National Kyalami 9-Hour aiming to end 2024 racing series on a high

This year’s national circuit racing season will conclude on a high and traditional note at Kyalami on Saturday, with the annual Nine-Hour endurance race to settle three sports car titles.

Endurance crown at stake

Topping proceedings will be the final round of the South African Endurance Championship, currently led by Xolile Letlaka, Stuart White and Mikaeel Pitamber in their Into Africa Lamborghini Huracan GT3.

Their closest title rivals will be Hein Lategan/Verissimo Tavares/Keagan Masters and Henk Lategan in their BBR Porsche 911 GT3, Nick Adcock/Michael Jensen/Jonathan Thomas and Charl Michael Visser (Rico Barlow Adjust for Sleep Nova), Mike McLaughlin/Steve Clark in their Backdraft Slingshot and Charl Arangies/Arnold Neveling (Stradale Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo).

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Class B contenders should include Damian Hammond/Wayne Roach (Trinity Lamborghini Gallardo), Nathan/Sam Hammond (Trinity Lamborghini Huracan), and Sun Moodley/Mo Mia/Joao Paulo Mauro (Bigfoot Express Mercedes-AMG GT3).

Other potential winning teams could include Marius Jackson/Andrew Rackstraw/Christer Jons (MJR Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo), Gianni/Ricky Giannoccaro/Anthony Blunden (G&H Transport Audi R8 LMS GT4), and Sam/Damian Hammond/Wayne Roach (Samlin Lamborghini Gallardo).

Class C should produce a two-horse race between Claudio/Mario Rossi (Alfa Romeo Giulia QV) and Bruno Campos/Joao Rebelo Martins and Marco Rodrigues (Korridas Volkswagen Golf GTI).

Class D will see a Volkswagen versus Honda fight, with the lone Combined Civic Type R of Paulo/Ricardo Loureiro facing off against reigning champions David/Roberto Franco (Graphix Supply World SupaPolo).

Able to interfere will other SupaPolo mounted teams in Kyle and Tyler Robinson (AF Fans), Nathan Hammond/Keegan Campos/Jagger Robertson, Dylan Pragji/Anthony Pretorius (Fast Development) and Karah Hill/Jurie Swart (Kalex).

Backdraft Roadster title

The tightly contested National V8 Roadster title, for the locally-made Backdraft Roadsters, will see drivers from two teams fighting for the year’s title.

They will be Harm/Barend Pretorius/Michael Kernick (Pesty Racing), plus Phillip Meyer/Mark Harvey/ Dean Wolson (PPLE/Adapt).

Able to interfere will be teams like Dan Hirsh/Trevor Graham, Jean-Paul Briner/Anthony Hoare/CJ Blackman (Tradecor Steel), Richard van Heerde/Gavin Rooke/Steve Brooks.

Rounding out the category will be Fikile Holomisa/Baphiwe Rubuluza/Setshaba Mashigo (Qhubani), Fabienne Lanz/Lonika Maartens, Gian Maria Gabbiani/Manuel Grandi, Jamie Going/Jenson O’ Neill-Going, Ludovic Caron/Mark Owens, Andre Bettencourt/Pedro Garcia/ Cristian Bouché (Kia Le Mans), plus Robert Mordaunt and Denver Branders.

All of the above racers will contest the Index of Performance category, that rewards consistency over the race distance.

Off track

In addition to the racing action, there will be a 16 artist music concert, a kids’ zone, a food court and beer garden, rental karts for the public to drive on Kyalami’s Dynamic Handling track, and a record-breaking 100 sim racing rigs.

Times

Thursday will see the endurance teams take to the track for Free Practice sessions at 08h30, 11h25 and 14h35.

The serious business of qualifying for the Three-Hours of Kyalami starts at 17H05.

Friday will hold two Free Practice sessions at 13h30 and 15h10 ahead of the Nine-Hours qualifying at 17h15. After qualifying, there will be an hour long compulsory night practice session starting at 18h00.

The gates open for the big day on Saturday at 06h00 with the main event, the Kyalami 9-Hour, starting at 13h00.

The Three and Nine-Hours of Kyalami is driven by RACE! with partners Jacaranda 94.2, Dunlop, ATS Motorsport, Proton/Foton, and Creative Ink.

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