“Flat out at Potters Pass, don’t even think of lifting.” This was the message drilled into my head by various drivers who had driven the East London circuit going into the fifth round of the GR Cup.
However, when sitting with TSAM’s Vice President of Marketing, Glenn Crompton, at the recent launch of the Toyota Starlet Cross, all he said was, “Just have fun, but most importantly, bring the car back home in one piece,” and that was all I needed to hear.
Upon arrival for our unofficial two practice sessions, the message from the mechanics was clear: get to know the track as much as possible but save the tyres because the track is very aggressive on our Dunlop Direzza semi-slicks. We received a new set of tyres for the weekend because Aldo had completely destroyed them in round four.
I carried the same “learn the track and forget the Garmin times” strategy into Friday’s official practice, and to my surprise, I was right on pace with everyone.
I tried running my GR Corolla in a 30/70 torque split with traction set to ‘Expert,’ but I noticed that this was not working out for me as it would still cut some power.
So I went back to the track setting, which is 50/50 with traction all the way off, and this was the magic I needed. It is an all-wheel-drive car, after all. I managed a time of 1:38.7 in the second practice before I became my own villain.
After conquering Potters Pass and Rifle Bend flat out, I braked later going into Cocobana turn, which saw me oversteering into the tire barrier. It was a moment that had everyone worried and reminded us just how vicious the track is.
Luckily for me, I was not physically hurt, although my GR Corolla needed a few screws in the loose front bumper. Nothing the Fast Developments team couldn’t handle. This meant I would miss the last practice session, a decision that would somewhat work in my favour during qualifying on Saturday.
During the first lap of qualifying, a horror crash occurred as Bernie Hellberg (TCB Media) lost his GR Corolla out of Rifle Bend, and the session had to be red-flagged immediately to clear the debris. Luckily for Bernie, his seat harness played a major role in keeping him safe.
Once the session restarted, I managed to finish fourth in the class, and for the first time this season, I qualified ahead of Alex Shahini (Car). Pole position went to Sean Nurse (Autotrader), followed by Hannes Visser (Lat’ Wiel) and Anard Panther (VP of Customer Satisfaction at TSAM), with Jaco vd Merwe (The Citizen) rounding out the lineup.
The first race proved to be a battle between Shahini and me at Potters Pass, with Shahini braving it on the outside—a true test of bravery. Unfortunately, I lifted, resulting in him taking the position from me, a decision I would regret at the end of the race as I desperately needed the championship points.
The second race started with Shahini behind Nurse for second place, while I started alongside Panther, hoping to repeat the move Shahini had pulled on me. However, that would not be the case.
Lady Luck was on my side, though. During our formation lap, Nurse suffered mechanical issues and had to retire before the first lap, and Visser had a tie rod issue due to his earlier incident with Theo Brits of NMI Toyota Menlyn.
This meant I jumped into the third podium position and maintained that position until the checkered flag. This resulted in an overall third-place finish for the day and a second podium since the second round at Kyalami.
With only two rounds left, the battle for third place in the championship is now getting intense. With Visser on 30 points, vd Merwe on 26 points, and myself on 24 points, it is going to be very interesting at Killarney, a track that daunted me in the first-ever round of the 2024 GR Cup.