Franco Scribante, Silvio Scribante, and Andre Bezuidenhout, they are the team drivers. But no ABS on the Perfect Circle Porsche. Bentley and Audi in the lane. Marcus Winkelhock, and Jordan Pepper. Estre and Olsen are half a second apart as Laurens Vanthoor pits from fourth. They are doing a driver change, switching over to either Earl Bamber or Matt Campbell, getting new tires. KUS Team75 Bernhard, and Lechner Racing pit, and so does Oliviera in the #35 KCMG Nissan. Both lead cars are in the lane, in tandem. One hour and five minutes done. Driver change for #20. But what about #31? Yes. Richard Lietz is into the GPX car and Matthieu Jaminet is in the Frikadelli car. They will change tires on the #20 machine. Wow. They said., "we'll double stint." Not now. Honda #30 is in the lane, too. That's the Cameron/Bonanomi/Baguette car. Bertrand Baguette, Dane Cameron, and Marco Bonanomi.
Now, Jordan Pepper and Gary Paffett lead as they did not change tires. But how long will it be before their old tires are knackered? Mercedes vs. Bentley vs. Porsche. 37 laps in the bag. Jordan Pepper leads his home race so far. Bentley will go short with one car and long with the other on their pit strategy. Earl Bamber is at the wheel of the #12 Porsche. The Dinamic car. He is pressing the Silver Cup leading Mrcedes. Not sure which number that car is. Hang on. That's the Patrick Assenheimer driven car headed around for another lap headed for Crowthorne. Bamber moves outside and makes the pass stick. Fresh tires are a good thing. Porsche is quicker on pace than the Benz. Richard Lietz in car #20 is the next motorcar on Bamber's shopping list.
Bamber will want a bite of that cherry, indeed. Matthieu Jaminet is now eighth after losing time in the lane. Jordan Pepper ran a 1:44.3, and Paffett, a 1:44.167. He's still on old tires. Traditionally, the Mercedes is very easy on it's tires. It's a good gamble for Mercedes. Coming out of Clubhouse, there's clag all over the road. It may be from the support race for the Volkswagen Polo's that took place before we started. Perfect Circle are having issues, and they are going to the garage. Not good. The ABS is not working. Nobody double stints tires at Spa Francorchamps for instance. But maybe, they can do so here at Kyalami. The Porsche leaders were going to change tires. The pressures have not been where they wanted. We need to stay dry for double stinting tires. If it rains, that idea is tossed out the window.
Christopher Mies has taken over thw Land Audi. Power steering issues for the Porsche #09. Bently #107 is still leading. Jordan Pepper is on a cruise in clear air at the moment. H's catching lapped cars. He goes by the #9 Porsche for Lechner Motorsports, with Saul Hack at the controls. They wriggle through Crocodile. The two Porsche's ahead of Maxi Gotz are pushing, and so is Christopher Mies, closing on Patrick Assenheimer back to Crowthorne. Mies is pressing hard. Saul Hack sharing with Lars Kern and Dylan Pereira. A South African, a German, and a Dutchman. Battles all over the road. Hard to follow everything.
Matthieu Jaminet and Marco Bonanomi had some argby bargy in turn 16, rattling over the curbs. Is that hard racing? Maybe. 46 laps now in the book. Nick Catsburg is all over Marco Bonanomi after Bonanomi's fracas earlier. Dane Cameron had a great first stint, and Bonanomi is actually working hard on keeping the car in position. We've been racing for almost an hour and a half. They slide through Leeukop. Maxi Gotz continues to push, and he's right behind Bamber, look, through Sunset. Bamber is being gapped by Richard Lietz. Maxi Gotz wants to make a move on Bamber through Crocodile, towards Cheetah, and onto the front straight.
Matthieu Jaminet is signaled with a driving standards flag from the stewards. It's an unfair maneuver by shoving the outside car offline. He will cop a penalty for that. Maxi Gotz will stay out for 15 more laps according to the strategy reckoning here. Edoardo Liberati in the other KCMG Nissan has done a best first sector time. Liberati is in the #18 car. The Italian sharing with Alexandre Imperatori of Switzerland, and Briton Oliver Jarvis. Lest we forget, the hometown hero, Jordan Pepper leads this motor race for Bentley. They did not change tires yet. They are consolidating their lead over the second place Strakka Mercedes, with Gary Paffett at the wheel of it.
The Bentley is very agile on it's tires. Oh no. Capital T trouble as Marco Bonanomi has passed Nicky Catsburg into Leeukop. Catsburg tried to pass Bonanomi before he had to know discretion was the better part of valor. Henry Walkenhorst in the sister Walkenhorst car, is ahead. Mr. Walkenhorst, who owns the team, is a car dealer for a living. Edoardo Liberati is going to have a go at Marco Bonanomi. It's Honda vs. Nissan. Through into Crowthorne another time. Maximilian Buhk, he never came to the end of the first sector on the first lap with his terminal trouble. He must be gutted.
Bonanomi makes the pass again through Leeukop. 52 laps now on the board. Bentley continues to lead. Johnny Westbrook, team boss for Perfect Circle, has been summoned to the stewards for a discussion. The temperatures are comfortable for spectators, but not in these GT3 cars for the drivers, so, they are using cool suits. The WRT Audi in it's zebra livery, is still struggling. Porsche's are still in front, and the #10 Mercedes is right there. The Bentley is still leading. We have quite the variety of cars in contention. Maxi Goetz might just be champ here today in IGTC. Matt Campbell is fighting with Maxi Goetz for the tiutle. This is the championship fight, right here. The bell has rung, and the fight is on. Ding, ding, ding.
Maxi Goetz is chasing Earl Bamber as well. A bloke flying under the radar is Christopher Mies in the Audi. He's coming into the third place battle. He is sixth overall now. There's some wisps of smoke from the Honda on the overrun through Crocodile. That vapor is coming out of the left bank of cylinders and that V6 motor might be getting sick. 57 laps now on the board. 162 miles now complete. Jordan Pepper, the hometown hero, is still leading the motor race. Lietz, Bamber, Goetz, and Mies are in the hunt. Audi got a 35 kilogram weight break yesterday, but it was something the blokes at Audi were complaing about. But, it is helping. The Audi, look, is in the top six. Trouble is, they don't have enough power. You need to bring some more power, and the blokes at Audi don't quite have it.
Honda in the garage, and well, oil smoke means the motor is busted. The race car is a combustion engine car, not a hybrid like the road car. Now, pit stop time for Mercedes #10. Goetz is out and into the car goes either Yelmer Buurman or Luca Stolz. It could be Yelmer Buurman, the Dutchman. Weather is 46% humidity and a temperature of about 29 degrees Celsius. 84.2 degrees Fahrenheit. We are working lap 60. 171 miles. Marco Bonanomi said there was a warning light on the dash. The pit crew are working on the car. It was a temperature gauge saying that something was in the red. That's very disappointing. Christopher Mies, meanwhile, look, is just 6/10ths behind Earl Bamber.
Nicky Catsburg wriggles through Crocodile in hot pursuit of Katsumasa Chiyo of Japan. Chiyo san is a former Blancpain GT champion. Chiyo wants by Patrick Assenheimer in the #6 Mercedes for Black Falcon, still on the original set of boots. Boots = tires. Christopher Mies wants by Earl Bamber headed to Ingwe. That's Leopard corner, remember. This is getting ugly. Be careful, lads. Chiyo is still stuck behind the Mercedes in Silver Cup. Assenheimer stays right and opens the door for Chiyo. Game over for the Honda. No more racing. It's retired due to oil failure. A connecting rod or a valve has malfunctioned. Christopher Mies, the meat in the sandwich. Lietz, Bamber, Mies. Matthieu Jaminet is still in contention. He was 2.7 seconds behind Mies in the Frikadelli Porsche.
We'll see Nick Tandy fly later on. He flew in the pole shootout yesterday. Earl Bamber goes up the curb. Mies has a look, trying to unsettle Earl Bamber. No dice, mate. They're still pressing each other. Bamber said, "hey Chris, I'm tired of seeing you in my mirrors, so I'll let you go for the moment. Here, mate, step through the door." Matthieu Jaminet is coming, as well. He's another hot shoe. Gary Paffett pits from second in the #44 Strakka Racing Mercedes at 65 laps, 185 miles. New boots for the Mercedes after the first set of Pirelli tires were double stinted. Mies on the attack, bounncing over the curbs. He made the move, and Mies was dirt tracking that Audi! Yikes!
Yelmer Buurman scores a 1:43.1, fastest lap so far. He's back to the races even though he's 16th overall. Pirelli's tires are running real well, and the drivers are running well, too, on a physical track. You aren't in an open cockpit prototype or a single seater. Matty Campbell is two points clear of Maxi Buhk for the championship, 60-58. Perfect Circle are back into the race now. We're back to the battle for second through fifth. An Audi vs. thre ePorsche's as Jordan Pepper needs to get to lap 72 for his next stint. He's been running extremely well. Bentley is back into the fight. They'll lose spots on the next stop they can regain.
Lamborghini #13 pits. We'll talk about them. I promise.
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