SRO “Working Hard” to Confirm Kyalami 9H

Photo: SRO

SRO Motorsports Group is “working hard” to confirm February’s Kyalami 9 Hour according to Stephane Ratel, who said they need to ensure a minimum of eight international GT3 entries for the South African leg of the Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli to go ahead as planned.

Scheduled for Feb. 23-25, the event has struggled for entries in its last two editions, which were largely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, something Ratel said has made it difficult for teams and manufacturers to commit to for next year’s enduro.

The rescheduled 2021 race, which occurred in February this year, had 11 entries while the December 2020 event featured 12 cars.

Sportscar365 understands that a decision needs to be made mid-week on whether the race will happen in order to accommodate sea-freight schedules for teams and manufacturers, including tire supplier Pirelli.

“We’re really working hard to have the minimum number of cars we need to confirm the event,” Ratel told Sportscar365.

“I think we can get there. I think it’s a beautiful event. I was saying that we pushed it throughout [challenging] times, and we forget that Omicron was only last year, a week before the event, it fell on us [and we had to reschedule].

“Teams don’t appreciate all the trouble we went through to keep this event against all odds. They just say, ‘Oh, it was not such a great grid’ and they forget how great it was in 2019.

“For me it’s a bit frustrating because you see Formula 1 wants to go to Kyalami, Formula E is working to be in South Africa, everyone thinks that South Africa and the African market is important.

“The Formula 1 South African Grand Prix has a lot of heritage, but the second event [in heritage] is really the 9 Hour and it’s proven difficult to get cars there.”

Ratel said the growth of the Asian Le Mans Series, which will feature 24 GT3 cars for its compact 2023 season in February in the United Arab Emirates, has had a negative impact on potential Kyalami entries.

Another challenge has been the close proximity to the opening IGTC round at Bathurst, which is just three weeks earlier and has forced full-season teams to ship separate sets of equipment to Australia and South Africa.

“The reason is simple,” he said. “Through the last two years, the grid was low so it didn’t leave a great lasting impression and at the same time I think the ACO did the right thing to have [Asian Le Mans] races [in the Middle East].

“Now they’ve become super, super [big]; the grid is fantastic. Congrats to Asian Le Mans. Therefore most of the teams you talk to are going to these [four] Asian Le Mans races.

“It’s proven difficult, I’m not hiding it, but I hope the manufacturers that support IGTC will want to keep the race alive and help us.”

Ratel confirmed that SRO would need to bring at least eight international GT3 entries, which would join a projected grid of eight to ten local cars, for the event to go ahead as planned.

“If we have that type of grid, it’s OK and enough to confirm the event,” he said. “On top of that you have support races, you have everything.

“We have more cars in South Africa than we had before. Slowly but surely, Mercedes has sold a couple of cars, Audi, WRT has sold a couple of their cars there.

“The number of latest-gen GT3 cars is growing and we think we can have more local cars but we also need the minimum international grid so we’re pushing.

“Because I’m optimistic in nature, I hope we succeed.”

Ratel said he expects to have at least four manufacturers committed to the globe-trotting GT3 series next year, with the recently confirmed BMW likely to be joined by Porsche and Mercedes-AMG.

He acknowledged that SRO is still currently in discussions with four-time series champions Audi, which has yet to confirm its participation for 2023.

Ratel said Ferrari, which was one of this year’s four manufacturers alongside Lamborghini, Porsche and Audi and won last weekend’s season-ending Gulf 12 Hours, will not return next year.

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