Full Course Yellow. The story never ends. The sun is setting as we recreate the fabled Kyalami 9 Hours. We continue under the safety car. The light fades, gradually. There are so many small shards of carbon fiber around. The #108 Bentley has been given the black and orange meatball flag for making repairs. The #76 Aston Martin is in the lane, Enam Ahmed at the wheel of it. We are neutralized under the safety car, now. Are the wing struts for the Bentley, secure? They should be. The rear right fender is off. The scrutineers want the Bentley in the lane for a check over. We continue under the safety car. Hey, Steve, we have to do a little polish on the car. Now, the #188 Aston Martin is also back in the lane. That's the West/Goodwin/Ledogar car. Rodrigo Baptista has to be upset, and he's being consoled by team mate, Jordan Pepper from the #107 crew.
Safety car in this lap and we'll go back to green. We are back to green flag racing, and the Bentley is now in the lane. Kevin Estrew is pressing hard, over Luca Stolz and here comes Laurens Vanthoor. Dennis Olsen is coming back into the picture after the safety car. He's been a real runner in this stint, has Dennis Olsen. Fred Vervisch is elbowed out by Christina Nielsen. She shares the sister Strakka Mercedes, car #43, with Dominik Baumann and Adrian Henry D'Silva. We are officially in darkness. Headlights on, chaps. Kevin Estre leads. Stolz, Vanthoor, Imperatori, and Jensen, the top five. Estre leads by 2.2 seconds. 165 laps on the board, 470 and 1/4 miles completed. Bentley #108 is in the lane, assessing the damage. They are having issues trying to put new bodywork under the rear wing.
Steven Kane, sitting in the car, very upset that he isn't racing right now. Estre is only clear of Stolz by 1.8 seconds. The clouds gather, and darkness looms here at Kyalami. Alexander Imperatori is in fourth in the overall and is coming, fast. Mikkel Jensen turns an absolute best sector time! Wow! Track temp has dropped. Air temp has dropped. Darkness is coming. This race is coming alive even more than it already has been. This race still has many twists and turns. Porsche #20 has led on the hour mark, through four of the five hours we've run. Martin Tomczyk runs seventh as the cars race through Crocodile. Katsumasa Chiyo is holding up Mikkel Jensen and Dennis Olsen, both. Martin Tomczyk is coming, as they speed through Clubhouse and through the esses.
They pour through Mine Shaft and on to Crocodile. Imperatori is closing up on Vanthoor. Not a drop of rain. We were worried for a long while. But so far, no rain to worry about yet. You can never tell. Vanthoor and Imperatori are flying right now. Katsumasa Chiyo is off sequence, and Chiyo is playing a blocker for team mate Alexandre Imperatori trying to keep Mikkel Jensen at bay. Out of Barbecue Bend and into Sunset, we see the battle between Luca Stolz and Kevin Estre. Wriggling through Crocodile and back into Cheetah, Estre is defending. 170 laps, 484 and 1/2 miles. Lightning in the distance! Oh boy! We could gt rain. There may be some thunder booms around as well.
Things are changing all the time once again. This is why GT3 racing is so wonderful. Porsche #20 still leads through Leeukop. Thunderstorms scheduled for 7PM? Hmmm. When it rains in South Africa, it really rains. More dust going through Barbecue. Marvin Kirchofer is in the lane, in the Aston Martin, promoting two of the South African drivers. Now, we have Vanthoor and Imperatori battling, 173 laps in. Mile marker 493. Mikkel Jrnsen tries to pasas Chiyo san and Chiyo went off the road and back on again! The cork is out of the bottle as Mikkel Jensen was flying, and poor old Chiyo's eyes will be like saucers!
He's off the road, and in the dirt thinking, "dang it!" He's back on track. The South African driver who was promoted, Saul Hack driving the #9 Lechner Racing Porsche. Kevin Estre is finding time, or, Luca Stolz is fading. Three and a half hours to go. Fred Vervisch is 13 seconds in-arrears of Martin Tomczyk. We expect something to turn this race on it's head. Maybe the rain will. It could be coming, as we have seen evidence of lightning around the circuit. #34 and #18 still battle. Fourth, fifth and sixth, covered by a blanket through that final sequence of corners between Crocodile, Cheetah, and Ingwe.
Chiyo wanted to dive into Mine Shaft, but there was no way he could have made it work without calamity. The #34 BMW continues to become more impressive. They have risen to the occasion. Who pulled the pin on that car? Equally, Nissan #18 is in the picture as we see darkness, and rain. Reveling in the sunshine of returning sports cars to Kyalami, and now, rain will spoil the party in a way. No dice for the Nissan to try to pass the BMW. The Nissan is back at it, but no. Mikkel Jensen is really going for it, through the change between daylight and darkness. Bentley #107 pitting. It is fading away, stint by stint.
Kevin Estre continues to hold Luca Stolz at bay with three hours and 20 minutes left. Laurens Vanthoor is warned about track limits. Mercedes still has two points ahead of it's competition from Porsche. Aston Martin are not registered. They do not score points in the manufacturer's cup for these races. Mercedes might take the cup by two points. Check that. Porsche will beat them. But, we've got a shade over three hours, which is the standard distance for a Blancpain GT Europe endurance race. Mercedes could still; win over Porsche, but we shall see. Through the gloom, look, we have Porsche vs. Mercedes vs. BMW. Laurens Vanthoor goes tghrough the slower traffic. Come Ledogar in the Aston Martins lets him by.
Dennis Olsen still wants to pass Alexandre Imperatori. We still have the distance left of an averag Blancpain Endurance event. The gap has ballooned to 3.7 seconds between Kevin Estre and Luca Stolz. More lightning is flashing around the track as it is getting darker here at Kyalami. The Audi's have been struggling for straight line performance. Through Leeukop another time. Headlights on, in the dark, looking to the background of Johannesburg. This race, is a classic, when it was an international race back in the 1960s. Great facility here at Kyalami. It's a world class race track.
Many drivers are making their first visit to South Africa, no matter where they come from. Pit stop time, look, for Rinaldi Racing. We could get 40 cars for this race in the future, but the track needs a bigger pit lane if that's so. Andre Bezuldenhout says the third gear in the transmission of the #09 Porsche, did go out after the car spun in qualifying. Bezuldenhout is really happy, as this race is bringing motorsport back to South Africa. Well done to the people who have organized this race, and well done to Perfect Circle. They'll be back next year. Pit stop time, look, for the #36 Henry Walkenhorst driven BMW. That's one of his cars. Michael van Rooyen will get into the car.
The #108 Bentley is back on track despite the damage, as Nick Tandy continues to languish behind the Nissan. Pardon me, Dennis Olsen. Different driver, same situation. He's still languishing. We are in the zone of the cars diving in for new tires, maybe slicks. The rain could be letting uyp. Down the hill and still, the #31 car, he just does not have enough in the locker. Puncture for the Audi #25! Deary me! Forget double stinting tires! That was ugly. The tire has deflated, and it was as flat as a pancake.
Dennis Olsen is also in the lane. Bentley and Audi have both had punctures. The amount of clag on the road is astonishing. The wind is picking up as we have resumed the battle between Porsche and BMW. Dominik Baumann is now in the #43 Strakka Racing Mercedes. Six hours gone. Three left. It is now dark as the #911 Porsche pits. A standard service it seems. Down and away.
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