MOTOR RACING NEWS - After six rounds and 11 races instead of 12 due to the infamous washout at the East London Grand Prix circuit, the fourth season of the Toyota GR Cup reaches its finale this weekend at Zwartkops Raceway outside Pretoria.
According to The Citizen, one of only two circuits to host a pair of rounds — the other being Killarney — the series regroups on the Highveld for the first time at the same track since round four in June.
The situation
While the last round at Killarney saw SuperSport’s Nabil Abdool finally wrap up the championship, the final round, which forms part of the National Extreme Festival, is still anything but settled lower down.
Unable to be beaten with his tally of 73 points, Abdool holds a 21-point lead over Car Magazine’s Kyle Kock, whose pair of victories on home soil in Cape Town broke the SuperSport man’s perfect run of wins.
Four points back from Kock is TimesLive’s Phuti Mpyane, meaning the battle for the runner-up spot is still up for grabs.
The main focus of the weekend will be the battle for fourth. With 29 points, AutoTrader’s Lawrence Minnie lies 19 points behind Mpyane, making a podium finish impossible.
Similar to the points difference between Kyle and Phuti, I find myself four points behind Lawrence after a fifth and fourth place finish in Cape Town.
Conversely, with a gap of 12 points back to IOL/Independent’s Willem de Putte, a fifth-place finish for The Citizen is almost certain.
However, having come on strong ever since the wet weather round at East London, a fourth place is the target for the weekend.
Getting it right
Returning to Zwartkops also comes with unfinished business. As with Kyalami, the home of the Toyota GR Academy, the track has proven to be my boogie of late.
While similarly technical and tight to Killarney and Aldo Scribante, it is a tricky layout to master, especially around the back-end from the turn two hairpin up the hill to the double left-hand corner past GR HQ.
The scene of my one and only podium in the second race of the first visit, following the tangle between Lawrence and Kyle, the main challenge will be getting it right in qualifying.
An area I have struggled with from race one, the Zwartkops layout lends itself to an almost Monaco-esque pressure, making overtaking difficult.
It is also a circuit that requires a lot of bravery when overtaking, as one slip could result in a loose on-track or flying into the barriers at high speed.
Having had a disastrous first race in June that saw me finish behind Willem after a sloppy race, my newfound confidence will, hopefully, translate into a fourth-place finish in my first year of racing competitively.
A weekend of significant importance, it will, nonetheless, also be a sad one. Goodbyes are never pleasant, and after seven rounds at all the major circuits in the country, it will be especially poignant.
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