East London GR Cup teaches a motorsport lesson

This past weekend saw the fifth round of the 2024 GR Cup in East London, one of the fastest circuits on the local calendar! I had high hopes for my second visit to the track, and what I experienced was the highest of highs, followed by an unexpected low!

Related: Round 5 of the GR Cup headed to East London!

Practice & qualifying

We arrived at the ironic track on a Thursday afternoon and had a few untimed practice sessions where I attempted to reacquaint myself with the circuit, and eventually, according to my Garmin, I managed a lap time of 1min35.9, but my optimal was a low 1min35. Heading into Friday, I knew I had some time to find, and I did so in the first session, with a 1min35.4, which I couldn't match in the extreme heat of the second session before I decided to save the car and tyres for the Saturday by sitting out of the third session.

The qualifying session took place early on Saturday morning, and I eventually topped the time sheets with a lap time of 1:35.410, some 1.4 seconds ahead of Hannes Visser (La't Wiel) and 2.6 seconds ahead of third-place guest driver Anand Pather (Toyota SA Motors' Vice-President for Customer Services). There was over a second of time left on the table for me in this session as Bernie Hellberg (Driven) had a significant crash during qualifying, subsequently writing his Corolla off and compromising what was at the time of the red flag, a lap time some 0.7 seconds up on what I had achieved the day before. Thankfully, Bernie is unharmed, for the most part, which is the most important thing. Heading out after seeing my friend and colleague have such a big crash was not easy, but I pulled what I thought was a good enough lap to secure pole.

Race 1

I headed into Race 1 with so much confidence. The laps I completed in qualifying still had around a second of margin in them, meaning I could maintain consistent 1min35s to low 1min36 times, in theory at least. The race started, and I managed to get through the treacherous first two turns in the first place, but there was a nagging feeling that the car was down on power, something which became apparent down the long straights in East London. Looking at the data afterwards confirmed it, I was 6 km/h down on qualifying down the main straight. I set the fastest lap of the race at 1min36.2, but I was pushing the car to get there. I crossed the line around 15 seconds ahead of the next Corolla but had a strange feeling. Suffice to say, I had ominous concerns about the second race scheduled for later in the day.

Race 2

Race 2 appeared poised perfectly for me to clinch the championship. I had a healthy pace advantage of roughly two seconds per lap over the next Corolla, and I was starting on pole again after setting the quickest time in Race 1. The sun was setting as the tenth race of the GR Cup in 2024. I led the pack of Yaris and Corollas through the formation lap.

After I had felt a bit of a power dip in Race 1, the car felt strange during the formation lap, and when we lined up on the starting grid, it cut out completely and battled to start up again, after which it sounded quite sick. I pulled into the points to retire the car and sat in the seat for a couple of minutes, contemplating how close I had come to achieving my goal of ten in a row! I am happy for Alex Shahini, who claimed his first win, and was excited to see both Anand Pather and Kumbi Mtshakazi on the podium! Sometimes, motorsport has to bring you back down to earth again, and it's safe to say that I'm feasting on a healthy dose of humble pie.

A reflection

While it would be easy to feel demotivated after a mechanical issue, I chatted with fellow journalist, racing driver, and coach Ernest Page, who is always a fountain of knowledge and has provided incredible advice throughout the season! He has helped me improve my mental approach to racing, and his suggestion of "Analyse the performance, not the outcome." was one of the most profound lessons I've absorbed throughout my stint in racing. I can, of course, be critical of my weekend, as I know that I had more lap time, but, all things considered, I was performing at a high level, and the fact that the car had an issue is mostly out of my control. Could I have been easier on the car in the first race? Yes, would that have resulted in no mechanical issues? There's no way of telling for sure, but I have to assume some responsibility for it. This is a lesson that I will take into my everyday life, another reason why motorsport, as a discipline, is so incredible!

Championship Standings

With two rounds to go, I have a 19-point lead in the championship, and, with some luck, if I win the first race in Cape Town in September, I will wrap up the championship with three races to go!