The BMW is very good on tire wear which is a surprising situation. WRT have done very well preparing this car. Adapting your eyes in this fading light helps with the pitch darkness at night. Glad to see it is not raining and we are getting a green flag race and have had zero safety cars. #32 has a strong pace and there could very well be a BMW 1-2 here with #32 and #33. We'll have to see what is going to happen. The driver is going to decide the pace and the brake temperatures and the brakes themselves had to be managed in the heat of the day and that slows your lap time. Hello to Mo Mia. They had brake issues and had to rebuild the master cylinder. Marius Jackson is in his stint now. Kyalami is the greatest track in South Africa. They want to get back on the road in their home race.
Audi driver in Porsche uniform? Say what? Mo! You're kidding, mate! Charles Weerts taking Clubhouse in second gear and Dries Vanthoor in third gear. Philipp Eng chasing followed by Mattia Drudi. Just under three hours to go, in the pitch darkness here at Kyalami. The #999 Mercedes wants the torture to stop. It is like a Frank Zappa song "The Torture Never Stops". The team is under the assumption that they can get to the 70% mark with Mikael Grenier at the controls. If it is game over, it will be a major relief for GruppeM. If you were with us for the Gulf 12 Hours in December, both GruppeM cars retired early doors. In IGTC, the cars float between a track and a shipping container and they never go back to the workshop.
You have to ship components, remove the race components and fit rebuilt parts to the cars. The core of the car, the chassis, is the same unless it has been damaged or needs to go back into a jig. From Formula 1 onwards, the cars are changed with parts for flyaway races like this. Get ready for headlight spotting. It is pitch dark. I told you so. I told you. Trust me. Vanthoor now leads Eng by 11 seconds or so. Maro Engel loses yet another lap, taking the pain, and it hurts, bad. They have had radio issues as well and not just the mechanical woes we have documented oh so much in the recent past.
The laps are yoyoing. Mattia Drudi in third, dropping away, half a second down on Philipp Eng. Maybe this is adjusting to the darkness. It is pitch dark at 7:15 P.M. at night, or 7:20 at night. We'll go to the park where it's dark. Mattia Drudi comes over the control line and loses another chunk of time. The pattern of the race is being cemented. It sounds like the BMW gap is still in place, tooing and froing. But this is BMW's race so far. #86 back in the lane, again.
We have finally had a lull in this race. Trouble in paradise for Stradale. This is a time where if someone needs a Full Course Yellow, then, by gum, they could have it. We'll have to see what happens. In the support races there were substantial incidents for the little touring cars, the Volkswagen amateur leagues and the stock cars, the Trans Am style tube frame American muscle cars. Ford Mustang's, Chevrolet Camaro's, Dodge Challenger's and so forth. Jules Gounon is in no man's land at the present time.
Dries Vanthoor is clear as a bell at the top of the shop. Vanthoor leads by 9.6 seconds over Philipp Eng. Maro Engel continues to circulate. The track limits issue is a massive discussion right now and the scoop is that there has been a compromise between the car racers and the motorcycle racers and the cars racers and the motorcycle racers have trouble agreeing with each other. A lot of bike racers run over these curbs, fall down, hurt themselves and are severely injured. Gravel traps interrupt the races with safety cars. Where do you draw the line on track limits? It is a bear of an issue. The limits need to be clearly defined.
A few generations of drivers have had no self-discipline of trying to drive within track limits. Anyone can abuse them and there is no sense in having pride about it. Maro Engel is still pushing. 218 laps completed now by the leader. 612 and a half miles. The old circuit is great. But we just don't see as much video or pictures. In 1982, Formula 1 drivers went on strike here at Kyalami. #999 about to pit. It was abuse of negotiating rights for drivers vs. the sanctioning body. The drivers went on strike and were in a big room at a hotel, bunked in.
It was resolved and the race took place at Kyalami, but that South African Grand Prix was a less than memorable weekend. Trouble again for EBM on pit infringements with the team manager summoned to the steward's office. Mikael Grenier is ready to take over from Maro Engel in the #999 Mercedes. We reckon we have run 71% of this race with two and a half hours to go. Pit stop time imminent for Mercedes. Vanthoor leads the motor race by ten seconds as Maro Engel heads to the lane. They will do a driver change and take a wait and see approach.
Refueling, changing tires, air jack inserted. Mikael Grenier into the car, in a leisurely drive to try and get the car to 70% of laps completed by the winner. The car is down off the air jacks now. There has to be an assessment of their gearbox trouble. Raffaele Marciello is the defending champion here at Kyalami and he also won the 24 Hours of Spa last year, looking for two in a row when we make it to Spa in the last weekend in June spilling over into July. Both WRT BMW's in the lane for new tires and they are down and off the air jacks.
Cold tires and very little traction on the concrete. Luca Stolz stays at the wheel of the #20 Mercedes but just doing a stint reset for a double stint. The gap is irrelevant for now. Again, in other championships, double stinting is required. Extra weight and sparks for Mikael Grenier. Nothing really to worry about. But there will be drama in the darkness as we are at the back portion, the final third of this motor race. 9.1 seconds the gap between the top two. 224 laps completed. 629 miles. A drive through penalty for a pit infringement for the #4 Earl Bamber Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3R, the Pro-Am class leader being harried by the SunEnergy1 Mercedes.
Marshals down in the pit box negotiating with GruppeM it appears. Earl Bamber and Grove Racing third in Pro-Am. #999 might have Maro Engel now at the controls. Even if you've had a bear of a race, keep going as you could benefit from another team's troubles. Porsche #4 serves the drive through penalty. If you park the car you will drop like a stone. Launching out of the lane, with a sequential gearbox, you might put the car in neutral. You have to go through the box to get there. It sounds like the Porsche might be having gearbox woes.
Yannick Mettler, leading Pro-Am, the Swiss driver, in the #75 SunEnergy1 Mercedes. Yannick Mettler is 17 and a half second up on Luca Stolz. Earl Bamber is next up followed by the South African drivers down the order, Charles Aranges and Marius Jackson. I think it is game over for Jackson and company, sadly. The #86 Stradale Mercedes is still in the fight. With GruppeM, the scoop is that they cannot get into 1st gear, 2nd gear, or sixth gear. So they only have 3rd, 4th, and 5th. You don't need 1st or 2nd except out of the pit lane. Don't start in 3rd gear because the clutch will strain. The first couple turns would be sixth gear through Crowthornes, but Barbeque and Mineshaft are fifth gear corners.
#999 in the garage, having run 75% of the distance. Do you work on it and get it back out or do you throw in the towel? Will they have to replace the gearbox? That would not be worth it. It looks like they are going to troubleshoot the gearbox. I think it is game over. Mikael Grenier and Raffaele Marciello are in their civvies now. #20 in the pit lane. Luca Stolz in the car for regular service. There's not a lot of space to fix the transmission and so forth on a GT3 car. It looks like it could be game over but maybe we shall hear from the team and find out.
233 laps completed, with just over two hours remaining. 655 miles. We are nearing the conclusion of the seventh hour of the motor race. Mick Grenier and company have a never give up attitude. He says they were just using third and fourth gear which is really awkward. They are going to test the car, but I don't think they will be back on track. Maybe just park the car for the night, throwing in the towel. It depends how long it will take to fix the car. Never give up. Spa is next, the 24 Hours of Spa, with the biggest field of the season. That ought to be 60+ GT3 cars. Brenton Grove is now up to seventh in Porsche #4 as it is game over for the #999.
#4 makes a pass. Now, there's lightning in the area. I said we'd have a dry race. You may have to call me a liar and throw pies at me, whipped cream pies. In Johannesburg, you can have a 30-minute downpour in the blink of an eye. One flash of lightning, not so bad, but if it really starts tipping down with rain, things are going to go bonkers. Feller and Winkelhock are losing time and the #999 team are going to remove the gearbox from the car, the transaxle. The Mercedes is now on jack stands and they do need to use the air jacks to raise it higher up.
They are up and there is a floor jack underneath it as well, look. The Mann Filter Mercedes is being worked on by the mechanics to get the transaxle fixed. Charle Aranges and company will be the next car to overhaul the #999 if they stay in the garage being repaired which they will be for a wee while. This is a smaller grid than we'd have liked to see, but we have had time to look at individual drivers. Driver of the race? Anyone? It is easy to talk about the BMW boys. Markus Winkelhock and Alex Aka have brought a lot to the table and the same is true with Maro Engel. Show team spirit and a willingness to dig deep and overcome adversity.
Markus Winkelhock is a good choice. Ricardo Feller, all the BMW drivers, Yannick Mettler, Brenton Grove.
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