Ferrari, Audi split IGTC titles as Mercedes wins at Kyalami

AF Corse Ferrari pair Come Ledogar and Alessandro Pier Guidi were crowned drivers' champions at the end of the three-round series that began with last summer's Spa 24 Hours, while Audi claimed the manufacturers' prize at the South African venue.

However, it was the ASP Mercedes-AMG GT3 shared by Raffaele Marciello, Jules Gounon and Timur Boguslavskiy that came out on top in the race itself, beating the #51 Ferrari 488 GT3 of Ledogar, Pier Guidi and Miguel Molina by 15 seconds.

Just 11 cars (eight IGTC cars, two local GT3s and a single GT4) took the start of the race, which was originally due to be held in December but was delayed due to the emergence of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa.

Both Ferrari and Audi went into the event having shuffled their crews in a bid to maximise their drivers' title chances. Nicklas Nielsen, who had jointly led the standings with Ledogar and Pier Guidi following their Spa win, was moved across to the sister #71 Ferrari to join Antonio Fuoco and Alessio Rovera.

Audi meanwhile opted to split up its best-placed crew, Indianapolis 8 Hour winners Patric Niederhauser, Markus Winkelhock and Christopher Haase.

Kelvin van der Linde was brought in to join Niederhauser and Winkelhock aboard the Sainteloc R8 LMS Evo, while Haase moved across to WRT to partner Charles Weerts and Dries Vanthoor.

There was a further change prior for WRT to the race as Mattia Drudi ended up deputising for an unwell Vanthoor.

Audi, which had a commanding 36-point lead in the manufacturers' championship coming into the race, effectively clinched the prize when the #71 Ferrari dropped out of the race with gearbox issues after three-and-a-half hours, becoming the race's only retirement.

However, the battle for