A tough weekend of racing during the third round of GR Cup action at Zwartkops Raceway ultimately (and thankfully) ended on a high note for the Driven GR Corolla.
Coming to grips with disappointment when things don’t go according to plan is never easy, and no amount of reminding oneself that it’s all part of the racing experience will soothe a bruised ego when you finish last in any race.
Although words offer little comfort in such a case, they don’t make them less accurate, so pressing on and learning from your mistakes is the best one can do. At least, that was my experience last weekend at Zwartkops Raceway when round three of the National Extreme Festival rolled into town, with the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa GR Cup as the main attraction during the unseasonally warm racing weekend.
UPGRADES AND UPSETS
Taking no chances after brake issues during round two in April saw an untimely end to racing for both Hannes Visser (La’t Wiel) and Alex Shahini (Car) at Kyalami, the braking systems on all GR Corollas received further upgrades for round three.
Armed with new specification rear brake pads and brake fluid, and by reducing their overall weight by a further 50 kg (among a few more changes), our GR Corollas were ready for the challenge at Zwartkops.
At least according to the textbook.
Despite the extensive enhancements and the stellar efforts of the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa technical team to keep our cars in tip-top shape, the racing gods weren’t on my side at Zwartkops during practice on Friday and qualifying and racing on Saturday.
An unfortunate mix of technical niggles and rookie mistakes left me trailing 1.8 seconds behind Kumbi Mtshakazi (Kumbi on Cars) after qualifying, while an overeager traction control system during race one increased the distance between myself and the La’t Wiel GR Corolla of Visser (who was relegated to fifth place in race one by Mtshakazi) to an astronomical 2.5 seconds. That’s a solid punch in the self-confidence of any driver.
The upside to the weekend (yes, there’s always an upside) was my performance in race two, where a few key adjustments to my car’s traction control settings made a significant difference and put me solidly back in the race. While starting the race dead last, I managed to claw back a single spot in the line-up to finish a slight 0.6 seconds behind Mtshakazi’s GR Corolla.
ENDLESS ACTION
While Zwartkops did not deliver the result I was hoping for the Driven GR Corolla, the GR Cup series nonetheless provided Toyota Gazoo Racing’s home crowd with loads of action throughout the event.
The championship lead, Sean Nurse (AutoTrader), consolidated his points to 42, followed by Shahini on 25, Visser (20), Jaco van der Merwe (Citizen) on 18, and Mtshakazi (14).
LAST WORD
Round four of the National Extreme Festival moves to Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha on the last weekend in June, where the GR Cup battle continues, and the gods, one hopes, will smile on us once more.
Report y BERNIE HELLBERG JR | Images © TOYOTA GAZOO RACING SOUTH AFRICA
