9H Kyalami: Showdown with Bernese ambitions 🎥

NIEDERHAUSER HOPES FOR TITLE WIN In the 9-hour race at Kyalami in South Africa, which has been postponed from December to February, Audi factory driver Patric Niederhauser has a real chance of winning the Intercontinental GT Challenge.

Peter Wyss - February 4, 2022

The endurance race called Kyalami 9 Hour first took place in 1961. On Saturday, the 60th anniversary will be celebrated after it had to be postponed from December to February.

Nine weeks after the originally scheduled date, the finale of the Intercontinental GT Challenge (IGTC) will take place in South Africa on Saturday, February 5. The latest Corona virus variant had forced a postponement of the 9 Hours of Kyalami at short notice in December. The tradition-steeped race track is around half an hour's drive from the city of Johannesburg.

Audi or Ferrari
Audi Sport leads the manufacturers' standings in the only worldwide race series for GT3 sports cars with a 36-point advantage after winning the last IGTC race in 2021 at Indianapolis. A manufacturer can collect a maximum of 43 points at the finale. In addition to championship leader Audi, only pursuer Ferrari still has a mathematical chance of winning the title.

Indy winner Niederhauser on the lookout
By contrast, the situation in the drivers' standings is completely open. The Indy winners Christopher Haase, Patric Niederhauser and Markus Winkelhock in second place are only two points behind the leading Ferrari driver trio Côme Ledogar, Nicklas Nielsen and Alessandro Pier Guidi (Gallery right). Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts, who are third in the standings, are the second-best Audi team and nine points off the top.

In order to spread the odds for an Audi Sport driver's crown, Haase will be driving another Audi at Kyalami. In his place, local hero Kelvin van der Linde, who last proved his speed in the 2021 DTM, will partner "Nidi" and "Winki" in the number #25 Audi R8 LMS (gallery left).

Threat of rain as in qualifying
In practice and pre-qualifying, the competition from Mercedes-AMG and Ferrari was still ahead with both cars. For the Bernese, however, this is not yet a cause for concern, as he reported from South Africa.

Patric Niederhauser: "It doesn't look as rosy as we had imagined. We're having a bit of a hard time against the two Mercedes. But nothing is lost yet and a podium is certainly possible. Nine hours is a long time, and the weather can also be a big factor, as it was last time in December 2020, because thunderstorms are forecast for race day - and if it rains here, then it really does. The important thing for us is simply not to make any mistakes and to beat both Ferraris."

Patric Niederhauser in the TV interview during the qualifying session, which was cancelled due to heavy rain.

Due to heavy rainfall and standing water on the track, qualifying had to be cancelled without replacement on Friday afternoon. The Super Pole Qualifying of the Top 8 from Pre-Qualifying also fell victim to the wet.

Two more podium contenders
With Raffaele Marciello and Lucas Légeret, Switzerland has two more hot irons in the fire in South Africa. Unlike a week ago in Daytona, the Ticino driver will be flying the Swiss flag. Marciello has held an ASS license since 2020.

While he is competing for his first win of the season in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 (center gallery), the Frenchman's primary objective in another Audi R8 LMS is the Pro-Am classification in which he already finished on the podium at Indianapolis.

However, following the withdrawal of several teams still named for the December race, only twelve cars will start, of which the four slowest are from the domestic GT series.

Live on the Internet
A livestream of the complete race, which starts at 1 p.m. local time (12 p.m. CET) on Saturday and ends after nine hours in darkness, is available at this Link on the homepage of the series, as well as a livetiming, or under this Link on the GTWorld YouTube channel. The broadcast starts at 11:30 a.m. Swiss time.