Superpole Canceled; AKKA-ASP Mercedes On Kyalami Pole

AKKA-ASP will start tomorrow’s Joburg Kyalami 9 Hour from pole position after Superpole qualifying was canceled due to a waterlogged track, leaving the grid to be determined by the results from Pre-Qualifying practice.

Race control communicated the cancelation of the 25-minute Superpole shootout at 5:32 p.m. local time with standing water covering parts of the 2.8-mile course.

It came after the preliminary three-part qualifying to determine the Superpole running order was canceled after three minutes of track action due to torrential rain.

After that first red flag, the safety car then carried out exploratory laps of the soaked track while a notice was issued to say that Superpole would take place at 5:30 p.m. if the conditions improved.

Shortly after that time had passed, race control released another message to confirm the end of IGTC track activity for the day.

Jules Gounon set a lap time of 1:42.465 to lead Pre-Qualifying on Friday morning when the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit was still dry.

The No. 89 Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo that the Frenchman drives with Timur Boguslavskiy and Raffaele Marciello will share the front row of the grid with the No. 71 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020 of Nicklas Nielsen, Antonio Fuoco and Alessio Rovera.

AF Corse’s No. 51 Ferrari is due to start third, alongside the Pro-Am class SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes-AMG run by AKKA-ASP.

The top factory-supported Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo run by Sainteloc Racing and driven by Kelvin van der Linde, Markus Winkelhock and Patric Niederhauser starts fifth.

Sixth and seventh on the grid go to Audi Sport Team WRT and Sainteloc Racing’s independent Silver Cup crew.

High Class Racing’s WRT-supported Audi rounds out the eight Intercontinental GT Challenge powered by Pirelli runners, while Stradale Motorsport’s Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo is set to start on the National class pole.