Niederhauser: Late reward for Spa success

Patric Niederhauser actually thought the 2020 racing season was over after the unsuccessful ADAC GT Masters finale two and a half weeks ago in Oschersleben. Inwardly, however, he hoped for an extension. One month before Christmas, this wish comes true.

After Spa hoped for
The reason is his great second place overall at the 24 Hours of Spa on October 24/25. In addition to the GT World Challenge, Europe's biggest GT endurance race also counted towards the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The 9 Hours of Kyalami in South Africa will be the final race of the Intercontinental GT Challenge on December 12.

The once traditional race, last held in 1982, was only revived in 2019 - and the Bernese is now competing on Audi R8 LMS.

Patric Niederhauser: "Great, I'm really happy. After my second place at Spa, I was hoping for this unplanned effort. It shows that Audi is obviously happy with me."

Four races in four continents
Only the Intercontinental GT Challenge includes GT3 races on several continents. It started in February with the 12 Hours of Bathurst in Australia. After the season was interrupted, it didn't continue until early October with the 8 Hours of Indianapolis in the USA and three weeks later at Spa.

With the 18 points from Belgium, Niederhauser is eighth in the standings with Mattia Drudi and Frédéric Vervisch. Instead of Vervisch, German Christopher Haase will be the third man in the Audi R8 fielded by Car Collection Motorsport. Last year, the former ADAC GT Champion and record winner finished fourth at Kyalami.

Late championship decision
As only the Bentley trio that won in Australia also scored points in the other two races, albeit poorly, around 50 drivers still have theoretical title chances in the IGTC. Porsche is ahead in the drivers' and manufacturers' rankings, but nothing has been decided yet.

With a strong line-up of three factory-supported R8 cars, Audi primarily wants to seize the opportunity to improve from third to second or first place in the manufacturers' standings.

In fifth place, Haase's last-year partner Markus Winkelhock, who takes over from Niederhauser GT Masters partner and local hero Kelvin van der Linde as well as Dries Vanthoor at the wheel, is the best-placed Audi driver in the championship (22 points).

The second WRT Audi will be driven by Mirko Bortolotti, Frédéric Vervisch and Charles Weerts. The 19-year-old Belgian won the GT World Challenge Sprint Cup in 2020 and now gets to prove himself alongside the two factory drivers.

New territory for Niederhauser
For the Swiss Audi factory driver, the 4.5-kilometer hilly track outside Johannesburg is uncharted territory.

Patric Niederhauser: "I was once in South Africa as a child, so I know practically neither the country nor a race track in Africa. It will certainly be a cool race with so many factory drivers on the grid on different brands. It's just a shame that I can't combine this short-notice trip with a vacation. Normally, I would have done that."

Further details about the race and the live broadcasts will be covered in a report in the previous week's edition.

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