We are going to go Full Course Yellow. The Bentley is on fire! Maxime Soulet is out of the car. The engine is cooked. What a horrendous shame for the Bentley Boys in their final race. Kevin Estre says the Porsche is running well, and the weather is going to go crazy eventually. The clouds are around and we could see moisture here in the not too distant future. But, the wind is not changing direction at the moment. Audi #31 pitted, but it is definitely came over for Bentley. The engine blew due to a misfire of some kind. It's an end of an era for Bentley. It has been a very tough year for the Bentley boys. The only silver lining was their dominant win at Bathurst in Australia, back in February at the start of 2020 before the virus hit. #7 was slow out of the pit lane. Jordan Pepper is absolutely gutted, in his home race. If one car had trouble, back in the day, you could swap drivers into the sister car, but that policy does not work anymore about cross entering drivers in two cars.
We will perhaps go to a safety car in a few moments time. Laurens Vanthoor and Matt Campbell are pitting and so is the Walkenhorst Motorsports BMW M6 GT3. These are drive through stops to reset the stint times back to another 65 minutes for a double or triple stint. The order is being shuffled with Honda in the lead of the motor race. Mario Farnbacher leads now ahead of Christopher Haase. In replay we watch the pit stop for Bentley and the #7 was let go first and then #8 transgressed on the demarcation line. It's getting gloomier and darker. The rain is coming, and fast.
Dense black smoke filled the cockpit of the Bentley as Jules Gounon was bailing out. Everyone is maintaining the gaps as we remain under Full Course Yellow, waiting for a safety car deployment. Milan Dontje is four laps down. Dries Vanthoor in the #31 Audi is three laps down, setting the fastest race lap so far at 1:43 dead, 1:43.046. Dylan Pereira is running well in the #9 Lechner/Perfect Circle Porsche as well. Nobody can guess. We will just have to see what happens as the safety car stays on the road. Where will Jules Gounon and Jordan Pepper go next? Gounon has won the 24 Hours of Spa.
We have four Intercontinental GT Challenge races scheduled for next year. So, stay tuned for more racing in 2021. Meanwhile, the rain is going to start falling very soon. Watch for the windscreen wipers. No fans here at Kyalami as it is being run behind closed doors. But, we will see the driver's switching on their windscreen wipers if the deluge begins. It is going to be reminiscent of the 1983 Group C prototype six hour race that was run here, that yours truly has written about on another blog. We are back to green flag racing for the moment with just over six and a half hours to go. Laurens Vanthoor wants by Christopher Haase for third, and Matt Campbell comes out of nowhere to make a mkove! Campbell wants by and Vanthoor runs wide. Vanthoor and Bortolotii are three wide!
Thank you, Clubhouse corner! Oh dear. Campbell is pressing David Pittard and Dries Vanthoor, both. Matt Campbell was caught napping. The rain is falling and the lightning bolts are in the distance. "Super Mario" Mario Farnbacher leads Sheldon van der Linde in the BMW. The sole remaining Bentley of Seb Morris is battling Matt Campbell out of Crowthorne, up through Jukskei Sweep, into Barbeque, down through Sunset, and into Leeukop. Then through The Mineshaft, and into Leeukop. Matt Campbell is pressing David Pittard. The rain is coming.
In a half hour or so, we may see more pit stops. But will that coincide with the rain? Raindropsnon the camera lens, look, but track conditiojns seem OK. The wet weather Pirelli's are coming out into the pit lane. The bulk of the rain might skirt the circuit here at Kyalami. We'll see. Some drivers will be brave and run in the damp on slicks. Gambling is one thing, but if it is wrong, well, we'll see. Windscreen wipers are on. The rain is still threatening while Dries Vanthoor resets new fast lap and Matt Campbell goes inside Audi #32 and BMW #35. Bortolotti and Pittard get snookered. The rain is coming. David Pittard fights back against Mirko Bortolotti through Crowthorne.
We have wind, rain, and lightning. The track temperature has dropped ten degrees. The sky has opened looking back towards Johannesburg. Seb Morris is looking at David Pittard and wants by the BMW but can't make it. Audi #45 has more woes. Farnbacher/Van der Zande lead Bamber/Vanthoor and Farfus/Catsburg. Sheldon van der Linde, the fastest lap of the race so far as the rain is coming. 79 laps, 225 miles. Sheldon van der Linde is catching Mario Farnbacher. Sheldon van der Linde second. He is a factory BMW driver and his brother Kelvin van der Linde is a factory Audi driver. Meantime, Matt Campbell is the bloke who has reset fastest lap.
This smashes Nick Tandy's 2019 lap record! Wow! Sheldon van der Linde now does absolute best in the first sector. Farnbacher, Sheldon van der Linde, Christopher Haase, Matt Campbell, and Mirko Bortolotti, and here comes Sheldon van der Linde. He is flying, moving in on Mario Farnbacher. Yikes! Fabulous racing and a fabulous lap by the South African BMW driver. The BMW is very compliant and confidence inducing all around the Kyalami Grand Prix circuit. Dylan Pereira in Porsche #9 has had a final warning from the stewards on track limits.
Now, maybe, the rain is going away. There will be further rain systems coming. So, there could be further interventions from Mother Nature. We will see. The track could dry out just a little bit here in the next few minutes. Drama, drama, and more drama. Laurens and Dries Vanthoor are both racing right now. Dries in the #31 Audi and Laurens in the #54 Porsche. 81 laps on the board and Honda have led every lap so far. 82 laps, 234 miles. There could be rain through Crowthorne. At the higher parts of the circuit, like Sunset and Clubhouse, it's drier. Although there could be more moisture out there. We will just have to see.
Dries Vanthoor, new lap record, 1:42.560, on the greasy track. Next year, in GT3 competition, BMW will introduce the new M4. The M4 is a completely new car. The grand old lady, she is still competitive. Matt Campbell is closing on Laurens Vanthoor. Dylan Pereira is still being warned about track limits. Laurens Vanthoor is being given a hard time by Matt Campbell as well. The water is evaporating and so this race could be back on the button. The beauty of racing in a subtropical climate is that high ambient and track temps have very little effect on the track itself. Track conditions are spot on for setting lap records.
Mario Farnbacher leads the motor race over Sheldon van der Linde, Christopher Haase, Laurens Vanthoor, and Matt Campbell. Matty Campbell is setting lap record after lap record! Wow! Laurens Vanthoor, off in the dirt, look, exiting Barbecue. Six hours and 12 minutes on the board yet. Don't hit a curb at a bad angle because you will cut a tire down in a heartbeat. As rallying legend Marku Alen used to say, "maximum attack." Mario Farnbacher is picking up the pace again. Another hour will be done and dusted very soon. Laurens Vanthoor is having to push harder than Matt Campbell is at the moment. It is Porsche vs. Porsche.
Will these chaps change spots on the road, or during the pit stop exchange? Christopher Haase in the #44 Audi is up the road, in the Audi Sport Team Car Collection entry. Vanthoor needs to gain places and points but he is giving away boatloads to Mario Farnbacher and company in the Honda NSX GT3 #30. Dylan Pereira is running extremely well, ninth overall to match the car number of the Team Perfect Circle, Lechner Racing Porsche. Pereira sharing with Saul Hack and Andre Bezeidenhout. Laruens Vanthoor makes a mistake at The Crocodile and Matt Campbell goes through. Don't give those moves away.
Perfect Circle, is an engine oil additive that has been around for years and years. Did Vanthoor have a braking issue? Did he get loose? He didn't need a second invitation to come to the ball, and has moved by. Will Porsche #54 be an earlier caller to the pit lane. Seb Morris is using the windscreen wipers on the sole remaining Bentley. Seb Morris has taken over from Oliver Jarvis. Jarvis says that he and his team are lacking pace. Of course, they are the sole remaining Bentley in the field. They seem to be losing time in sector two. Alex Buncombe will be next into Bentley #8 before Oliver Jarvis takes over. Bentley #7 had the extra turn of speed, and sadly, they are out. Game over, of course. In case you missed it, the engine went bang, in a huge way.
We have six hours to go. We're roughly 1/3rd of the way through. We'll be done tonight by 8PM local time. Mario Farnbacher still leads. The gap is growing to 2.4 seconds. The Honda is in the pound seats right now indeed, look.
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