Scribante makes the move on Pitamber and makes it stick. Pitamber wins the national South African GT race portion here at Kyalami. Oh dear. Scribante has not been scored yet and he and Pitamber, the battle has to be settled as the #23 Stradale Into Africa Lamborghini pits. There will be a driver change. Not sure who it is next into the car as the team is going for a tire change and fuel as well. Mattia Drudi was closing in on Silvio Scribante. Jumped the gun on that one. Sorry, mates. Silvio Scribante is coming into the lane. He wins the National GT3 class. Mikael Pitamber will switch into another car. Raffaele Marciello though, he is ten seconds ahead of Alessio Rovera, whistling off into the distance. Mikel Grenier still wants by Come Ledogar. That's for dead sure. That battle is not over yet.
Pit stop time for the #33 Pro-Am Audi. Philip Kekana is now at the controls of the #23 Lamborghini. Ferrari have pitted and so has the High Class Racing Audi, the #33. That is Thierry Vermuellen, sharing with Mark Patterson, and Michael Markussen. Mark Patterson, at 70 years young, is racing in his home nation for the first time in his career. Good onya, mate. Rovera and Ledogar stay in the cars. Audi and Mercedes teams have done driver changes. Timur Boguslavskiy is into the car along with Kenny Habul, and Charles Weerts. Timur Boguslavskiy is now third overall.
We still have a stream of water in the first corner at Crowthorne. Boguslavskiy remains third. Maybe they had a slower driver change which makes no sense because they can do the driver change while the fuel is going in and the tires are being changed. Maybe they did a short stop. So, the driver change had nothing to do with it and Rovera and Ledogar, both, have now leapfrogged the Mercedes. If you do a short stop now, you might want to do a long stop next time in. Miguel Molina was supposed to drive but they have kept the starting drivers in the car in both AF Corse Ferrari's and also changed just two Pirelli P Zero tires.
Short pitting, they might be on the back foot later on in the motor race. That's a gamble by AF Corse. We shall see what happens. Rovera is now running 7/10ths quicker than Bougslavskiy and Ledogar was also faster than Rovera. The Ferrari's surely have the edge on the Mercedes'. Mark Patterson stays clear of the leader. Again, he was born here in South Africa and has been an American citizen, but he is finally able to race here and the lollipop man in the pit lane, for Patterson, he made a major mistake. Patterson got snookered there for a wee while. I wonder if that could be deemed an unsafe release.
The GT4 Audi is a showroom stock entry really. The GT3 Audi is totally different. We have seen tons of races for all GT3 and all GT4 fields, but this is one of the few races blending the classes even though in this race there is but one GT4 entry unlike what we saw with a full class at the Indianapolis 8 Hours last fall. Good gravy! There's some massive scrapping here as Ledogar is pushing, pushing, pushing trying to get by Lucas Legeret. Come Ledogar wants by. He is moving to the inside. Watch the water. Ooh! Some argy bargy there. Not too good. That is an issue. Pro drivers are not supposed to make contact with a Silver driver.
The Audi just turned in. Answers for who is at fault for that on a postcard, please. Ledogar was racing fair and square against the Audi, and the Audi just turned in on the Frenchman. Jeepers creepers! A new tire, a new Pirelli P Zero ready at AF Corse. They assume Ledogar has had a puncture. The refueling rig is ready too. Now, has the tire been cut down? I is hard to say. That was likely bodywork contact. Driving standards warning flag to Lucas Legeret aboard the #26 Sainteloc Racing Audi. When you are a lap down, you have to let the leader's through. That was an iffy move on the part of the Audi.
Ferrari #71 is in the lane, and they need to change that right front Pirelli tire. Driver change as well, look. Their hand has been forced. So, that is either Miguel Molina or Antonio Fuoco getting into the car. That is not Ledogar's car. That is now being piloted by Antonio Fuoco. Timur Boguslavskiy moves up a place. Come Ledogar is now in the lane on the next lap. Roll the dice and see where you land. Bernardo Serra, team manager, he is making decisions and has called for a driver change and a new set of tires and a full fuel load.
That is Miguel Molina coming out ahead of his teammate. Antonio Fuoco will have hotter tires and Miguel Molina is going to pass! Yikes! This is a fair old ding dong here between the two Ferrari's. Their target though is Audi, the four rings, the boys from Ingolstadt in Germany. This is a dramatic turn of events as we see Timur Boguslavskiy clear in the lead of the motor race by 20 seconds. Kelvin van der Linde second, Charles Weerts third. Now, the Ferrari boys are down the order at the back end of the top five. So, the plot thickens here at Kyalami. Mark Patterson stays out of the way of the leaders and the track has dried out through both Sunset and Clubhouse.
Timur Boguslavskiy leads this motor race. He is doing what he must do as far as the championship while Ferrari have had a wee bit of shemozzle here. Through Barbecue and into Sunset, carrying a truckload of speed and moving left into Clubhouse, Boguslavskiy is half a lap up on the Ferrari boys as the Audi's are now second and third. Come Ledogar says that he is dealing with heat in the car and tried extending the driving time. Keep calm as there is a long way to go. He is not happy with the lapped Sainteloc Audi. There is no point of racing a lapped driver. He knows they have the team, the car, and the drivers to win this race.
The heat has increased, but the Ferrari is very consistent within a stint and they want a good balance into the nighttime hours before this race ends. They are opening the strategy up just like they did two years ago. AF Corse are master tacticians, and we will see how things play out in the hours to come. It is still too early to be back timing the race yet. 1:45.4 for the leading Mercedes while Kelvin van der Linde is quicker but running 18.9 seconds in-arrears of the Mercedes in the lead. He is almost 19 seconds down the road. Kelvin van der Linde has now been caught by Charles Weerts. AKKA ASP leads with an hour and a half on the board.
Boguslavskiy is still 20 seconds ahead. He just uncorked a 1:43.8 lap while leading by 18+ seconds. Kelvin van der Linde second in the order. Trouble for the Sharks car at High Class Racing. The team is repairing damage or some mechanical woes. Work on the left rear of the automobile. We do not know what could be wrong except for possible damage on the left rear corner. Mark Patterson is a keen businessman, or was, and also did a lot of racing in the United States in recent years before returning to South Africa. Kelvin van der Linde is extending his gap over Charles Weerts. Sainteloc ahead of WRT. The Audi's have been running quicker than the two AF Corse Ferrari's in fourth and fifth place.
Kelvin van der Linde is turning consistent laps and he is slicing into Timur Boguslavskiy's lead. But only by a wee bit. Boguslavskiy still has 17 seconds in hand. Kelvin van der Linde though, he is booking it and poor old Charles Weerts just continues to drop behind. That being said, he is seven some odd seconds over Antonio Fuoco. Thierry Vermuellen continues aboard the High Class Racing Aud which is now back on track. We did not see the contact for the High Class Racing Audi. The production staff probably decided that there was no picture to show us, but that does not matter. Thierry Vermuellen was drafted in for this race, after Anders Fjordbach had to step aside due to a positive test for the virus.
Get well soon, Anders. Track conditions caused abandoning those other qualifying sessions we saw yesterday, were supposed to see. Kenny Habul has taken over the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes, but he is a lap down now after Mikael Grenier ran a great opening stanza. Martin Konrad will be the next driver into that car. That Mercedes has good overall performance lap after lap. The gap at the top of the shop is closing little by little. Timur Bougslavskiy leads. You've missed nothing a thr sharp end although Kenny Habul tried to pass through Ingwe and onto the front straight, or maybe, he was making another move into Barbecue Bend.
Boguslavskiy is being warned for track limits. Stay on the dark stuff. Don't go off the road onto the curbs. Where was he pinged? Ah. He was pinged at the final turn in Ingwe there. It's a natural trajectory to run wide. On the exit of Clubhouse, Kenny Habul is right on the knife edge. You will be penalized if you go over the curbs more than three times. Lucas Legeret pitted very early and has done a stint and a half before heading back into the lane. Nicolas Baert or Simon Gachet will be next into that car. Miguel Molina has been warned for track limits and so has Kelvin van der Linde. All of these penalties occur at turn 16, Ingwe. The Sainteloc Audi is in the lane.
Nicolas Baert is ready to go. Patric Niederhauser will take over the #25 sister Sainteloc entry from Kelvin van der Linde I believe. Kenny Habul runs wide into the corner. That wad force majeur because he wanted to be away from the Audi. Lucas Legeret is asked about the incident with Come Ledogar. He believes it is racing and every team has their own target. He is just going to let that go. He is not sure when his next stint will be, and he will debrief with the engineers. 21 years old, from Switzerland, and he played a straight bat, as cricketers would say.
Legeret is a very tall chap. The jolly green giant, as it were. He is probably sitting right down on the floor of the car. So, the gap has stabilized between Timur Boguslavskiy and Kelvin van der Linde while Charles Weerts' pace is increasing. Mo Mia has the wheel of the GT4 Audi for MJR Motorsports. Weerts could indeed by closing up on van der Linde. He has run very well through the Jukskei Sweep. They are going down the hill toward the Mineshaft. Kenny Habul has now been pinged for track limits. Meantime, the gap is down to 13.2 seconds between Boguslavskiy and van der Linde. It is a drive through penalty for the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes. That is a massive setback and they will be on the back foot while High Class Racing despite their travails, they will be back on the button here, probably.
Kelvin van der Linde makes a hesitant pass on the national Lamborghini running caboose on the field, with Arnold Neveling at the controls. Gray clouds are moving in from Johannesburg. So, we are going to see some rain more than likely. This is the first time we have seen dark clouds over the circuit all day. Timur Boguslavskiy leads by 12.7 seconds over Kelvin van der Linde. Antonio Fuoco next up, just under 26 seconds behind. Charles Weerts passes Thierry Vermuellen, squirming by. We are coming up on the third hour and we will see more scheduled pit stops soon before in an hour or so, we will be 1/3rd of the way through this Kyalami 9 Hours.
High Class Racing are under investigation for pit procedure by the stewards. The battle for fourth spot between the Ferrari's continues. Fuoco quicker than Molina at this stage. Jeepers creepers! Kenny Habul has to serve his track limits drive through. He has two penalties. Good gravy. Rules in these motor races should be second nature, but it depends on the track. The Racing Driver's Book of Excuses. Marshaling in this day and age is conducted in real time. Penalties are not handed out in the stewards' office after the motor race is over, these days. Audi #80 in the lane. This race has been a game of chess thus far.
Position, position, position. It's like location, location, location in the real estate business. Timur Boguslavskiy has the Audi's slightly on his six. The Ferrari's are running a heavier fuel load than anyone else. What will Mother Nature do? If X happens, what do we do? Factor in the unpredictable. More penalties coming. Thierry Vermuellen, the Dutchman, has to serve a penalty, as the clouds are gathering and we are getting to the end of another racing hour. Use your mirrors. Keep apprised of what your team is telling you. Boguslavskiy's lead is 12 seconds as Kelvin van der Linde is still clsoing up. AKKA ASP are comfortable right now as we head for the end of hour two. AKKA ASP will pit soon.
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