In the top split of the Kyalami 90 Minutes, the #991 Porsche from team Garage 991 takes the checkered flag in a commanding fashion, leading from the start to finish. Their victory never truly looked in doubt, no matter how much pace the cars behind had. But it wasn’t such a perfect drive from our pole-sitting Bentley, who finished in just twenty-second position. So, who were the winners and losers from the high-octane sprint race that was the 90 Minutes of Kyalami?

How it happened

For Garage 991, it was a near-perfect race after the #991 Porsche took the lead from second position and remained in control for the entirety of the race. Off the line, it trumped the pole-sitting #555 Bentley from CARL Carbonara, showing once more how potent the Porsche’s rapid acceleration can be. From that point on, the Garage 991 by RennWelten Kyalami car extended a solid six-second buffer and looked untouchable by anyone else, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. About twenty minutes in, they made a mistake in the tricky middle-sector Esses, shaving their lead in half, but it didn’t knock their confidence in any way, shape, or form. Regaining their composure, they pulled out their lead once more, and from that point onwards, bar small fluctuations in gap nobody could get within striking distance, not even the charging #39 YAS HEAT Aston Martin.

But, what happened to the pole sitter? Into the first turn on lap one, they got caught up in the sort of incident that Kyalami can produce into turn one, which ultimately destroyed any chance of a good result. The team would then put on a valiant effort, fighting back through the grid, only to get caught up in more incidents along the way which ultimately led to them bringing the car home to finish in twenty-second.

The Podium 

Making up the rest of the podium in the second position was the #39 YAS HEAT Aston Martin, who proved how great their race craft and pace was by moving up six positions after coming out on top of some thrilling battles with the #488 CDA Noobs #2 Ferrari, the #88 Team Parker Racing Bentley and earlier in the race, the #6 Mercedes from Black Falcon – scything their way through the lap one incidents. Rounding off the podium was the #88 Team Parker Racing Bentley, after their race-long rival of the CDA Noobs #2 Ferrari.

They had been battling for a long time as they both switched back and forth as they tried to snatch the final podium position, but just as the #488 Ferrari was almost past, they collided, throwing another spanner in the works with not long left on the clock. The Ferrari came off worse, as they sat helpless on the apex of turn three, letting the consistent #6 Mercedes into fourth, finishing an enthralling battle for the final podium place and stagnating the top five for the remaining minutes.

The stars of the top fifteen 

Finishing the race in seventh and eighth positions was the #992 Garage 991 powered by RennWelten and #123 Paterson Worx Racing Porsches, who both had very respectable races. The #992 Porsche started all the way back in sixteenth but after avoiding all of the lap one carnage emerged in tenth and from then onwards, drove a super consistent race to bring it home in seventh position. The #123 Porsche, who finished just seven seconds behind the #992 car also had a solid race. For a lot of the race, it was battling with the #7 Ferrari from Error 404 Alien not Found and the Rookie Monsters 246 Honda and drove well, fending off the #7 Ferrari and sticking with the #246 Honda, showing us the team’s racecraft and ability to push for the duration of the grueling 90 minutes.

One of the stand out performances from the thirty-nine car grid was the #23 Mercedes from the RevolutionSimRacing Blue team, who won the Sim Grid World Cup 12 Hours of Bathurst. They finished in ninth, but after qualifying in twenty-second, they raced their way through the pace in very little time to get a decent finish.

However, probably the most impressive drive of the race was from the tenth place #69 GP2 Prema Team Honda, who finished an incredible eighteen positions higher than they qualified. Benefiting heavily from keeping their nose clean throughout the entire race and demonstrating a well-balanced car and pace, they highlighted the value of taking a calculated approach to sim racing. 

More from The Sim Grid

After such a thrilling race at Kyalami, expect more of the same from the rest of The Sim Grid’s one-off events. Remember to head to our website if you want to get involved in future events, but if you just want to watch from the virtual stands, head to our YouTube channel to watch most of our races live! Whilst these one-off events aren’t always streamed live, make sure to check in on the blog for more race reviews like this one!