2022 [IGTC] Kyalami 9 hours

[erwin greven]

[Everso Biggyballies]

Qualifying was started in wet conditions after a delayed start. Torrential rain came down immediately, qualifying was red flagged in Q1 due to standing water and is now cancelled. It was due to be a 3x15 minute sessions to end up with a 'Superpole' top 8 shootout for pole.

There will be an update at 17.00 local time about Superpole. (That is in about 10 minutes time.)

Live erm... stream (sic)

[Everso Biggyballies]

Superpole is now on.

It is still raining but not so hard. Q1,2 and. 3 were cancelled as outlined so they have elected to take the fastest 8 runners from Pre qualifying to settle the Superpole. Each of the 8 will run individually in normal shootout rules.

Live Stream link :

[Everso Biggyballies]

Superpole start delayed.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Superpole now cancelled.

Pre-qualifying times will set the grid for tomorrow's race.

[Everso Biggyballies]

How wet was it? Well see for yourself....

[Everso Biggyballies]

Gounon’s Pre-Qualifying time hands Mercedes-AMG early advantage
> Result: Pre-Qualifying

Mercedes-AMG Team AKKA ASP will start the Joburg Kyalami 9 Hour from pole position thanks to Jules Gounon’s fastest time in Pre-Qualifying after heavy rain washed out both Qualifying proper and Superpole this afternoon.

AF Corse’s #71 Ferrari starts alongside thanks to Nicklas Nielsen who pipped AF Corse team-mate Miguel Molina to second place in the dry and sunny morning session.

Indeed, the contrast between before and after lunch could not have been starker, bright skies being replaced by ominously dark clouds, heavy rain, thunder and lightning.

Qualifying was initially delayed before cars ventured out once the rain eased. But respite from the weather proved short-lived and it was soon apparent that Q1 could not continue. Qualifying was cancelled entirely soon after.

Rain continued to fall as the afternoon progressed, which left no opportunity for deep puddles to drain and track conditions to improve sufficiently. Thus Superpole, which should have featured Pre-Qualifying’s top-eight drivers each setting two timed laps, could not take place either.

That left AKKA ASP in the box seat courtesy of its morning benchmark. The car shared by Gounon, Raffaele Marciello and title contender Timur Boguslavskiy should be considered a worthy pole winner after it also topped both test sessions and Free Practice on Thursday.

Equally, Gounon’s Pre-Qualifying time – 1m42.465s – was the fastest of the week so far as well as 0.449s quicker than Nielsen in second.

Mercedes-AMG also start fourth thanks to SunEnergy1’s Mikael Grenier who beat both factory Audis en route to fastest Pro-Am time.

Speaking of Audi, their title contending crews completed the top-six despite Sainteloc’s example stopping on the start/finish straight with 20 minutes of Pre-Qualifying left to run. Patric Niederhauser and Markus Winkelhock are one place in front of Christopher Haase, although all three are just two points behind Come Ledogar/Alessandro Pier Guidi and Nielsen in the IGTC drivers’ standings ahead of what promises to be a winner-takes-all showdown on Saturday.

Boguslavskiy, meanwhile, needs help from elsewhere if he is to overturn a 15-point deficit.

Sainteloc’s Silver Cup crew start seventh, one place clear of High Class Racing’s similar Audi which goes head-to-head with SunEnergy1 for Pro-Am honours tomorrow.

The final round of 2021’s Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli campaign goes green at 13:00 SAST (GMT +2) on Saturday. Viewers around the world can watch live and for free on SRO’s GT World YouTube channel, while SuperSport is showing the race in its entirety across South Africa.

https://www.intercontinentalgtchallenge ... le-washout


FUN FACT: This is the first time that Pre-Qualifying has been used to determine a grid in one of SRO Motorsports Group’s halo series. Although essentially another Free Practice session in all but name, it allows drivers to officially qualify and organisers to set a grid without Qualifying or Superpole being completed. The term has been a mainstay of SRO-run series since 2010’s FIA GT1 World Championship.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Link for the live stream starting today in approx 3 hours (You can click now and set a reminder)
Hopefully better weather today.

[erwin greven]

Of the 13 cars that started the race:

• 2 cars left the race, for they ran an one-hour race.

• 1 car DNF, the Ferrari #71 of Nielsen had gearbox problems.

The chat is tear jerking.

• Why are there 11 cars???

• It's 2022, not 2021!!!

• Is this a replay???

• Which track is this?

• Is this a game?

• Which game is this?

• Is this ACC???

[Everso Biggyballies]

Of the 13 cars that started the race:

• 2 cars left the race, for they ran an one-hour race.

• 1 car DNF, the Ferrari #71 of Nielsen had gearbox problems.

The chat is tear jerking.

• Why are there 11 cars???

• It's 2022, not 2021!!!

• Is this a replay???

• Which track is this?

• Is this a game?

• Which game is this?

• Is this ACC???

Yeah my attention I must admit faded when the Nielsen car stopped... plus it was getting late for me downunder and I kept nodding off. Nielsen had been involved in some great dicing and was starting to look a bit of a threat when he stopped.

I must admit re the limited grid numbers I dont know why there were no Porsches running. I guess out due to some regulation / rule tweak I am unaware of. Just a little ironic no Porsches at Kyalami (seeing as Porsche own the track these days.)

I lost count of the number of times you @erwin greven must have told others in chat it was labelled 2021 because it was last years race delayed (from the Omicron SA outbreak ?) hence was in reality the finale of last year's title.

[erwin greven]

I must admit re the limited grid numbers I dont know why there were no Porsches running. I guess out due to some regulation / rule tweak I am unaware of. Just a little ironic no Porsches at Kyalami (seeing as Porsche own the track these days.)

BMW could not run the M4 GT3, because they ran the M6 in the 2021 season.
Maybe Porsche did not participate, because their schedule was very busy. Don't know if they could win anything here, except for a race win.