do or die’ maneouvre to get past and makes it stick.
Unpredictable weather set the scene for the Friday qualifying session and Saturday’s race in the British opening round of the Dutch Supercar Challenge at the Silverstone GP Circuit. With just a 20 minute qualifying session split between two drivers, the opportunity to post a pole grabbing lap would be limited to two or three laps. Andrew Beaumont was tasked with setting the opening qualifiers in the MT900 GT3 spec car and pitting a handful of minutes later to relay the car to the reigning Britcar 500 champ, Ben Clucas.
Topcats Racing were pleased to introduce two new drivers who are set to campaign a full season in the Britcar Endurance Championship for title honours. Owen O’Neill, who has signed to drive the GT3 Marcos Mantis and partnering regular team driver Henry Fletcher for the Brands Hatch race, had been competing in the TVR Challenge Championship and has also had a very successful outing in the same Marcos in the Britcar 24hr race at Silverstone in 2008.
Raphael Fiorentino, Autosport’s rated top 5 club racer, who raced with the team in the season finale last year, will partner Neil Huggins who has graduated from the GT3 into the GT2 Marcos Mantis.
With drivers of the Britcar Championship newly adjusted to racing in the dark from the 6 hr race in October, the finale of the 2009 championship, aptly titled, ‘Into the Night’ was sure to provide a spectacle for spectators, able to view almost the whole of the Brands Hatch Indy circuit owed to its amphitheatre-like characteristics.
Qualifying was staged in the twilight, readying drivers for an unlit night time race. Class 3 contenders, Jon Harrison and Neil Huggins, who, having only had his stitches out from an operation to put in a metal plate in his collarbone that week, did a sterling job, placing their Marcos Mantis 12th on the grid of 32 cars. The class 2 Marcos Mantis driven by Henry Fletcher and newcomer to the series, Raphael Fiorentino also put in an impressive qualifying lap to secure 9th. Further up the grid, Andrew Beaumont and Richard Fores, on only his 2nd invitation to drive the Mosler managed to qualify 5th ahead of the Sumpter/Slater Porsche 911RSR.
Team, drivers, partners and supporters of the Topcats Runnymede Homes Mosler had much to celebrate as the chequered flag fell to mark the end of an historic and highly memorable Britcar 500 race.
From the start, the Topcats Mosler was the car to beat as the Ben Clucas and Pat Gormley duo secured pole for the race, albeit just 10th’s of a second separating the leading three Moslers. Regular driver and owner of the Runnymede Homes Mosler, Andrew Beaumont, had decided to take a different role for the race and join the team strategists in the pit garage. 2nd place on the grid went to Le Mans driver, Calum Lockie and his co-driver Paul White and in 3rd spot, Mosler specialist, Phil Keen and his co-drivers, McInerney Jr. & Sr.
Both the Marcos GT2 and GT3 cars and their respective drivers would show the rest of the field just what they are capable of in outright speed and what is required to assert their domination in a qualifying lap.
Even with the likes of the rival McInerney Mosler and Sumpter Porsche RSR and a host of other state of the art Porsches and Ferrari’s, the Marcos’s caused a shockwave in the 30 minute qualifying session.
With 3 drivers, Mick Mercer, Richard Fores and Luc Paillard to qualify in the GT2 Marcos, time was going to be valuable.
First to qualify was Mercer, tasked with curing the tyres in preparation for a number of quick laps, some of which would be his own but ultimately the best lap would come a little later when the tyres would be at their best.
After Warren Gilberts recent return to racing, it was deemed time for wife Charlotte to return to the racing seat after a 4 year sabbatical to have 2 children. With the Mosler remaining at the workshop in preparation for the 24hr race at Zolder, it was left to the 2 Marcos Mantis race cars to uphold the teams honour.
The weekend also saw the return of Richard Fores after missing the previous races of 2009. He would be partnering Mick Mercer in the GT2 Marcos and Charlotte in the GT3 Marcos with regular driver Jon Harrison.
With limited testing on the Friday, only Jon Harrison and Charlotte Gilbert made the most of the 3 fifteen minute sessions a piece. Charlotte settled into the car more quickly than expected and was able to better her team mate’s best lap by the end of the session.
The final 2 sessions were academic as they were both red flagged early and never restarted.
Even with the likes of the rival McInerney Mosler and Sumpter Porsche RSR and a host of other state of the art Porsches and Ferrari’s, the Marcos’s caused a shockwave in the 30 minute qualifying session.