Intercontinental GT

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Porsche and Olsen take Intercontinental GT title at the final round in Kyalami

Porsche’s Dennis Olsen crowned the driver’s champ and a Porsche Double Podium is just enough to see off Mercedes-AMG to the manufacturers title.

Intercontinental GT

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In a dramatic end to the Intercontinental GT Challenge at the Kyalami 9 Hour race, the Porsche team and driver Dennis Olsen were crowned the 2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli champions.

Kyalami didn’t disappoint with a result that was as unpredictable as it was unexpected. Frikadelli Racing’s Porsche 911 GT3 started the race in pole position but had lost three places by the third corner.

The driver’s championship leader Maxi Buhk had also stopped his GruppeM Mercedes-AMG after the third corner of the first lap, retiring from the race with an engine failure. Six drivers were then mathematically eligible to win the driver’s title with contenders from Porsche, Audi and Mercedes-AMG still in the hunt but GPX Racing’s Kevin Estre led the race onwards and drove a stellar first stint ahead of the Frikadelli Racing Porsche.

After the first round of pitstops and with local driver Jordan Pepper driving a double-stint, the lead would change many times during the rest of the race.

2019 Intercontinental GT Challenge

After three hours of running, team Strakka Racing’s Mercedes-AMG crashed out of contention. A Safety Car period to retrieve the car left GPX Racing out front ahead of a hard-charging Walkenhorst BMW M6 GT 3 that had started the race in 16th position. This presented an action-packed 3-way tussle with some daring passes and an incident that saw Nick Tandy touch the other Porsche of Michael Christensen, forcing the latter into a spin. It was enough for the stewards to give the Frikadelli team a drive-through penalty and observing the race from here, no one would have any guesses of what was still to come in the next few hours.

With intermittent pitstops for all teams, the race-lead was swopped and changed a number of times with drivers from Mercedes-AMG, Porsche, Nissan, BMW and Audi leading the pack at some point.

After a stunning Johannesburg sunset, the storm clouds rolled in and the story of the Kyalami 9 Hour took a dramatic turn. As the rain fell under the famed and fierce Joburg thunderstorm, the #108 Bentley suffered a crash, bringing out the safety car for what would become a near 2-hour safety car period. With some teams calling for the race to be stopped, the race director correctly decided that the show would go on and with just under half an hour to go, the race was allowed to get back under way.

At the restart, SPS Automotive’s Yelmer Buurman in the Mercedes-AMG was out front and in the best position to help Mercedes win the Manufacturer’s title and for Maximilian Götz to win the Drivers’ crown – BUT – that all that changed within one lap of the restart when Lietz, Tandy and Catsburg muscled their way past. GPX Racing’s Richard Lietz let Nick Tandy past in the Frikadelli Racing Porsche, the only Porsche team in contention for the driver’s title. In so doing, Lietz became the target of the Walkenhorst Motorsport’s BMW who also got past the Porsche to take second place.

The result saw Denis Olsen take the driver’s title describing it as the best day of his career. “When I was asked recently to name my greatest achievement, I said it was the victory at Bathurst. When I was then asked what could be better than that, I said a victory at Kyalami, winning the Manufacturers’ title with Porsche as well as the Drivers’ Championship. That has now happened – unbelievable, it feels like a dream. When the race was finally restarted, I had a good feeling. If you have someone like Nick Tandy in the Porsche 911 GT3 R on a wet track in the final sprint, then anything is possible.”

Team mate Nicky Tandy was indeed in commanding form taking pole position, fastest lap and of course the chequered flag at the end.

Sebastian Golz, the Project Manager of the Porsche 911 GT3 R praised his team for their hard work throughout the season. “Three wins from five races, and podium finishes at all rounds – that’s how you win championships. The key to our success was the excellent teamwork of our squads around the world. The final race at Kyalami with sun, heat, lightning, thunder and rain was like a rollercoaster ride. In the end we deserved to win. Now it’s time to celebrate.”

The final podium was as follows:

1st Place Frikadelli Racing Team: Mathieu Jaminet, Dennis OLSEN (NOR) / Nick TANDY

2nd  Place Walkenhorst Motorsport: Christian KROGNES (NOR) / Mikkel JENSEN (DNK) / Nicky CATSBURG

3rd Place: GPX Racing: Michael CHRISTENSEN (DNK) / Kevin ESTRE (FRA) / Richard LIETZ

South African Drivers Results

Sheldon van der Linde was the highest-placed South African driver in the race, finishing seventh overall in the No. 42 Team Schnitzer BMW.

Brother Kelvin van der Linde placed 11th overall in Audi Sport Team.

Jordan Pepper in the #107 Team Bentley M-Sport finished in 12th position.

SA Winners in the Amateur class

Team Walkenhorst Motorsport also fielded a BMW M6 GT3 in the Amateur class, winning the class overall with local racers Michael Van Rooyen and Gennaro Bonafede driving to the victory alongside their German teammate Henry Walkenhorst.