The first day of track action at Kyalami ahead of the 9 Hour on Saturday is over. Following two paid test sessions, the teams headed out to the circuit for Night Practice, where Sheldon van der Linde set the pace for BMW Team Schnitzer in its #42 BMW M6 GT3 before heavy rain arrived.
The South African, who grew up only 10 minutes from the track, set his best time (a 1:42.942) about 30 minutes into the session, which went unmatched after the weather took a turn for the worst.
Chris Mies’ #29 Land Motorsport Audi came closest to bettering the Schnitzer BMW, the German’s time 0.181 off in second. It was incredibly tight, the top-10 covered by under a second.
Michael Christensen’s GPX Racing Porsche briefly led before Van der Linde set his benchmark time, and finished up third, while Nick Tandy slotted Frikadelli’s 911 into fourth. This came after Tandy topped the second test session earlier in the day.
Making it two Audis in the top five was Sheldon’s brother Kelvin, who placed the #25 WRT R8 fifth with a 1:43.284. That time pushed the #12 Dinamic Motorsport Porsche to sixth and the #34 Walkenhorst BMW to seventh.
The remaining spots in the top 10 featured KCMG’s lead #35 Nissan in eighth and the #107 M-Sport Bentley that finished up ninth. The fastest of the Silver class runners, the #9 Lechner Racing Porsche, was 10th quickest.
Elsewhere in the other classes, the #36 Walkenhorst BMW ended up 19th overall and fastest of the three Am class runners. Garage 59’s #188 Vantage ran faster than the #43 Strakka Mercedes in Pro-Am and the #17 Pablo Clark Ferrari topped the National class.
There was one car that didn’t turn a lap in the session, the GruppeM Mercedes AMG GT3 of IGTC Drivers’ Championship leader Maxi Buhk. The car suffered heavy damage after a big off in testing for Maro Engel.
As a result, the team is now in a race against time to get the car ready for Pre-Qualifying and Qualifying tomorrow.
“Not sure what to say apart from a big sorry to the team & my teammates,” said Engel. “Lost the car and couldn’t catch it. The guys are flat out fixing it to try and get us back out asap. Beers definitely on me this weekend.”
Tomorrow track action resumes with Pre Qualifying at 10:50 am local time.
Image courtesy of IGTC
