Michael Christensen passes the lapped Ferrari. Tristan Vautier is off the road! He's in the barriers! Now, Christian Krognes is monstering the Porsche of Michael Christensen! That's a massive shunt into the barriers. Game over for Strakka Racing. That is near Mine Shaft. The white flag is at the top of Leeukop and the marshals are warning the drivers. Itr's wall off the road, past the gravel trap. Maybe we won't need a Full Course Yellow. For the moment, look, the cars are still racing. The lead car is slowing compared to the cars behind it! What is that? It's the ebb and flow of this motor race. Crazy stuff. Perfect racing conditions. A day or so ago, we were in a deluge of rain. All of this, is not helping Mercedes in the manufacturer's championship. Four Porsche's vs. two Mercedes'. Four bullets, vs. two. Stuttgart can celebrate either way.
Ah. We do go Full Course Yellow as the marshals try to remove the Strakka Mercedes. Christian Krognes takes the gamble, diving for the pit lane on lap 102. 291 miles done. Krognes drove through the lane. No pit stop? That's odd. He pulled in and the team was not ready to service the car. Audi #29 in the lane for Team Land. They have a drive through penalty for not grounding the car on one of the previous stops. This is a tire change, but it might have done the drive through. It's down off the air jacks, and is sitting there, so maybe it is taking the penalty now. He's back in the race now.
BMW #34 has reset the driver stint clock for a fresh 65 minutes. Schnitzer did this at the Suzuka 10 Hours if you watched the video of that race. You have to think on your feet. Back in the '60s, you went through the motions, but now, it is a race for the flag. You can't just chill out and enjoy your sausage roll for lunch and say, "OK, we're good." We remain under Full Course Yellow. The safety car is on standby. That 2010-2014 997 model 911 is of course paying tribute to the Porsche 917 that won here in 1969, of Richard Attwood and David Piper. It's an older car, and they want to get to the finish. Go Perfect Circle! There is a Porsche 917 here at the track at Kyalami, being displayed. There were only 25 of those cars built.
We are now back under the Safety Car. We are readying for the restart. Christensen, Tandy, Krognes, Gounon, Campbell, Vanthoor (Dries Vanthoor), Burdon, Jarvis, Soucek, and Sheldon van der Linde. Porsche, Porsche, BMW, Bentley, Nissan, Nissan, Bentley, BMW. The tire wall is being reconstructed and rebound with conveyor belt so the tires don't split and scatter all over the place. There's still more time needed to repair the barriers. We have not had any double winners in IGTC. Every race so far has seen a different winner at Bathurst, Laguna Seca, Spa, and Suzuka. #35 has had a ten second penalty added to it's next pit stop. We continue under the safety car.
We have had a few pit stops. Hubert Haupt and Oliver Jarvis have both been in the lane. Ten second penalties as well for a couple more cars, one of which is the #36 Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW, the Walkenhorst/Von Rooyen/Bonafede car. Kyalami has always been a great track, but it is now a blend of the old and the new. The track is cleaned up and barriers repaired. We're set to resume the motor race. Mike Christensen backs up Nick Tandy and hits the gas pedal early. Tandy runs wide at the exit of Barbeque, and into Sunset, Tandy is slightly offline, and Krognes does the crisscross and makes the move! Krognes did an amazing job there! Last year's Spa 24 winner. Matty Campbell tries the Bentley out of Leeukop, but no dice.
Sheldon van der Linde is pressing past Andy Soucek into Ingwe. Poor old Jake Dennis can't get through the lapped traffic. He's swamped. Campbell is off in the dust! He's doing some off roading there, look. Sven Mueller is in a hurry as well, look, pressing Andy Soucek. Michael Christensen leads, but is being hounded by Christian Krognes. Nothing has changed at the sharp end, but it could. Stay tuned. Jake Dennis is fourth in line, but is a lap down, 16th overall. Dennis Olsen is ahead in the driver's cup right now. Maxi Buhk may just have to settle for third in the points. Krognes has the afterburners on right now! He could win, maybe. But, we still have just under five and a half hours left.
Jules Gounon will pass Jake Dennis. Poor old Jake Dennis is just way down the order. Remember, Matt Campbell beat Jake Dennis to the victory in the season opener, the Bathurst 12 Hours, back in February. Nick Tandy is getting a response from Christian Krognes. No worries for Nick Tandy on the most recent pit stop about a position gained in an unorthodox manner. We wonder and wait if the weather gods are going to flip the script and bring some rain. So far, that has not happened. The Frikadelli team, is from the Nurburgring 24 Hours, but its being run by Manthey Racing, the factory GT3 Porsche team. Bentley #108 is on it's last warning for track limits. Andy Soucek, Steven Kane, and Rodrigo Baptista, the Spaniard, the Brit, and the Brazilian.
We are working lap 119. 339 miles run. Nissan #35 is in the lane. Josh Burdon will be serving a penalty. Bentley #107 is also in the pit lane, and will change over to another driver. Jules Gounon out, and either Maxime Soulet or Jordan Pepper, back in. Audi's are running ninth and tenth in the overall. Dries Vanthoor vs. Markus Winkelhock. Christensen is alive now, and he has to move Alexander West out of the way. No third gear for the #09 Porsche. Game over. Some snap oversteer from Krognes. He loses a shade of time relative to Michael Christensen in the lead.
Nick Tandy is still pressuring Christian Krognes. 124 laps done and dusted. 353 miles. Around 16 laps before the next round of pit stops. Just over five hours left on the clock. The halfway mark in this race will be in an hour or so. Dries Vanthoor reels in Yelmer Buurman. Nick Tandy closes on Christian Krognes. The rear wing flexes on Tandy's Porsche. Tandy runs wide over the curbs, twice, and he's off tghe road through the gravel trap! Tandy loses his composure and might be in a spot of bother. Yikes! He keeps going. Can he regroup? In replay, he exited the turn fractionally too early and goes off the road.
Tandy has to be more cautious now between Crocodile and Cheetah. He's a tad slower than Christian Krognes. Four hours imminently done and dusted as Michael Christensen leads this motor race as the Audi's run virtually as one, trying to pass Hugo de Sadeleer in the #62 R-Motorsport Aston Martin. He has a transponder issue on the car, somehow.
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