Kyalami Moved to Category H BoP

Photo: Audi

SRO Motorsports Group has moved Kyalami to its high-altitude specific Balance of Performance table, in a change made one hour prior to qualifying for this weekend’s Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli season finale.

Announced in a bulletin sent to teams at 1:43 p.m. local time, the overhaul has seen multiple BoP changes, including a 35 kg weight break for the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo and 45 kgs of weight shed from the Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Four of the turbocharged-powered cars have had increases in turbo boost pressures, with the Ferrari 488 GT3 and BMW M6 GT3 getting additional power at the mid-to-high end RPM ranges and minor boosts to both the Bentley Continental GT3 and Aston Martin Vantage GT3.

It came after the 2.8-mile circuit, which is holding its first international sports car race in nearly 20 years, was initially declared by SRO as a Category C track and utilized that table through Friday’s Pre-Qualifying session.

The track’s altitude of 5,029 ft (1,532 meters) places it just marginally lower than Utah Motorsports Campus, for which the SRO introduced a high-altitude-specific Balance of Performance two years ago.

At that time, SRO Motorsports America’s director of competition Marcus Haselgrove said the Category H BoP would theoretically be used for any track 3,000 feet or above sea level, although it was not initially in place for the start of this weekend’s event.

Teams representing Audi, Mercedes-AMG and Porsche, which are have normally aspirated GT3 machinery, voiced concerns to Sportscar365 over the challenges of the high altitude conditions that typically favor turbocharged-powered engines.

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John