From a racing driver’s perspective: Ding dong battle for honours in Toyota GR Cup
|Published
After the unfortunate brake failure incidents at Kyalami, Toyota installed new Powerbrakes in all our cars, giving us all a much-needed sigh of relief. This meant our first practice on Friday was all about bedding in those new brakes.
By Kumbi Mtshakazi
Zwartkops Raceway has always held a special place in my heart, so heading there for the third round of the GR Cup driven by Netstar had me fired up and confident of doing well.
After the unfortunate brake failure incidents at Kyalami, Toyota installed new Powerbrakes in all our cars, giving us all a much-needed sigh of relief. This meant our first practice on Friday was all about bedding in those new brakes.
Sean Nurse (Autotrader) quickly hit his stride, laying down a blistering lap, with Devon Scott (GR Driving Academy) hot on his heels in second place. I was struggling to find my pace, lagging behind the rest of the pack.
But just before the final practice session, I called up my old friend Mandla Mdakane (Toyota Gazoo Racing Rally driver). With his invaluable feedback, I managed to end the day fourth in my class, ahead of Jaco vd Merwe (The Citizen) and Bernie Hellberg (TCB Media), which was a huge confidence boost heading into Saturday's early morning qualifying session.
With Mandla’s advice still fresh in my mind, I was ready to roll. I managed to beat my practice times, but so did everyone else. Race one had me starting fifth, just behind Hannes Visser (Lat’ Wiel), who out-qualified me by five-tenths of a second. The first race turned into a fierce tussle between myself and Andries de Villiers (Rola Toyota) in his Yaris. I managed to overtake him, and then my next target was Visser.
Luck was on my side as Visser spun out while battling van der Merwe, allowing me to snatch fourth place on the last lap. This result was a huge morale booster, even though Visser still had the better lap times. The challenge intensified with two dealer-driven Toyota Yaris cars ahead of me, making race two a tough task.
The second race was a hard-fought battle with the Yaris duo ahead, with van der Merwe and Visser fighting it out in front of me. Visser managed to get the better of van der Merwe, taking third place, while I secured fifth in our GR Corolla class, just ahead of a fiercely competitive Hellberg.
With the fourth round coming up in the windy city of Gqeberha on June 29th at Aldo Scribante Raceway, my confidence has grown immensely since the first round. I'm revved up and ready, aiming for an even better overall result.