We’re halfway through the Kyalami 9 Hour and currently, the #34 Walkenhorst BMW of Christian Krognes leads the way ahead of the #42 Schnitzer BMW and #20 GPX Racing Porsche. The top three are close together, within 20 seconds of one another as a result of various caution periods and incidents.
Before the most recent round of stops, Porsche looked in control, sitting 1-2-3 as it did in the first hour. But it’s a different story now, in part because of a collision between the #31 Frikadelli Porsche and GPX example which held the lead.
Frikadelli Racing’s Porsche benefitted greatly from the two safety cars since hour 1, after dropping to 10th it was up to second with Nick Tandy chasing Michael Christensen.
Christensen hit traffic just before the duo were due to make their fifth stop, but when the Dane hit a particular group of back-markers, he was hit from behind from Tandy, who couldn’t slow down quick enough. This caused both cars to spin and lose time, and the #31 crew to be handed a drive-through for the contact.
“It’s deserved,” Tandy admitted after climbing out of the car. “In the end, we spun the 20 car round. Everything stopped much quicker than we all expected, I couldn’t slow down. It’s my mistake, we’ll apologise to the GPX team.
“The first rule at Porsche is don’t touch another Porsche. I was already committed, but I should have given him more space, it’s clear.”
This leaves the #31 Porsche down in 12th, but crucially on the lead lap, and the #20 GPX Porsche third.
As a result, it’s now a BMW 1-2, with Walkenhorst’s Christian Krognes leading Sheldon van der Linde which has recovered well from its rough start to the race.
Hugo de Sadeleer has managed to steer R-Motorsport’s #61 Aston Martin to fourth, ahead of the #18 KCMG Nissan which is still very much a contender here. The #12 Dinamic Porsche is now sixth with Laurens Vanthoor driving, ahead of the #107 Bentley which led for most of the second hour after a gamble on strategy (double-stinting tyres) propelled Jordan Pepper to the front.
There have been several cars that have fallen victim to the race in the first half. Beyond the #999 GruppeM Mercedes, which was eventually found to have had a “damaged coil on cylinder 3” that forced it into retirement on the opening lap, other cars have since retired or hit trouble since the opening hour.
The Honda Team Motul’s NSX was pushed into the garage with mechanical troubles after 55 laps, Garage 59’s Aston Martin too, spent an extended period in the garage but has since rejoin the race. It emerged that a clutch failure caused Chris Goodwin’s off in the opening laps, the team forced to change the clutch and the gearbox (ahead of its next at Bathurst). Local outfit Team Perfect Circle is also still repairing its Porsche in the garage after mechanical issues.
There were also two incidents. The first was an off for Dawie Joubert in the Stradale Lamborghini, which caused an FCY and Safety Car period.
The second was Tristan Vautier leaving the circuit and hitting the barriers head-on in the #44 Strakka Mercedes. Strategy in the pits had vaulted the car to second place after the car was outside the top 10 early on, but he quickly slipped down to fifth and then was forced into retirement after his incident.
The safety car periods have certainly made this an unpredictable race. Most of the field are on varied strategies, meaning the lead constantly changes as the pit cycles are drawn out.
You may be wondering how the Kyalami Circuit has been in racing terms? The short answer is fabulous. This race has been full of entertaining battles, with multiple sequences of this circuit proving to be good overtaking opportunities.
Four and a half hours to go.
Image courtesy of IGTC
