Initially, there were reports that the Kelvin van der Line/Augusto Farfus/Charles Weers car had hit an animal in the opening minutes of the race.

Driver van der Linde later clarified it was caused by the melee at Hell Corner on the first lap.

The right front corner of the car was damaged, though the team elected not to pit under the half-hour-long Safety Car that followed.

Three-wide up Mountain Straight for the second year running!

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— Intercontinental GT Challenge (@IntercontGTC) February 14, 2026

After van der Linde handed the #32 over to co-driver Charles Weerts, the South African driver explained the first lap incident.

“So early in the race, it was a bit unnecessary,” said van der Linde.

“I saw a couple of guys go super hot into Turn 1 and didn’t have the Lamborghini on my radar that probably went a little bit off track.

“As he came across, everyone just kind of drove into the middle of the track, and that’s where I was.

“Unfortunately we have a lot of damage, but the car felt okay through the stint. We were able to get on and move up.

“Hopefully it doesn’t mean too much of a disadvantage later on.”

“If we want to fix it, we need to bring the car into the garage. That’s the only thing we can’t do outside. We’re going to try stay out as long as we can and hopefully it holds up.”

After an hour and a half, the race was brought under the control of the Safety Car when the #268 Team BRM Audi R8 driven by Mark Rosser crashed at Brock’s Skyline.

The #32 BMW M4 started from 12th, and once the first round of pit stops were completed was second behind the sister #46 car.