Jules Gounon is moving ahead of everyone else. The Mercedes is on rails at the moment. Mattia Drudi now is being monstered by the two Ferrari's, well, he is the meat in a Ferrari sandwich at the very least. Pier Guidi pulls to the left through Sunset, and Winkelhock gives him some room and the Ferrari almost goes off the road but has the preferred line into Clubhouse. Gounon leads Pier Guidi by 4.3 seconds. Arnold Neveling in the #86 Lamborghini is top of the shop in top speeds. Now the cars are running 238-239 kilometers an hour. Michael van Rooyen actually at the controls and he has to serve a penalty. Audi will take the manufacturer's title, if Audi's race goes pear shaped. But right now, the Ferrari and the Audi are scrapping with each other. 148-149 miles an hour. Nielsen continues to go after Mattia Drudi.
We are back into the status quo between Jukskei Sweep and Barbecue Bend and once again through the exit of Sunset. Jules Gounon's lead is now five and a half seconds and a new best lap at 1:42.9. Matt Campbell still holds the lap record at 1:42 dead from the 2019 race driving for Porsche. Nielsen continues to catch Drudi and he is much closer to the Audi driver. He has no overtaking opportunities as the sister Ferrari is whistling off into the distance. Great battle here, look. Nielsen has the xit, and is quicker into and through Leeukop. He is trying to force Drudi to drive defensively and make a mistake.
He shows the nose but has to be aware of making the turn. 4/10ths of a second between the Dane and the Italian. The longer he has to wait, he will get agitated, but he knows there's time left on the board, even though he is looking for a title. He is trying to harry Mattia Drudi and force him into a mistake. Mattia Drudi of course is replacing Dries Vanthoor. Nielsen is now right on Drudi's six. Drudi defends. Drudi undercuts the corner and Nielsen makes the pass. Piece of cake. But Drudi is not done yet. He still wants by. No dice. That was through Ingwe all the way up to Cheetah. Nielsen had a tight entry into Barbecue, but Drudi had the racing line and so, through Sunset, Drudi had the momentum.
Speaking of momentum, here comes Markus Winkelhock, zoning in on Drudi. Jules Gounon continues to lead. Winkelhock and Drudi are racing each-other and it depends on pace as to what the Audi brass will want them to do. Will Winkelhock ahve enough in the locker? Nicklas Nielsen cannot make inroads on Alessandro Pier Guidi. AKKA ASP's only objective is to win. Their chances are as outsiders compared to the Ferrari boys. Markus Winkelhock may have to bide his time for now. He has to watch out on the exit of the last corner of course. Tut, tut. Track limits. Michael van Rooyen running 11th. Maybe tenth.
Great move to second by Alessandro Pier Guidi. He has yet another feather in his hat. Are the skies darkening again? Well, it depends on the camera positions. There are either light showers or, clear skies. We can see a few spritzes of rain. It is grayer towards the esses. Pier Guidi is seven seconds clear over Pier Guidi who is five seconds ahead of Nielsen. Jules Gounon still leads the motor race. Corner speeds at Sunset. The Mercedes is fastest at Sunset. 171 clicks compared to 169 kilometers an hour. 105-107 miles an hour or thereabouts.
1:42.822 fastest lap of the race so far for Jules Gounon as we see Michael van Rooyen driving the #86 Stradale Motorsports entry, the South African entered Lamborghini. Martin Konrad has the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes in there, while Michael van Rooyen very nearly went into the gravel trap! Egad! That was a great save! He nearly overcooked it! Simon Gachet gets warnings for track limits hand over fist. Not good. Simon Gachet just ran a 1:44.2, and the best lap for that car is 4/10ths quicker at 1:43.8. Markus Winkelhock is catching Mattia Drudi. Are the boys at Audi Sport still playing the long game? In a straight fight, the Audi's do not have the pace of the red cars from Maranello.
We have had spritzes and sprinkles of rain, but no more than that. We had a deluge yesterday of course. In general terms we have had a dry motor race. Into Leeukop, though, there is a gray sky. Ye olde weather app still says there is a 40% chance of rain in Joburg at 5PM local time. But we'll see. That's 60% saying no rain. Jules Gounon leads Alessandro Pier Guidi by 10.3 seconds. The skies are clear now. Will we see the aforementioned rain? When you have an incident, you respond. Gounon will be back in soon. As the saying goes, keep it simple, stupid. Uh oh! Problems for the Ferrari. It's Nicklas Nielsen, crawling to a stop! He is right at the pit lane entry. Is there a busted right rear wheel or is there a hydraulic, electrical, or mechanical issue? Maybe the fuel tank is empty.
He has the car in neutral. What is the deal? He is at the entrance to the secondary pit lane for local races. No drive for Nielsen. It was coughing and sputtering. He is off the road but going nowhere fast. Goodness me. Trouble for Ferrari. He has the engine or the battery running, and still no drive. That grass, from the Friday deluge, must be saturated. Pit stop time now for Jules Gounon from the lead of the motor race. Alessandro Pier Guidi is making his way up. Now, Timur Boguslavskiy will be getting back into the car. He has not finished driving for the day despite having maximum time fulfilled. Was the GT4 Audi off the road? Michael van Rooyen has the #86 Lamborghini in the lane too.
AF Corse declares that the gearbox in the #71 Ferrari has packed up. A very tough break for the #71 AF Corse Ferrari. That's cruel. Is it a mechanical issue, a hydraulic issue, or a gear selection problem? With that retirement, Audi wins the Manufacturer's Cup. Ferrari will not have enough points to win it. So, now we can just focus on who will win the driver's championship. Come Ledogar or Alessandro Pier Guidi could still win the title. The Ferrari driver split strategy has fallen on it's face. So, AF Corse has but one bullet in the gun. Pier Guidi now leads Drudi by almost ten seconds. Martin Konrad is two laps down to the leader, running sixth in the overall.
Some laps, the track will be empty, while traffic will hit in clusters. That's the scientific law of traffic. Traffic giveth. Traffic taketh away. Game over for Ferrari #71. Purely mechanical failure is rare for a car that has won the 24 Hours of Spa. Either Kenny Habul or Mikael Grenier will be taking over the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes. It looks like Grenier is taking over from Martin Konrad. It surely takes a long time for the penny to drop. #51 has now run 126 laps, 359 miles. Grenier is now aboard the #75. Pier Guidi carelessly overcooks the exit at Ingwe. The stewards may look at that. His tires are becoming knackered. Mattia Drudi either hit the wiper switch by mistake or had to clear his windscreen.
A mixed sky here in Kyalami. Some parts are gray and others are clear. Audi #33 in the lane for High Class Racing. Mark Patterson in the lane and now changing over to one of the other drivers. It is a shame Anders Fjordbach cannot be here. But the team is doing well with Patterson, Thierry Vermuellen, and Michael Markussen. The GT4 class Audi is back on the road. Good to see the #80 MJR entry of Marius Jackson, Kishoor Pitamber, and Mo Mia. Timur Bougslavskiy still had a chance at winning the title. So, AKKA ASP are still in this and they will be fighting tooth and nail with Audi. Audi are the manufacturer's champions after Nicklas Nielsen's transmission packed up. At least one Ferrari is still favored as Alessandro Pier Guidi leads Mattia Drudi by 10+ seconds.
Drudi flies through Sunset. Imagine going through that corner with 4,000 pounds of downforce is a Group C prototype or a Porsche 917 or Ferrari 512 back in the 1970s. Yikes! Wow. Overall top speeds are very consistent at 239 kilometer an hour. That is 149 and 3/8ths miles an hour. #71, game over. They need to push the car into the lane, but they cannot get it into the lane by pushing it up the road backwards because then they will be disqualified. That is a safety concern. The Ferrari might be given a flat tow. Physically getting to the back of the pit building won't work plus it will contravene the regulations.
Mattia Drudi is beginning to chisel away at the Ferrari's lead. Audi are still in the fight. But the ten second gap will evaporate if we have another incident on the road. Ferrari will have to be wondering if the #51 car will stay in the game since one of their cars is now retired. Audi #32 is set for a pit stop. That's Mattia Drudi of course. Drudi is in as we speak. Drudi cannot make a mistake because Christopher Haase is one of the chaps going for the title. Dries Vanthoor was supposed to be in this car of course. No driver change. Fuel and tires. Drudi will be staying in the car by the look of it. Remove the fuel hose, drop the car from the air jacks, and wait for the car controller to say, go. Timur Boguslavskiy has now moved ahead of Mattia Drudi. Mercedes to third spot.
Ferrari #51 due into the lane and we see a driver change. The car is in the lane. Pier Guidi out, and Come Ledogar in. Tires, fuel, and a clean of the windscreen as well. How will the Mercedes and Ferrari battle shake out here. The Ferrari is right with the Mercedes. Whoa! Ledogar gets chopped by Boguslavskiy who gets by. That was wild. Boguslavskiy forces Ledogar to stay outside at Jukskei Sweep. Pit time for Winkelhock and Audi and he stays in the car.
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