Victory in Round 4 of the GR Cup!

This past weekend was Round 4 of the National Extreme Festival at the Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha, a track where I encountered a number of issues when I visited it during the 2022 season, so I was looking for a clean weekend of racing, and that's what I got!

Related: Toyota GR Corolla 1.6T GR-Four Circuit (2023) review - A rally car in your driveway

Practice

Upon arrival at the circuit on Thursday morning, we had a chance to head out for one 30-minute session; however, having driven here before, I knew that the surface would hurt my tyres, so I went out for 12 minutes, feeling confident in my pace and the car itself. Friday included three practice sessions of 15 minutes each, and I tried to limit my running to 10 minutes to save the tyres for race day. My optional lap time was 1min10.4, faster than my initial goal, but qualifying was set to be slightly warmer the following morning, so I had to manage my expectations.

Qualifying

Heading into qualifying, I had to manage my expectations regarding optimal lap time because I had heard that the track was slippery and the ambient temperature was higher. I headed out, managed my warm-up lap well, and went for it; the tyres felt good, the track was greasy but manageable, and then, two corners from the end, I ran into traffic and subsequently messed up my fellow drivers' hot laps, too! I let my tyres cool down, but at this stage, it was all or nothing, so I went for one push lap, resulting in a time of 1min11.553, around a second from what I knew was possible, but enough to grab pole from Alex Shahini (CAR) and Jaco van der Merwe (Citizen) who grabbed third.

Race 1

Heading into Race 1, I knew that I would have some hard-charging GR Yaris racing machines on my tail, and after a bit of a slow start, I managed to stay ahead of Devon Scott into the first corner; from there, I opened a small gap each lap until the end, using the GR86 pack who started ten seconds ahead of us as a goal to chase. I ended the first heat well in front of the Corolla pack and just a few seconds ahead of the Yaris group, who had an epic race with Devon Scott being overtaken by his fellow GR Driving Academy instructor Paul De Vos towards the end! Looking at my front left tyre after the race, I knew that Race 2 would be difficult; I had almost nothing left in terms of tread.

Race 2

Race 2 came around, and it was even hotter than Race 1. I knew it would be a game of tyre management, but Devon Scott had other ideas in his Rola Motor Group GR Yaris, and what ensured was five consecutive laps at a qualifying pace as we both pushed ourselves to the limit. I opened up a small gap, but by the time the second half of the last lap had come around, my tyres were beyond saving, and he came past to win the Yaris category for the day while second on the road, I had won Race 2 in the GR Corolla category, making it eight wins from eight starts this season!

Championship standings

I have managed to create a 24-point buffer in the championship, and at the time of this writing, it looked good that I would win it in 2024!

What's next?

A special thanks