The 2016 Britcar Endurance Championship came to an end last month at Brands Hatch with a thrilling race that was reminiscent of Britcar’s glory days whilst also showing great potential for 2017. The Mosler MT900R of Spanish pairing Javier Morcillo and Manuel Cintrano fought a tremendous battle against the Audi R8 LMS GT3 of champions-elect Nigel Moore and Phil Hansen, but the seasoned campaigners at the NGMSport team took the victory barely half a second in front of the Audi.
The result was enough for Moore and Hansen to clinch the championship just one point ahead of the Century Motorsport Ginetta G55 GT4 of Stephen Fresle and Jacob Mathiassen.
Morcillo started the race from second place, but was gifted a clear track when Phil Hansen at the wheel of the Audi R8 found the Clearways gravel trap on the parade lap and upon extraction would start from the back of the grid. This left Morcillo with a clear run into the Paddock Hill bend and despite a challenge from the FF Corse Ferrari 458 GT3 of Calum Lockie, Morcillo allowed the Ferrari to outbrake itself and run wide, leaving the Mosler a clear run up to Druids.
For 40 minutes Morcillo was on his own, running into the Kent sunset and building up a 10 second lead over the chasing Ferrari. However, Lockie was up to the challenge and started to close the gap after 15 laps and got the deficit down to half a second before an incident saw him drop back 7 seconds as Morcillo pitted to hand over to Manuel Cintrano.
The story of the race, however, came in the final hour when Morcillo got back behind the wheel of the Mosler. He exited the pit lane with an 11-second lead over Nigel Moore in the Audi which had fought its way back into contention. The maths had been done and it seemed Moore would only catch Morcillo on the final lap. In racing, however, nothing is certain and with just 12 minutes remaining the Mosler had a coming together with a slower car at Graham Hill bend.
The seconds lost were enough to put the Audi right into contention and the run to the line saw one of the closest Britcar finishes in recent times. Despite a severely damaged wheel, Morcillo drove hard and with Nigel Moore in the Audi gave the spectators a real show before taking the chequered flag less than half a second in front of the Audi.
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