Weekend Recap: WRT BMWs Dominate Kyalami 9 Hour
Recap from Saturday's Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli round in South Africa...
BMW M Team WRT has scored a controlling 1-2 result in the Kyalami 9 Hour, marking the first Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli victory for the BMW M4 GT3.
Local hero Sheldon van der Linde drove the No. 32 BMW to a 1.778-second win over the sister No. 33 entry of Maxime Martin following the race’s only Full Course Yellow and safety car period that came out with 30 minutes to go for a beached Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo.
It set up a 20-minute shootout between the top four cars, although the pair of Belgian-entered BMWs remained out front after dominating the proceedings from the middle of the opening hour.
While the No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes of Maro Engel started on pole, van der Linde and teammate Augusto Farfus both got around the German driver by Lap 11 and essentially had clear sailing for the duration.
The closest challenge came from the No. 66 Tresor Attempto Racing Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II, which saw Ricardo Feller pressure Philipp Eng for second prior to sunset.
The two cars ran nose-to-tail for nearly a stint although the gap increased in the closing two hours in full darkness.
Van der Linde shared top honors with Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor, who set the race’s fastest lap in the Shell-liveried BMW.
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Vanthoor: WRT’s Focus on Race Pace Key to Victory
Dries Vanthoor believes BMW M Team WRT’s focus on race pace in the buildup to the Kyalami 9 Hour was the key factor to victory in Saturday’s Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli round.
The Belgian and co-drivers Charles Weerts and Sheldon van der Linde led a 1-2 finish for the pair of BMW M4 GT3s, in only the team’s third outing with the manufacturer.
While having qualified a distant second and third to the pole-sitting No. 999 GruppeM Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, both the Shell-liveried and sister No. 33 BMWs came alive in the opening hour of the South African enduro.
Van der Linde took the lead on Lap 9, with teammate Augusto Farfus slotting in behind just two laps later.
The No. 32 BMW never looked back from that point, leading the remainder of the race in controlling fashion, which Vanthoor credits to the team’s strategy from the beginning of the weekend.
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