9-Hour roars again

Frikadelli Racing’s polewinning 911 GT3 R shared by Olsen, Tandy and Jaminet enjoyed a fastest lap and victory, and also secured the manufacturers’ crown and drivers’ title

IT COULDN’T have been more epic. Tremendous heat. Torrential downpours. Thunderbolts and lightning. The Kyalami 9-Hour has returned with a bang. Don’t feel too bad if you couldn’t make it to the track last weekend, because SRO Motorsport, the organiser of the event, says it has signed a fiveyear deal, which means you’ll have the opportunity to soak it all up again next year.

EPIC ENCOUNTER

Porsche and Dennis Olsen were crowned the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge champions after a dramatic conclusion to this year’s title showdown at the revived Kyalami event.

South African fans waited 37 years for their endurance classic to return, but the hiatus was more than worth it. A race mostly run in bright sunshine ended under the cover of darkness and in a cloud of spray when the action finally resumed following a two-hourlong safety car period caused by heavy rain.

Frikadelli Racing’s pole-winning 911 GT3 R shared by Olsen, Nick Tandy and Mathieu Jaminet enjoyed a perfect day that included fastest lap (Tandy) and victory, which also secured Porsche the manufacturers’ crown, Olsen the drivers’ title, and the winning crew Kyalami’s original 9 Hour trophy. But it was far more complicated than that.

Walkenhorst Motorsport’s Christian Krognes, Mikkel Jensen and Nicky Catsburg recorded BMW’s best result of the season with second, while long-time race leaders Richard Lietz, Kevin Estre and Michael Christensen completed the podium in their GPX Racing Porsche.

Seven drivers entered the season finale with a chance of winning the title, while Porsche had to overcome a 22-point deficit in order to beat Mercedes-AMG. And it received a helping hand early on when GruppeM’s entry, which also featured drivers’ championship leader Maxi Buhk, retired on lap one with an engine issue.

That opened the door for Maxi Goetz and Olsen, who began the day six and 10 points, respectively, behind Buhk.

Sustained pressure from the other four protagonists – Frederic Vervisch, Dirk Werner, Matt Campbell and Christopher Haase – failed to materialise.

Instead, it was GPX’s Porsche – eligible to score manufacturers’ points but without a drivers’ contender among its ranks – that made much of the running, despite initially appearing behind Jordan Pepper’s double-stinting Bentley on the timing screen.

FULL COURSE YELLOW

A safety car period to retrieve Strakka’s crashed Mercedes-AMG – the manufacturer’s second nominated car to retire within the first three hours – left GPX out front from Walkenhorst’s BMW, which had steadily climbed the order after starting 16th, and Frikadelli’s Porsche.

The battle included Krognes’ stunning switchback pass on Tandy as well as the latter tagging his Porsche teammate Christensen into a spin. Fortunately, both 911s rejoined without damage, although the drive-through penalty initially dropped Olsen out of contention.

Instead, SPS Automotive Performance’s Mercedes-AMG took up the chase. Maxi Goetz, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz found themselves out of sequence after an early pitstop to remove debris from the car’s radiator, but they had the speed to keep pace with the Porsche and BMW. And when their strategies converged, there was barely two seconds between them.

However, a biblical lightning storm and torrential rain were about to play their part in deciding both titles. It arrived with two-and-a-half hours left on the clock and prevented any green flag running until 25 minutes remained.

When racing finally resumed, SPS’s Buurman was out front and in prime position to seal the manufacturers’ title for Mercedes-AMG and drivers’ crown for Goetz.

But that all changed in one lap of the restart when Lietz, Tandy and Catsburg muscled their way past.

Lietz then duly moved aside for Tandy, whose extra points were enough to give Olsen the drivers’ crown. Catsburg also dispatched the GPX Porsche, but was unable to catch Frikadelli over the closing stages.

Several pitstop infringements prevented Audi Sport from challenging, but Christopher Haase, Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Mies still finished fourth after making the most of the late wet running.

SPS slipped to fifth while Oliver Jarvis, Edoardo Liberati and Alex Imperatori completed the top six in KCMG’s #18 Nissan, which was a top-six candidate throughout.

Red flagging the race during the worst of the conditions would have handed victory to BMW Team Schnitzer, but Augusto Farfus, Martin Tomczyk and best-placed South African Sheldon van der Linde were forced in for a splash-and-dash just as racing resumed.

They finished seventh, one place ahead of Dinamic’s Porsche, which hung around the top six without ever threatening a podium.

KUS Team 75 Bernhard (Porsche) and R-Motorsport (Aston Martin) completed the overall top 10.

ALL SET FOR 2020

The 2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign begins in just over two months’ time at the Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour in Australia (January 31 – February 2).

Sebastian Golz, project manager for the 911 GT3 R racing programme, says: “Three wins from five races, and podium finishes at all rounds – that’s how you win championships.

“The key to our success was the excellent teamwork of our squads around the world. The final race at Kyalami with sun, heat, lightning, thunder and rain was like a rollercoaster ride. In the end, we deserved to win. Now it’s time to celebrate.”

Olsen added: “This is the best day of my career. When I was asked recently to name my greatest achievement, I said it was the victory at Bathurst. When I was then asked what could be better than that, I said a victory at Kyalami, winning the manufacturers’ title with Porsche as well as the drivers’ championship. That has now happened – unbelievable, it feels like a dream. When the race was finally restarted, I had a good feeling.”

2020 Intercontinental GT Challenge calendar:

Round 1 – Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12-Hour, Australia – 31 Jan to 2 Feb

Round 2 – Total 24 Hours of Spa, Belgium – 23 to 26 July

Round 3 – Suzuka 10 Hours, Japan – 21 to 23 Aug

Round 4 – Indianapolis 8 Hours, USA – 2 to 4 Oct

Round 5 – Kyalami 9-Hour, South Africa – 19 to 21 Nov