The most anticipated day of the event is now upon us and anyone who has spent a day in the paddock will already be suffering from significant hearing loss and wet clothes, well worth it by the way. Regardless, it is now time for all of the competitors and their machines to up the ante for the Kyalami 9 Hour race day.
After some interference from mother nature yesterday, drivers of the Intercontinental GT Challenge and Kyalami 9 Hour struggled to find a gap in the unrelenting Highveld downpour to set their qualifying times.
Expectedly with the drenched road surface as a result of the torrential-esque Johannesburg afternoon downpour and racing on the limit, the safety car was deployed numerous times with a handful of red flags temporarily halting sessions. Unfortunately, the worsening conditions after lunch hindered the day’s proceedings and all of the scheduled events after the BMW M Performance Parts Race Series were cancelled.
This means that Kyalami 9 Hour contenders were unable to complete their standard qualifying or superpole sessions. Organisers made the decision to select times from the 1 hour and 45 minute Pre-Qualifying session that went ahead earlier in the day and most importantly was not affected by the rain.
This means that Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP will start the Kyalami 9 Hour race day from pole position thanks to Jules Gounon’s fastest time of 1m42.465s in the Pre-Qualifying session. The AF Corse #71 Ferrari will start in second thanks to Nicklas Nielsen and who edged just ahead of the #51 sister car driven by Spaniard Miguel Molina.
The battle for the top spot in the Intercontinental GT Challenge is tight, with the #51 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 driven by Côme Ledogar, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi and is two points clear of Markus Winkelhock, Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase who are piloting the Audi Sport R8 LMS GT3. The latter with car #25 only mustered 5th on the starting grid but the manufacturer based Audi Sport brand is safely clear of any threats in the constructors standings.
The overall form of the Evolution 488 GT3’s seems to perform well in race trim but with the possibility of precipitation expected tomorrow, anything can still unfold…
Photos: Alex Shahini (@alexshahini)
