The 2025 Extreme Festival Tour powered by Coca-Cola reached its second race during the sunny weekend at Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit. The field was bigger too, with regional classes such as the BMW M Performance Race series joining in.
Racing in the Yaris Cup of the Toyota Gazoo Racing Media Challenge, it was a repeat podium finish of last month's Killarney, Cape Town round with Supersport’s Nabil Abdool taking the overall class win, Car Magazine’s Kyle Kock in second and myself, representing TimesLIVE, coming in third.
It was a close qualifying, with the top nine cars, including the Dealer Class GR Corollas and development drivers in GR 86 coupes, split by 2.323 seconds. Abdool qualified fastest in the field with a 2min 07.623sec time, and Kock hit 2:09.725. My best lap at the famed track was 2:09.946.
The lead-up to the race on Saturday began with Thursday and Friday practice rounds, with qualifying taking place in the afternoon. The configuration of the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit is 4.522km long. It may not be the same track that Jim Clark, Jackie Stewart, Niki Lauda, Nigel Mansell and other greats tackled during the 70s and 80s, but it became clear, and very early, to all the newbie racers that this was no ordinary beast.
Kyalami stands at the summit of SA racetracks with 16 turns and a blend of sweeping, fast sections and tight and technical corners. After a hassle-free start as a rookie in Cape Town, the internationally acclaimed Joburg track introduced many to new experiences, some joyous, such as being finally able to stitch together Leeuwkop corner, my long-standing achilles heel, and frightening moments too, such as the tyre puncture that ended my second practice early.
Kyalami demands a lot from a driver, mentally and physically. Hitting the gym and minding my food intake a few weeks earlier elevated the stamina and the better handling of sustained, high G-forces acting on the body in more than 40 laps over three days.
Cerebrally, the track requires extraordinary commitment to barrel down the Mineshaft, a section that dips down from a high hill, while negotiating a sweeping left at a speed of about 140km/h.
The trick to driving any racetrack is not to unleash unbridled gusto, but finding balance and riding your horse smoothly but energetically. It’s easy to overcook things, such as when I lost control of my car through Barbeque when a slower GR 86 ahead impeded my progress mid-corner. But I held on, losing a track position to the GR Corolla of Paul de Vos, MD of Toyota GR Racing Academy.
It was another welcome points haul for the TimesLIVE GR Yaris and a thrilling adventure. Positive outcomes to take into the next race on May 9 and 10 at Aldo Scribante Raceway in Gqeberha is to place more trust in the machine, rubber and my potential. My times match closest rival Kock’s, separated by split seconds at best. With five more races to go, the hunt for championship glory continues.
Kyalami was the last race in the manual Toyota GR Yaris cars. Henceforth we will be piloting fresh 2025 Yaris models equipped with a more powerful engine and automatic transmissions.
Overall, Kyalami was another fantastic outing as a newbie racer. There were thrills — and a few spills and scrapes, as expected of any motorsport, thankfully with no injuries. Having raced at SA's apex racing venue — and winning a trophy — means that a truly special and rare bucket-list item has been ticked off.
Look out for regular story updates of my racing campaign on TimesLIVE and on my social media handles:
- Facebook — Phuti Mpyane
- X — @TPetrosexual
- Instagram — Phuti_Mpyane
- TikTok — @phutimpyane
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