I'm privileged to have been included in another season of the GR Cup, a series run by Toyota Gazoo Racing SA. The first race weekend of the year took place on 15 and 16 March at the Killarney International Circuit. I would be racing one of six identical near-standard GR Corollas, and since I have a season under my belt already, the heat was on!
Related: AutoTrader back in GR Cup action!
Friday practice
The weekend started with three sessions on Friday, and with fresh tyres, I managed a 1min25.5 in the first session, filling me with confidence for the weekend. The sessions that followed were marginally slower due to the sweltering weather. Still, I headed into Saturday with confidence!
Qualifying
Upon arriving at the circuit early on Saturday morning, I knew our 8 am qualifying session would be done on a wet track. I headed out, confident about having four-wheel drive but also weary of cold semi-slick tyres and the prospect of no driver aids. I built up my lap time slowly and tried several lines to optimise my time; however, around 10 minutes in, the track had dried significantly, and I shaved 3.0 seconds from my lap time and registered a 1min31.7 time. I knew the following lap would be crucial, with time running out. I nailed the first two sectors, being some 0.9 seconds up on the previous best heading down the back straight, before disaster struck, as I was held up by an 86 on a build-up lap, meaning I emerged from the final turn a tenth down on my best. I was convinced I had lost pole position as a result.
Thankfully, I was ahead of La't Wiel's Hannes Visser by just 0.317sec, having been convinced that the aforementioned traffic had cost me pole position. Bernie Hellberg from Driven put in a solid lap to secure third on the grip, followed by Alex Shahini from CAR, Jaco van der Merwe from Citizen and Kumbi Mtshakazi from Kumbi-M on Cars.
Race 1
After the drama of a wet qualifying, Race 1 was on a completely dry track. I was staring on pole, and got a good start; however, the the opening laps, I found myself feeling inconsistent in the car, so after three laps or so, I settled down and started focussing on building a gap to my colleague in second place. Having settled into a rhythm and building a buffer of around 6 seconds, I began soaking up the beauty of the Killarney circuit, from the technical Turn 2 to the sheer speed of the double right-hander known as Sarel's Sweep before attempting to optimise my line through the final turn! I crossed the line elated, having won the season's first race, a dream come true!
Race 2
Race 2 was a similar affair, and thanks to the fastest lap set in Race 1, I would begin the second race on pole again. This time, I set a target lap time of 1min26.7 and managed four 1min26.6 lap times, two 1min16.8 laps and two low 1min27 laps as the tyres got hot on my way to victory number two. My ability to remain consistent throughout the race meant I had a slightly bigger gap to second place than in the first. I know my colleagues will continue to chip away at me and catch me with each passing round, so I do not plan on resting on my laurels and will keep pushing.
The GR Corolla
Many people, myself included, tend to forget that the GR Corollas we're campaigning for this year are road-legal production cars with minor modifications. Bearing this in mind, their lap times, which are the same, if not quicker, than another one-make series in the Extreme Festival, are very impressive.
GR 86 development talent
In addition to the 2023 GR Cup media challenge champion, Setshaba Mashigo, the new GR86 Development Academy features five other young drivers, including the supremely talented Dawie van der Merwe, who comes from a successful PoloCup campaign. Van der Merwe was the quickest among the 86 drivers in all sessions, securing pole and two race victories ahead of Mashigo and Niko Zafiris, who finished third and second, respectively.
What's next?
Round 2 is set to be one for the books as we head to Kyalami International Circuit on 12 and 13 April. I cannot wait!
A special thanks
The series would not be possible without the support of key sponsors. Aside from Toyota and AutoTrader, which have both provided so much support, the series is backed by Netstar, Dunlop, OMP, Powerbrake, Ferodo, and Garmin.
