Masses of water still being displaced and we see tire tracks now. 58 minutes now remaining in the Kyalami 9 Hours. So, we are getting close to the end of this one. Porsche #9 takes its last stop. Augusto Farfus and company could be good to go to the end. It has stopped raining. This is the Lechner Racing Silver Cup Porsche. Lars Kern, takes over from Saul Hack. Luxembourg driver Dylan Pereira now at the wheel of the Lechner Porsche. Pablo Clark has picked up the safety car in front of the race leader. That's the Pablo Clark Racing #17 Ferrari, Michael Stevens at the wheel of it, sharing with Kishoor Pitamber and Leonard Charles Thompson. They are doing a driver change with 54 minutes to go. This car is racing against itself, and they just need to get back home in one piece. They've learned how to do endurance racing so they can come back here next year and know how things work.
Puddles are still around Sunset corner. The safety car continues to lead them around. Now, Mercedes' hopes are brightening for the manufacturers cup again. The headlights bleach out the camera lens. Augusto Farfus leads this motor race with one more possible pit stop. Mercedes have rolled the dice. No word from Race Control about a planned restart. They go downhill through Crowthorne. Maxi Gotz could still win the championship, as the rain ebgins hammering down again with just 49 minutes left. This time of year in South Africa, it's the rainy season. This race was resurrected after 37 years, and in 1973, there may have been rain, that year, when Reinhold Joest and Herbert Muller won in a Porsche 908/3 spyder. Here's a list of all the winners, from Wikipedia, from Grand Central and Kyalami.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyalami_9_Hours
Slow down, lads. We're paddling through the water again. Kudos to the camera crews and the marshals for sticking it out through the lightning, thunder, and rain. As soon as we get the race done, the rain will stop, and we'll go home, and still say, "wow, that was an awesome race!" 45 minutes to go, uphill into Leeukop and down the hill. We're going to finish this race in nine hours. We have run 241 laps, 687 miles. The current lap time behind the safety car is 3:25. Yelmer Buurman could inherit the lead if we don't throw a green flag. We should not risk it. We will wait for five minutes to go for the race to go back to green because of all the standing water.
International flights are stacking up over the Johannesburg airport at the moment. They come out of Barbecue and Farfus, Buurman, and Lietz are the top three. There are little spits of rain, but barely any, even though the volume of water is big. We have had tons of surprises. The rain has pretty much stopped. There is not a drop of rain anywhere, but we can't just start the race yet. The beauty of rain, is it makes racing unpredictable. This is a race of survival really, with just over 35 minutes left. 243 laps complete now. 692 and a half miles. This is a test for fuel consumption on the safety car, too. The safety car has run out of gas in other endurance races.
Less than half an hour to go now. Yelmer Buurman leads Richard Lietz with 27 minutes to go. The safety car is still on the road. We are going to go racing at the end of the 246th lap. 701 miles into the race. The safety car is in. 25 minutes to go. We're back underway. This will be a sprint race now. Richard Lietz wants by Yelmer Buurman through Crowthorne's. Buurman leads over Lietz and Tandy. Drive through penalty for the local #17 Ferrari. Tandy is going around the outside for second of Richard Lietz. Lietz says now. Yelmer Buurman runs wide. He has no buffers from the Porsche's. Nick Tandy decides discretion is the better part of valor over Richard Lietzs as we run down the Mine Shaft at racing speed. This is it now, four cars going for the lead. Audi wanted rain. Now, they have it.
Porsche are getting alongside Richard Lietz. Lietz goes outside, and this takes points away from Mercedes. But none of the drivers in the #20 can win the championship. Dennis Olsen in the #31 car might go ahead. You race for Porsche. This puts Catsburg up another place in the BMW. Maxi Goetz is now down to fourth. Nick Tandy wants to win this motor race. This will be a grandstand finish. 248 laps done. 707 miles. Now, Nick Tandy has passed Richard Lietz for the lead and this might give Dennis Olsen the championship. Nick Tandy is pulling away from Richard Lietz now. Tandy has bolted. This is a Porsche decision, to allow Tandy to win the title in Intercontinental GT Challenge.
This will be a Porsche victory as Matt Campbell is attacking Ricky Collard in the Aston Martin. Matty Campbell is really giving Ricky Collard everything he can handle. They slither again through Crowthorne and into Barbecue. Into Clubhouse again, and the battle rages on. More lightning in the sky. It is definitely there. The sole remaining Bentley has Jules Gounon at the wheel of it in 13th overall. Richard Lietz presses on in second place. Nick Tandy must keep Richard Lietz at bay. Christopher Haase is moving up on Yelmer Buurman. Through Leeukop again. 250 laps on the board. 713 miles. Porsche can sweep all of it. The manufacturer's cup, the driver's cup, and the Silver Cup. Maxime Martin has had a bad day and is in 15th in the overall.
The Lechner Porsche is leading Silver Cup at the moment. Nick Tandy now leads by 5.4 seconds. Dylan Pereira has run a very good race today. The gap is 6.3 seconds. Lietz is defending, but Catsburg has gone by. He is up to second. BMW goes ahead of Porsche. Can Catsburg make up seven seconds and go for the win? Can he battle Nick Tandy? Could BMW beat Porsche to the top of the podium? Catsburg is not any quicker than Tandy. Joao Paulo d'Oliveira is out of the race. We've lost Nissan #35 for KCMG. Wow! Nicky Catsburg has taken three seconds off of Nick Tandy! It's the Nicholas and Nicholas show! Tandy is getting challenged big style.
Nicky Catsburg has nothing to lose. If Tandy is second, he and Dennis Olsen can still win the championship. Richard Lietz is being dragged along by Nicky Catsburg and he is trying to stay in touch with Catsburg who is still second. Tandy is still leading. The road is drying well with just eight minutes to go. We believe Porsche wiull end up on 133 and Mercedes on 127. But if BMW goes ahead of Porsche, then Mercedes wins. They are equal to the thousandth of a second in the second sector. It is very, very close. Nick Tandy picks up some time. The lead gap is 6.4 seconds. Tandy may be pulling the pin, pushing the bye bye button. Genaro Bonafede could stay leader of the Am Cup. Double yellow flags waved at Clubhouse for the stopped Nissan #35.
We will get three laps to go. Through Leeukop again. Dennis Olsen could now be champion along with Nick Tandy. Nicky Catsburg is losing time. Just take your spot when the flag falls. Augusto Farfus will beat Dirk Werner. Nick Tandy completes lap 257. 732 miles. He ran fastest lap on lap 130. Two more laps to go. It is drying, and the road is grippier. Dennis Olsen and Matthieu Jaminet watch and wait. Poor Maximilian Buhk. He did nothing wrong. The electronics went out on the car. He probably flew home immediately. Nick Tandy is on lap 258, and this is the last lap of the Kyalami 9 Hours, returning for the first time since 1982. What a race and what a great event! We shall be back, next year and in the future.
Final lap now. Around Sunset and into Clubhouse for the last time. Dennis Olsen will be the only double winner in Intercontinental GT Challenge this year. Through Leeukop one last time. He put the car on pole. The driver's Cup has been easy, and Dennis Olsen will win the championship, and the race is won by Frikadelli Racing. Dennis Olsen, Nick Tandy, and Matthieu Jaminet! Dennis Olsen is the champion, and the Kyalami 9 Hours is back in business!
Gennaro Bonafede, Henry Walkenhorst, and Michael Van Rooyen win the Am class for Walkenhorst Racing with their BMW M6 GT3, car #36. Poor old GPX. You have to feel for them. Porsche are manufacturer's champions. Dennis Olsen, is Intercontinental GT Challenge champion! He won Bathurst and won the finale at Kyalami, book ending the season. He is IGTC champion! He is the only double winner. 14 drivers take race wins. Porsche are IGTC manufacturer's champions!
The winning driver's head for the podium. It was a really tough day for Mercedes. Everyone has a tough race, and poor old Bentley really got snookered as did Mercedes. Provisionally, Porsche has the manufacturer's championship. We may be right in saying Porsche are the champs. The event, the hospitality and everything else, has been great. We have a long-term deal racing at Kyalami. We did go racing at the end of the motor race which was great. It is a return of a great sports car race that we have seen.
Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen, for official results.
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