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- The Toyota GR Cup returned to Zwartkops in May 2023.
- Reuben Van Niekerk adopted a new approach, which seems to work.
- While qualifying is important, it is how you race that actually matters.
Ahead of the third round of this year's Toyota GR Cup, I said that I would put less pressure on myself and try to just have fun. Going into the weekend, I was less worried about the results, which led to a much more relaxed atmosphere.
Friday's practice sessions were a great opportunity to blow out the cobwebs after a seven-week break, and I could quickly match my lap times from the previous event at Zwartkops. Throughout the day, I tried a few things and was able to improve by more than a second. I was happy with my improvement, but the other competitors had all improved, too, and I still found myself sixth quickest out of seven cars.
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Still, I was having more fun than ever. I was relaxed, and it was great to be back in my Jumping Kids-branded Toyota 86.
My personal best
Saturday morning saw us open proceedings, and despite chilly temperatures, the track offered a lot of grip. I set my personal best time around Zwartkops to date, but again everybody else improved, and I remained in sixth place.
Race one saw me quickly get past Brendon Staniforth from Maroela Media and Mark Jones from The Citizen under the brakes fairly cleanly, but Jones was having none of that and tried a couple of moves to get back past me. At the Zwartkops hairpin, he used me as his brakes and apex marker resulting in damage all down the right side of my car. The wheel alignment of both cars was also out of whack, but fortunately, his was worse than mine, and his vehicle also seemed a bit out of sorts from the impact. This allowed me to get passed cleanly once more and pull a small gap, despite my less-than-ideal steering wheel position.
Rubbing is racing they say. Jones slowly fell into the claws of guest driver John Thomson and Staniforth, and the gap got bigger. Our back-of-the-pack antics had, however, allowed the first three starters to get away, and I spent the rest of the race and finished in a lonely fourth place.
The grid for race two is determined by your fastest lap in the first race, which put me fifth fastest ahead of Staniforth and Thomson and behind Jones.
Into a battle
I immediately started looking for a way past Jones as the lights went out. With him not being able to use me as his brakes this time, he had to use his own and then used too much of them, resulting in light contact between my bumper and his exhaust.
Jones had a good pace, and I decided to try to follow him to get closer to the top three rather than get into a battle and let them get away. This strategy worked for a couple of laps, and the first five of us were running within a second or two of each other.
Then, I took a look in my rear-view mirror and saw the green mirrors of Staniforth fast approaching. I then made the mistake of starting to focus on him in my mirrors rather than on my own race, which allowed him to make up some ground.
Staniforth was clearly not happy with last place again and was desperate to get ahead of me. He was so desperate that he basically drove over my car in the Zwartkops hairpin, further reconfiguring it on the right-hand side.
Despite this less-than-ideal move, I kept my cool and got past him cleanly under the brakes in turn five again. This was followed by another kamikaze move from Staniforth in the fastest corner of the track.
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Fortunately, I saw it coming and was able to give him space, allowing us to both get through safely. It was clear that he would do anything to gain a position, and I needed to plan my next move carefully.
I kept the pressure on and was hoping to sneak past in turns 5 and 6 again, but as we approached that section, Denis Droppa was limping along, just off the racing line after contact with Chad Luckhoff, forcing me to slot in behind Staniforth as we passed him.
Dust and chaos
I kept the pressure on and attempted a dive into the last corner, but it wasn't necessary. Staniforth had succumbed to the ongoing pressure and put a wheel onto the dirt resulting in a massive tank slapper that first saw him head for the pit wall, but fortunately, he ended up on the grass. I was able to sneak through this dust and chaos and take the chequered flag in fourth place.
To fourth place from sixth in qualifying; I am happy with that and the fact that despite being slightly off the pace, I have been able to use some race craft to make up for it. I am comfortable and confident in the Toyota 86, which allowed me to keep calm and have fun despite all the antics of my fellow scribes, resulting in my best finish yet.
We head down to the coast next with races at Aldo Scribante and the East London Grand Prix circuit. None of us drivers have spent much time at either of these tracks, so it will be interesting to see who figures it out the quickest. I expect that the racing will be as close as it has been all year, hopefully with less contact because the panel beating budget is fast running out.
