From nerves to nose-to-tail racing: Toyota GR Yaris Cup Challenge provides thrills at Killarney

It may have been the penultimate round of the Toyota GR Cup Challenge and the second race for us at the Killarney Raceway in Cape Town at the Extreme Festival, but that doesn’t mean it was any easier.

When the first race of the season took place in March at the same track, my nerves were frayed as I began my racing journey with the manual GR Yaris.

It was the first-ever outing in a stripped-out race car, and it took a while to get used to the noise, heat, speed, and 24 other GR Yarises, dealers in GR Corollas and Toyota Gazoo Academy GR 86s all vying for a place.

Subsequent races at the iconic Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit, Aldo Scribante, Zwartkops Raceway, and East London Grand Prix Circuit have seen the six of us in the Media Challenge significantly improve our race craft and dramatically improve our speed and times.

It’s partly aided by the fact that from Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha, we’ve been piloting the new, more powerful automatic GR Yaris.

The changes are super fast and slick, but ultimately it’s up to the driver to make the most of it.

And because it was the second outing on the track, the pressure was on.

Practice

It had been eight weeks since our last race in a wet East London, so with first practice on Friday, it took a while to shake the rust off and become accustomed to the surroundings again.

With advice from “coach” Lorenzo Gualtieri of Comprehensive Driving Solutions that included braking later and coming on the throttle sooner, my times improved steadily.

By the third practice the car and I were moulding together well and instead of lifting when things became squiggly, I steered through it and concentrated on my entrance and exit lines so when the checkered flag fell I had done some of my best times of the day including a top speed of 204km/h on the back straight and improved a massive eight seconds over my first race there. 

Qualifying

I was feeling confident when the flag dropped for qualifying on Saturday morning and allowed the field to spread out as I warmed the tyres and brakes before trying a hot lap.

The Garmin driving performance optimiser provided real-time analytics as the transponder picked up the times, and for the most part, my figures were in the green and somehow my last lap was the fastest, putting me midfield with only a second separating Lawrence Minnie  (Auto Trader), Charl Bosch (Citizen) and myself.

Home town hero Kyle Kock (CAR Magazine) had turned the tables on class leader Nabil Abdool (SuperSport) with Phuti Mpyane (TimesLive) a close third.

Race one

With a rolling start, race one saw me slip in behind one of the GR Corollas, and while I knew I had the better of him, I also knew from experience that he wasn’t going to let me pass easily, allowing me to chase down the pack. 

Halfway through the race, two more Corollas had caught up to us, and when I saw my chance on turn two, I dived inside him with the car behind me doing the same.

I was experiencing some understeer on the exit, which gave him the opportunity to pass me and from then on, the positions remained unchanged as the laps unfolded.

Kock had taken the class win, followed by Abdool, Mpyane, Minnie, Bosch and me.

Race two ding-dong

Race two could not have been any different.

Heading out of turn one from the start, my GR Yaris somehow hit the rev limiter before settling down again, but it allowed brothers Johan and Rudi Boonzaier in their GR Corollas to slip past.

From there, it became an intense race with the three of us trying to get the better of each other.

We raced nose to tail with inches separating us as we ding-donged positions, closed the door to prevent passing, tried to outbrake each other (I won that one, thanks to the massive disks on the Yaris), tried to dive bomb at every turn and pass with every opportunity.

There were numerous times that I could have passed, but having experienced a couple of knocks through the season, discretion proved to be the better part of valour.

It was the best eight laps I had yet experienced with proper, unfiltered racing testing us to the limits.

When the flag dropped, with three of us separated by less than a second, and I let my concentration wane, only then did I notice how wet with perspiration my gloves, fire vest and balaclava were.

Hugs all around as we climbed out, proving that you don’t have to go for a podium position to have a tense but fun time on the track.

Kock had scored a well-deserved double victory, and with his second position, Abdool has now wrapped up the championship.

After an unfortunate accident, Minnie had to limp across the line behind Mpyane, Bosch and my racecar #60.

The last race of the season is at Toyota Gazoo Racing Headquarters Zwartkops on October 25, and while the championship may be decided, the racing won’t be any less intense.