The largest motorsport event on the local calendar kicked off exactly a week ago after being postponed from December of 2021 as a result of the Omicron variant. We have compiled a Kyalami 9 Hour race day gallery which saw AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG take overall honours.
The day kicked off with support races and demonstrations that had historic and highly modified cars take to the damp track after the torrential downpour from the day before. The Saturday schedule remained dry but overcast for the most part, which made life bearable for the pit crews who were donned in heavy fire retarded suits for the duration of the weekend as can be seen in the race day gallery.
The 4,5 km circuit was alive with the sound of old and new for the morning session before the main event kicked off at 13:00 which had all Intercontinental GT Challengers roll like thundering clouds in unison over the start/finish line.
The #89 car of AKKA ASP Mercedes-AMG took overall honours for the local race while the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 celebrated a 2021 Drivers’ Championship with Côme Ledogar, Miguel Molina and Alessandro Pier Guidi piloting the Scarlet Red model to season victory.
The clouds put on a show while keeping any precipitation at bay with the afternoon sunset refracted the sun’s warm colours in the distance. As nightfall descended over the Midrand locale, drivers began illuminating the dim tarmac with the lighting that would enable them to continue their pursuit of millimetre perfection until the end of the race.
At 22:00 on Saturday the 5th of February the chequered flag dropped and the competitors completed their last lap before returning to the pits after 9 gruelling hours of racing. Over this time, several punctures for various cars had pit crews scrambling before scheduled stops while the #71 AF Corse Ferrari retired with an electronic transmission issue and the #75 Sun Energy 1 Mercedes-AMG required a radiator change as the sun was beginning to set.
The grandstands and embankments were at moderate capacity considering the remaining Covid restrictions but we can only hope that rumours about a Formula 1 return to the prestigious racetrack materialise in the coming years. Who knows, if it hadn’t been for covid, we may have already had the top flight of motorsport race through the 16 corner circuit
Photos: Alex Shahini (@alexshahini)
