BMW claim Kyalami IGTC victory

BMW has clinched its first Intercontinental GT Challenge Powered by Pirelli victory since 2020 after Sheldon van der Linde, Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts lead home a Team WRT one-two at the Kyalami 9 Hour.

The #32 M4 GT3 took the chequered flag two seconds clear of the sister machine shared by Philipp Eng, Augusto Farfus and Maxime Martin who chased Van der Linde to the chequered flag after a late Safety Car period slashed the latter’s advantage.

Tresor Attempto’s Audi crewed by Mattia Drudi, Ricardo Feller and Patric Niederhauser completed the overall podium another two seconds back.

It was BMW’s first Intercontinental victory since Farfus and Van der Linde also triumphed in South Africa four years ago, while WRT ended a IGTC losing streak stretching back to the 2019 Suzuka 10 Hours where Vanthoor was also part of its Audi line-up.

Tresor Attempto’s second R8 LMS GT3 finished fourth overall in the hands of Alex Aka, Dennis Marschall and Markus Winkelhock thanks, in part, to GruppeM Racing’s gearbox issue that denied Maro Engel, Mikael Grenier and Raffaele Marciello a podium shot.

Instead, it was SunEnergy1 by SPS’s entry that scored the bulk of Mercedes-AMG’s IGTC points in fifth overall.

The car shared by Kenny Habul, Jules Gounon and Yannick Mettler won the event’s Pro-Am class in fifth overall, finished third of the Intercontinental entries, and won IGTC’s Independent Cup.

Results elsewhere have also seen Habul and Gounon retain their overall drivers’ championship lead by three points from Van der Linde, Vanthoor and Weerts.