Nissan and KCMG on provisional pole at Kyalami

Nissan and the GT-R Nismo GT3 n°35 – KCMG of Josh Burdon – Katsumasa Chiyo – Joao Paulo de Oliveira dominated qualifying for the 9 Hours of Kyalami, final of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, on a track that had become tricky with the arrival of rain.

Maxime Martin (Aston Martin Vantage GT3 n°76 – R- Motorsport) had set the best time in Q1 by completing a lap in 1'42″272, 110 thousandths ahead of the Honda NSX GT3 n°30 – Honda Team Motul of Marco Bonanomi and 0″191 ahead the first Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 n°35 – KCMG of Joao Paulo de Oliveira.

Laurens Vanthoor hisse à cet instant la meilleure Porsche 911 GT3 R n°12 – Dinamic Motorsport au 4e rang à plus de cinq dixièmes et emmène dans son sillage Mathieu Jaminet (Porsche 911 GT3 R n°31 – Frikadelli Racing) et Alexandre Imperatori (Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 n°18 – KCMG), pointés à 0″527 et 0″543.

Championship leader Maxi Buhk, for his part, places Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°999 – GruppeM Racing in 7th place at 0″548.

After Q2, the hierarchy evolves with the best time of Bertrand Baguette (Honda NSX GT3 n°30 – Honda Team Motul) in 1'42″382 ahead of Katsumasa Chiyo (Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 n°35 – KCMG), pushing back this last at 70 thousandths before Q3.

Before the decisive Q3, the two Porsche 911 GT3 R n°54 – Dinamic Motorsport and n°31 – Frikadelli Racing, and the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°999 – GruppeM Racing follow.

Q2 was marked by the arrival of wind and a few drops of rain, the storm getting very close to the Kyalami track.

It's official: we have over Kyalami!#IntGTC | #Kyalami9H  pic.twitter.com/K3LDSQbuib

— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) November 22, 2019

This session was neutralized 6′ from its end after Chris Goodwin (Aston Martin Vantage GT3 n°188 – Garage 59) crashed into the gravel trap. Contact also took place in the pitlane between the No. 76 – R-Motorsport Aston Martin and the No. 8 – Team Land Audi R29 LMS when re-entering the track after the red flag.

 Q2 RED FLAG

Chris Goodwin has beached @Garage_59's Aston Martin with 6mins remaining. We've stopped the clock until Aston's recovered.

Meanwhile, that storm isn't far away…#IntGTC | #Kyalami9H  pic.twitter.com/yBUKQSyaQz

— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) November 22, 2019

On a track that became wet, Nick Tandy (Porsche 911 GT3 R n°31 - Frikadelli Racing) made a mistake in the first moments of Q3, hitting the tire wall at turn n°7 and causing a red flag.

 Q3 RED FLAG

Ooops. @NickTandyR drops @Frikadelli_R's Porsche in the wet. He's managed to recover the car back to the pits.#IntGTC | #Kyalami9H  pic.twitter.com/26cU4f6Jpr

— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) November 22, 2019

Enough to regroup the peloton in the pitlane, while the rain gets heavier. It was finally Josh Burdon, supported by Katsumasa Chiyo and Joao Paulo de Oliveira, who placed the No. 3 Nissan GT-R Nismo GT35 – KCMG at the forefront by setting a benchmark time on the wet track in 1'54″805, a just over a tenth ahead of the #911 Porsche 3 GT12 R – Dinamic Motorsport of Matt Campbell – Laurens Vanthoor and Earl Bamber.

In the cumulative ranking, the trio Burdon – Chiyo – de Oliveira is ahead of the Bamber – L. Vanthoor – Campbell crew by 0″137, when Jake Dennis – Maxime Martin – Enaam Ahmed hoists the No. 3 Aston Martin Vantage GT76 – R- Motorsport in third position at 0″161.

Richard Lietz – Kévin Estre – Michael Christensen (Porsche 911 GT3 R n°20 – GPX Racing) follow in 4th position ahead of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°999 – GruppeM Racing of Maxi Buhk (championship leader) – Raffaele Marciello – Maro Engel .

The rest of the top 1, which will compete in the Shoot-Out for pole position in a few minutes, is made up of the Mercedes-AMG GT3 n°10 – SPS Automotive Performance of Götz – Buurman – Stolz, the Porsche 911 GT3 R n°31 – Frikadelli Racing from Tandy – Jaminet – Olsen, from the #3 Honda NSX GT30 – Team Motul from Baguette – Bonanomi – Cameron, from the #8 Audi R3 LMS GT29 – Team Land from Haase – Mies – Winkelhock and the BMW M6 GT3 n°42 – Team Schnitzer de Farfus – S. van der Linde – Tomczyk.

Notons les absences des Bentley du Team M-Sport, de la Porsche n°911 – Team75 Bernhard de Dumas – Werner – Müller ou encore de l’Audi R8 LMS GT3 n°25 – Audi Sport Team WRT de D. Vanthoor – K. van der Linde – F. Vervisch, ce dernier étant en lice pour le titre.