Ferrari may have to deal with an unexpected issue, but that is the only thing they'd have to be concerned about. Maintain the gap. That's what is important. Audi does not have any more insofar as out and out pace. If they run nine laps in this stint, the race leading AKKA ASP Mercedes, they will be on schedule with the Ferrari and the two Audi's. So, Marciello, Pier Guidi, van der Linde, Weerts, the top four. Audi have the manufacturer's cup in their pocket, but they will have to have an unpredictable upset to wrest the driver's championship away from the boys at Scuderia Ferrari SpA and AF Corse. Charles Weerts holds fourth through the Jukskei sweep and into Barbecue. These headlights are extraordinary. So, AKKA ASP Mercedes to the lane from the race lead.
No driver change? Well, I take that back. Jules Gounon is in the car, and a four-tire change. Markus Winkelhock will take over the #25 Audi Sport Team Sainteloc car and we will have one more pit stop to go. Looking again at the AKKA ASP pit stop, Jules Gounon is into the car, changing the windscreen tearoff and four tires. Alessandro Pier Guidi leads. Christopher Haase will be getting into the #32 WRT Audi as Charles Weerts has finished his stint. Charles Weerts' father Yves Weerts is a partner in the WRT team along with Thierry Tassin and Pierre Dieudonne I believe. Cannot remember who the R in WRT refers to. Pier Guidi will pit soon although he has a 30 second lead at this moment.
Patric Niederhauser will bring the Audi to the end for the WRT entry I believe. Excuse me, for Audi Sport Team Sainteloc. Ambient and track temperatures are falling away. 24 degrees Celsius. 64 degrees Fahrenheit. Miguel Molina will have a stint or perhaps he will finish and Come Ledogar will not get back into the car. What is the strategy at AF Corse? Alessandro Pier Guidi is in the pit lane now. Check that. It is Miguel Molina, the Spaniard. Kyalami is a counterclockwise track, and the predominant corners are to the left. Sunset though is a double right hand turn, and is the one really quick corner on the circuit.
Check the Ferrari driver's and it is Miguel Molina finishing the race. Patric Niederhauser will finish out the race for WRT Audi. Jules Gounon is the new race leader. Ferrari and Mercedes seem to match each other as the Audi heads out of the pit lane, back on track. Mercedes #89, the leader, has spent the smallest amount of time in the pit lane at 7 minutes and 40 seconds. Ferrari have had two more pit stops compared to the leading Mercedes and the two Audi's have also made seven stops. Simon Gachet will now get into the #26 Sainteloc Audi as Alessandro Pier Guidi will finish the race in the #51 AF Corse Ferrari, not Miguel Molina.
More engine woes for the #26? Oh deary me. These boys at Sainteloc could have another issue. Yes. Third time onto the dollies and into the garage. They are a lap up on the #33 High Class Racing Audi of Thierry Vermuellen. Is there an electrical issue? Is it heat soak on the engine? #26 back on track. Will the engine fire? The answer is... not yet. Now it starts. It has to be on the deck firing up, not on the air jacks. Simon Gachet and Nicolas Baert have done the lion's share of the driving at Sainteloc for the #26. Now then, Haase and Niederhauser are scrapping for position, for third place, for the final step on the podium.
Niederhauser seems to be responding better than Haase. Miguel Molina and company are doing all they can to be champions. The leading Mercedes is ahead of the Ferrari by 14 seconds. Come Ledogar has his own team in Porsche Super Cup as well, and is team manager. Come Ledogar Racing Team. #75 back in the lane. So another pit stop for SunEnergy1 after their power steering fluid cooler was damaged by a stone. No worries. Charl Arangies has pitted the #86 entry, the Lamborghini for Stradale Motorsports. Many young drivers make the move to GT racing because the open wheel championships are so competitive as well for drives.
Learning from teammates helps. Single seater races are very short compared to endurance racing and you have to learn to compromise with teammates and with other people. Raffaele Marciello was set to race in Formula 1 but it didn't work out, and he is flourishing in GT3 cars. Alessandro Pier Guidi, with an hour and a half to go, he knows the darkness will be a big deal and so will the physicality of this track at Kyalami. The car is running well so far. He will run the final 45 minutes of the race. It is hard to chase and catch the Mercedes. The championship is the bigger picture.
You don't become a Ferrari factory driver for no reason. These are tough races. 24 Hours of Le Mans, 24 Hours of Daytona, 24 Hours of Spa, Kyalami 9 Hours. Make your own luck. Full darkness with an hour and 20 minutes left. Molina is 16.5 seconds behind the Mercedes but is well clear of the two Audi's of Patric Niederhauser and Christopher Haase. Jules Gounon is on a roll and that car has been on a roll all day and all night thus far. Race Control watching track limits like hawks.
Molina and Niederhauser are nearly a lap behind Gounon right now. If AKKA ASP wins and Ferrari finish second, Timur Boguslavskiy cannot win the title. Alessandro Pier Guidi has won a bunch of titles in GT cars over the last number of years. Miguel Molina has the wheel of the second place Ferrari. The driving standard is very high here in the GT3 championship in Intercontinental GT Challenge. The Audi's are finding pace relative to the Ferrari's. 1:43.4 for Gounon, 1:43.8 for Molina. Haase and Niederhauser still battle each other. Molina will indeed improve his pace here in the final hour and 15 minutes.
This could well be the calm before the storm. One mistake, one mechanical issue, and we are back to square one. Miguel Molina, 1:43.8, 1:43.9. Audi's, they are lapping 1/3 of a second a lap faster. Molina has a 38 second cushion. Miguel Molina second to Jules Gounon. 16.7 seconds is the gap. Mercedes leads Ferrari as we said. Interestingly, the Audi's are just over a second apart. Christopher Haase has moved up to third spot, onto the podium. He seems to have passed Patric Niederhauser. 265 laps, 755 and 1/4 miles. One of the Audi's has spun? Well, hard to tell who. But Patric Niederhauser has now passed Christopher Haase.
The racin' is over. Just get through the last hour and ten minutes. Haase has lost nine seconds with that spin we just saw. If it finished now, Pier Guidi and Ledogar would be champions over Markus Winkelhock and Patric Niederhauser as well as Christopher Haase and Timur Bougslavskiy. Haase was likely pressing too hard in the darkness. There are other more challenging turns. How does someone spin at turn 16 at Ingwe? It's not desperately cold. It's 20 degrees Celsius ambient which is oh, a wee bit over 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just over an hour to go. Jules Gounon leads Miguel Molina, Patric Niederhauser, and Christopher Haase who spun. He was too deep into the corner hopping the curb, or taking too much curb, and spinning off into the grass which could be sodden with moisture given the rain we've had this weekend. Haase will be kicking himelf, but he stays in fourth place. The leaders are running in the 1:43 range. Molina is quickest but it is hard to say he will be clawing his way towards the Mercedes, but it is nickel and dime as Molina is driving the wheels off the Ferrari.
AF Corse might just win the title. The race win will be the icing on the cake. Don't jeopardize yourself to securing the race win as the driver's cup is more important. Splitting up the championship contenders over the two cars, makes perfect sense. One of the natonal South Africa GT3 cars is in the lane. That is the Stradale Into Africa car and now Tschops Sipuka is into the car and he will take the Lamborghini to the flag more than likely. They will be elated to finish this motor race, a nine hour endurance event, will be a true feather in their hats and a step forward in their motor racing careers.
We are within the time of final driver stints beginning. So, we have one more hour of action to take a look at here, ladies and gentlemen. We were led to believe that Alessandro Pier Guidi will finish this race, either he or Come Ledogar. Pier Guidi will finish and win the title so it is a nice tidy package you can put a bow on for the 2021 season. The boys at AF Corse are very happy and Come Ledogar is already in his civvies, fresh as a daisy. The designs of these modern cars are incredible even though the Porsche 911 is probably the most efficient design.
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