It feels like just the other day when I jumped into our Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa GR Yaris for the first time in the inaugural GR Cup.
Well, here I am telling you about the last race of the National Extreme Series GR Cup at Zwartkops International Raceway this weekend already.
I hope the shortest track on the calendar delivers the thrills and spills and mixed bag of results it did earlier in the year when the Toyota pocket rockets first raced there. It’s a track where it is not easy to pass and if you are prepared to stick your elbows out, you can defend to the flag.
Last time, it was Ashley Oldfield, Thomas Falkiner, Sean Nurse and me swapping places and a bit of paint, with Oldfield eventually getting the overall win by less than three seconds. Falkiner came in less than a second later with me third and Nurse fourth.
But since those earlier innocent days, a lot has changed. We are more blooded, and some late-season suspension setting tweaks and the drivers getting ever more familiar with the Toyota GR Yaris cars as they rack up the laps means times will be quicker and the racing even closer.
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Oldfield has already wrapped up the GR Cup and has earned himself a much-deserved drive in a TGRSA GTC Corolla this weekend. His place has been taken up by Toyota SA man, Riaan Esterhuysen, who has already proved he is right on the pace and could easily win.
Falkiner who has wrapped up second, is not going to play around, and I expect no quarter will be given by Nurse, who must keep me behind him to take the third step on the overall podium.
Killarney a month ago showed Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger can pedal when she wants, while Lerato Matabese also showed some improved late season pace, so don’t write any of them off just yet.
The joker being played this weekend is that Toyota SA boss man, Andrew Kirby, will be in the seventh car, and he is known for his competitiveness.
For more information on the Toyota GR Yaris, visit the manufacturer’s website.
