Kyalami Friday Notebook

Photo: SRO

***The No. 80 MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II lost its times from the first qualifying session due to the team refueling the car during the session, which was prohibited. It relegated the GT3 Pro-Am class entry to a tenth place starting position for Saturday’s Kyalami 9 Hour.

***Stewards have given two local drivers, Clint Weston and Sunthrasagaran Moodley, provisional Bronze driver ratings for this event only. Both had not applied for FIA driver ratings prior to this weekend. Weston is sharing the No. 86 Stradale Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo with fellow countrymen Charl Arangies and Arnold Neveling, with Moodley driving solo in the No. 11 BigFoot Express Racing Mercedes.

***Moodley is one of three drivers entered in the Kyalami Supercup, which will contest the opening hour of the Kyalami 9 Hour only. Mikaeel Pitamber in the No. 3 NGK Pablo Clark Racing Mercedes and Joseph Ellerine in the No. 51 MJR Motorsport Audi R8 LMS GT4 are the two others that will not go the full IGTC race distance.

***With Kelvin van der Linde competing in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race in Cape Town on Saturday, and Sheldon in the Kyalami 9 Hour, also on Saturday, the van der Linde family have been split up for the two biggest races of the year in South Africa. Their father will be traveling to Cape Town to support Kelvin, with their mother in Kyalami for Sheldon, who seeks his second win in the last three editions.

***Sheldon told Sportscar365: “This year, I don’t know why it was planned on the same weekend as Formula E, but it clearly had an influence on the fans we’re going to have this weekend and probably the entries as well, I assume. There’s some drivers that do both championships as well.”

***Van der Linde said he’s hopeful of Kyalami remaining on the IGTC calendar in the future, despite the low car counts for the last three editions. “I think it should stay,” he said. “It’s definitely one of the highlights of the season for everyone — not only for me because I’m South African.”

***BMW M Motorsport is providing the same level of factory support to Team WRT this weekend compared to Bathurst according to Augusto Farfus, who explained that the manufacturer also utilizes a high level of remote engineering support.

***EBM will be operating a total of four new Type-992 Porsche 911 GT3 Rs this year, including two for customer efforts Grove Racing and Modena Motorsports according to team owner Earl Bamber, who expects to take delivery of the first car in early March.

***Modena’s Porsche is slated to take part in the Hankook 12H Spa in early May ahead of an apperence alongside Grove Racing’s new car at the CrowdStrike 24 Hours of Spa, while EBM will field one of its own cars in Fanatec GT World Challenge Asia powered by AWS, with the second new car earmarked for a “to-be-confirmed” program.

***Bamber said evaluations on Grove Racing’s 2024 program will take place later this year, with considerations of finding pathways to eventually contest both the Rolex 24 at Daytona and 24 Hours of Le Mans. “When we get to the Gulf 12 Hours, we’ll be looking at what the next projects could be,” the Kiwi said. “There’s some cool ideas in the pipeline.”

***While Kyalami marks the M4 GT3’s South African debut, the Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II first appeared in last year’s Killarney 9 Hour with MJR Motorsport, which is also present this weekend with drivers Marius Jackson, Mo Mia and Kwanda Mokoena. The South African outfit is also fielding an Audi R8 LMS GT4 for Joseph Ellerine that’s part of the three-car Kyalami SuperCup, which will contest the opening hour of the race.

***SRO’s Balance of Performance for this weekend’s event sees the Audi Evo II weigh in 15 kg heavier, along with a 5 mm smaller air restrictor compared to the previous-gen Evo model that ran last year’s race with Sainteloc, WRT and High Class Racing.

***The Type-991.2 Porsche is 10 kg heavier but with a 1.5 mm larger air restrictor compared to its eligible configuration last year, while the Mercedes has underwent a 5 kg weight increase and 0.5 mm reduction in air restrictor. The turbocharged BMW, meanwhile, has a minimum weight of 1300 kg, compared to the Audi (1305 kg), Porsche (1280 kg) and Mercedes (1335 kg). It has received a slight increase in turbo boost pressures compared to Bathurst.

***This year’s event is the 36th edition of the South African Nine Hour Endurance Race, which was first staged at Grand Central in 1958. However, its duration, distance and location have all altered over the last 65 years.

***Production-based sports cars of varying degrees were gradually replaced by prototypes before SRO helped to revive the event in 2019 when it joined IGTC’s globe-trotting GT3 series. Further events were held in 2020 and 2022.

***Click Here to download a digital version of the event program.

***Live coverage of the Kyalami 9 Hour will be available on SRO’s GT World YouTube page beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. ET) featuring the commentary team of David Addison and John Watson in the booth and Amanda Busick in pit lane.

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