Kelvin van der Linde is a wee bit behind the Mercedes. What is the gap? 10+ seconds. Winkelhock and Niederhauser might just be champions here if the race were to finish now. But points as they run is kind of meaningless. Lift off before the plateau before braking, into Leeukop with a late apex. The Ferrari boys are out of sequence. Pit stop time soon though for Timur Boguslavskiy as he will be coming to the 65-minute stint limit. Boguslavskiy has to make every second count if he wants to stay ahead of Kelvin van der Linde. Rain could very well be falling at Leeukop. Into Crocodile. My money is he comes in but no. He is staying out one more lap! There goes my money! 9.4 seconds the gap. Boguslavskiy's tires are knackered, and now, Kelvin van der Linde is closing in. He has gained what, 2.5 seconds?
The weepers from overnight rain are still there. Well, well. All my money is gone as Boguslavskiy stays on course. Blimey O'Reilly! Another lap for Bougslavskiy. Man, oh man. van der Linde is cooking right now. He is closing the gap hand over fist. More rain through Sunset and Clubhouse. Bougslavskiy has the windscreen wipers on. Jules Gounon will take over. Oh my. The cloud are getting much darker. Jules Gounon is going to be sent out on slick Pirelli P Zero's with rain on the horizon! Sheesh! OK. Sprinkles in the lane and the AKKA ASP Mercedes is finally in the lane.
Raindrops on the camera lens. Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase are all ready to go too. Boguslavskiy helps fasten the belts for Jules Gounon. Crank it up, and get out of here. The Audi's are still scrapping for some time and should be back to the lane next time by and now, the rain will be coming to the top of the circuit. Now, the drivers are going to be on slick tires and the rain will be bucketing down. WRT did something totally different at the 24 Hours of Spa but got snookered. van der Linde in the lane ready to hand over to Patric Niederhauser. Christopher Haase is now in the #32, taking over from Charles Weerts.
We welcome our special guest, Harry Benjamin to the commentary box alongside Bruce Jones for this next stint. The Ferrari's pitted out of sequence of course. Antonio Fuoco and Miguel Molina now run 1-2. The gap is 4.8 seconds between Gounon and Niederhauser with the damp spots on the road. The rain is light. It is not a super wild downpour. Niederhauser will try hard to catch Gounon, but on raw pace, that AKKA ASP Mercedes is fastest. The Ferrari boys will need a safety car, a Full Course Yellow, to get onto terms with the Stuttgart motorcar. Timur Boguslavskiy has now run his minimum drive time and so, Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon will be the ones who are going to go on for the rest of the race. Timur Boguslavskiy is the only driver in that car who can take the championship for AKKA ASP.
Miguel Molina runs second through the Jukskei Sweep ahead of the Mercedes and behind his leading teammate, Antonio Fuoco. Jules Gounon is now running well ahead of Patric Niederhauser. 4.5 kilometers, 2.8 miles, the distance around Kyalami. Miguel Molina is now under investigation for exceeding track limits after his last warning! Uh oh. Be careful, sunshine. The track dips downhill on the one side and the conditions there will be totally different than on the uphill half. Timur Boguslavskiy may run one more hour, but maybe, just maybe, Raffaele Marciello and Jules Gounon will finish out the motor race.
1:42.975, as Fuoco goes purple, fastest lap of them all. The sister #71, the leading AF Corse Ferrari has been pinged for track limits at Ingwe, the final corner at turn 16. Disaster for the #51 boys with their drive through penalty. Fuoco is clearing away. Ferrari split their drivers and split their strategy. Fuoco will be in the lane in five minutes, but we have a drive through penalty on the horizon here for the Ferrari. Deary me. So, AF Corse's alternative strategy has gone pear shaped. Fuoco, the Italian, he is still pressing hard. He was part of the Ferrari Driver Academy, and he is proving his worth for sure. Both Ferrari's are due in soon.
Nicklas Nielsen will be next into the leading #71 Ferrari 488 GT3. The drive through penalty has been suspended as the Ferrari management is pleading their case with the stewards. 1:42.9, best lap for the sister car. Jules Gounon third in the Mercedes, reeling in the Ferrari boys at the front. Playing the long game is key. Don't freak out about penalties. You just have to drive the car and stay consistent. Fuoco in the lane for regular service. The second AF Corse Ferrari will be in next time by. Double stacking is a nightmare. Ah. Drive through for the #51 Ferrari, confirmed, for abusing track limits. So, AF Corse could not plead their case. Miguel Molina in the lead of the motor race will have to duck to the lane and serve the penalty.
So, a pit stop, followed by a drive through penalty. That might just put the #51 machine out of contention compared to the sister car. Christopher Haase makes a pass. Into the lane, the #51, standard pit stop followed by serving the penalty. The next driver into the car, will not have to deal with his teammate's transgression. Alessandro Pier Guidi will be next into the car. Alessio Rovera has now replaced Antonio Fuoco for the current stint. Into the lane now, boom, Miguel Molina, right on. This is the standard pit stop. He will fall down the order and have to come back, but he is indeed capable. A second drive through?
Wait. That doesn't make sense. Hold on. Maybe they are resetting their stint time. OK. Double stint for Pier Guidi? Hmmm. You know what? Nicklas Nielsen has gotten into the sister AF Corse Ferrari. Jules Gounon is second behind the leading Ferrari followed by Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase, followed by Nicklas Nielsen. The track looks dry, but we are still seeing the river in Crowthorne corner. Drainage is not the best through that corner. More gray clouds appearing. Aye yaye yaye yaye yaye.
Miguel Molina leads by 6.2 seconds, but Jules Gounon is just a tick faster than the Spaniard. Bernardo Serra, team manager at AF Corse says the fuel is critical. Jules Gounon is closing in on Miguel Molina. He will be in the lane soon for regular service. Nicklas Nielsen is uncorking purple sectors, fastest of all, and so, he is catching Christopher Haase in the #32 WRT Audi. AF Corse needs to make their move now before he is caught by the Mercedes and perhaps the Audi as well. Kenny Habul brings in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes. Martin Konrad will take over the car and is told to stay within track limits.
Be more cautious on entrance and exit of the corners. Molina leads over Gounon. Miguel Molina will be pitting soon and this will promote Jules Gounon to the race lead over Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase followed by Nicklas Nielsen. Nielsen has been running very well. The true scrap is Ferrari vs. Audi, still. Now then, maybe the rain has stopped, and so we might not see anymore, but we'll just have to wait and find out. Still six hours and 20 minutes on the board. Ferrari and Porsche have eight wins apiece around Kyalami. No Porsche's entered in this motor race this year. Pit stop time for High Class Racing, the #33 Audi. That is Mark Patterson taking over from Thierry Vermuellen.
Miguel Molina will be next up in the #71 Ferrari. Ferrari have to finish within the top six to win the championship. Jules Gounon is right with Miguel Molina in the 1:43 range, bang on the nose. 11 seconds now between Gounon and Niederhauser. The #71 Ferrari set fastest lap at 1:42.8 earlier on. The Ferrari bounds it's way over the curbs. The top five has not changed. We are just about at the 1/3rd mark of this race, at the end of the next hour. Miguel Molina still needs to pit. New driver into the car next, and it should be Alessandro Pier Guidi, the winner of both the 24 Hours of Spa, and the GTE class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Tires changed, fuel added, Miguel Molina into the Ferrari I believe. Jules Gounon has gone to the lead by 11.2 seconds over Patric Niederhauser as one of the Audi's is out of petrol. Full Course Yellow. That is the exit of Cheetah I believe. That looks like Mikael Pitamber who is in strife. He is trying to find neutral. Now, that could be an electrical or hydraulic issue on that car. Nicolas Baert pits under Full Course Yellow. Driver change in progress. So, the white flag is being waved. That is Mikael Pitamber aboard the #80 MJR Motorsports entry.
Audi #26 is down and away. The marshals are checking to see about assisting the Audi and the wind has picked up. The only Silver Cup entered car, the #26 Sainteloc Audi, has Simon Gachet now at the controls. Now, the firemen are trying to retrieve the car, but they cannot run down an active pit lane to find the car and get it out of the way. There will be a Full Course Yellow here. So, we wonder about marshals retrieving that GT4 class Audi. We need a snatch vehicle and it has to come down there. Will the safety car pick up the leader? It is likely. Leading, the #89 AKKA ASP Mercedes. The pit lane will be closed.
They are phusically pusujing the car in for safety by the marshals. How strange. The pit lane is clear as the Mercedes hits the lane. So the Mercedes Benz is in, Jules Gounon from the lead. This means the pit lane is open? That might be. Wait a minute. Gounon is doing a reset and there is the safety car being dispatched but no lights are on. That's odd. Jules Gounon maintains the lead as Christopher Haase pits the Audi from third spot and the #71 Ferrari is also in. The safety car lights did turn on at Jukskei Sweep. A free tire stop, for some of the teams, including AF Corse. Patric Niederhauser and Mattia Drudi are splitting the Mercedes and the Ferrari's.
Have Mercedes been caught wrongfooted here? Audi are now diving for the pit lane. Patric Niederhauser hands the #25 Sainteloc Audi to Markus Winkelhock more than likely. There's tire schmutz all over the front of the car and Markus Winkelhock is now at the controls. AKKA ASP are back in contention here it looks like. We will wait and see. Mattia Drudi runs second followed by the Ferrari's of Alesandrp Pier Guidi and Nicklas Nielsen, followed by the other Audi's of Markus Winkelhock and Simon Gachet at Sainteloc. Both Sainteloc cars are fifth and sixth.
We are close to being a third of the way through this motor race. Safety car in this lap as we are getting to the end of the third hour. Mercedes, two Audi's, two Ferrari's with traffic inbetween. Gounon drops the hammer and away we go again. Gounon has bolted. Pier Guidi trying to pass Drudi. Jules Gounon is opening a gap. Audi vs. Ferrari into Sunsert and they touch! Pier Guidi gets away with it! Yikes. That could have been calamity!
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