Kyalami IGTC finale attracts meagre 12-car entry

Of the 12 GT3 cars set to contest the second-ever IGTC event at the South African venue, a significant decrease on last year's 28-car grid, 10 are entered into the Overall category, while the Pro-Am and Silver Cup sub-classes have just one car each.

Audi is the best-represented manufacturer, with its four R8 LMS entries split evenly across two teams, WRT and Car Collection Motorsport.

Porsche is the next-most prolific marque with three 911 GT3 Rs, one each for the Dinamic Motorsport, GPX Racing and Lechner Racing squads.

Bentley and BMW are represented by two cars each, entered by M-Sport and Walkenhorst Motorsport respectively, while a solo factory Honda NSX GT3 makes up the grid.

Four of the nine manufacturers registered for IGTC points - Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Mercedes - are not present.

Porsche heads to Kyalami with a 29-point lead in the manufacturers' standings following its victory in the Spa 24 Hours in October, but with Mercedes not participating, the Weissach marque is defending a 33-point advantage over Audi.

In the drivers' stakes, Spa victors Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor - sharing the Dinamic Porsche with Kevin Estre next weekend - are just a single point clear of GPX Porsche trio Matt Campbell, Patrick Pilet and Mathieu Jaminet.

Bentley's Bathurst 12 Hour-winning trio Maxime Soulet, Jordan Pepper and Jules Gounon are only three points away from the head of the standings, while BMW pair Augusto Farfus and Nicky Catsburg, who won the Indianapolis 8 Hour, are six points back. Farfus and Catsburg are joined for the Kyalami race by BMW DTM driver Sheldon van der Linde.

Audi's best-placed driver is Markus Winkelhock, nine points behind Bamber and Vanthoor, and is partnered at WRT next weekend by Kelvin van der Linde and Dries Vanthoor.

Also of note is Bertrand Baguette making his first IGTC appearance of the year for Honda in place of IMSA star Dane Cameron. Baguette couldn't participate in any of the previous rounds due to travel restrictions that forced him to stay in Japan during the SUPER GT season.