With the racing weekend of the Extreme Tour Festival powered by Coca-Cola upon us, another sunny winter day with dry conditions will set the stage for the fourth round of the 2025 Gazoo Racing (GR) Cup challenge at the Zwartkops circuit in Pretoria on June 21.
I’m again in the mix with six challengers in the GR Cup media challenge, driving the No 50 TimesLIVE GR Yaris and sharing the 2.4km fast and narrow tarmac with other drivers in the GR Cup dealer challenge in Corollas and youthful GR86 development academy drivers in the coupes.
Friday is practice day, with three sessions pencilled in. Saturday morning kicks off with qualifying at 9am and the eight-lap racing heats are scheduled for 12.10pm and 3.15pm on the track with a mix of fast and slow corners.
At the halfway mark I’m placed third overall in the class standings with 25 points after two third-place podium finishes in Cape Town and Kyalami — improvement arriving in the third leg at Gqeberha's Aldo Scribante circuit, where I finished second overall behind class leader Nabil Abdool. The SuperSport regional manager has collected the maximum 42 points after a stellar start to the season, winning all the races so far.
Preparing for a race can be detailed and include participation in activities such as gym, simulated racing or a session with a mental coach. There are many ways to skin this cat, but I’ve not had time for any of these. Motoring journalism is a frenetic, time-consuming job.
Instead, the mind has been racing with thoughts of the tyres, specifically the Dunlop DZ03 225/45/18 semi-slick rubber fitted to our racing cars. The Irish brand of rubber is the main tyre sponsor for the GR Cup and the importance of tyre grip when racing can't be stressed enough, though it's an aspect with the least exposure under the spotlight. Formula One at least makes a bigger song and a dance about dry, wet or intermediate tyres.
Our GR Yaris cars are sensational performers and among options with the best handling chassis in the hot hatch segment. Our cars are raced virtually stock-standard with only the removal of the seats and carpets and the fitment of roll cages as serious modifications.
Add the removal of the catalytic converters for better breathing and aural bliss and we are competing in the same cars you can buy off a Toyota dealer floor.
Yet none of this matters more than the tyres when it comes to the heat of racing. Any racer will tell you rubber is king on the track. Tyre grip is the key ingredient to unlock in any quest for racing glory and once a driver has warmed them up and is mentally comfortable with spending eight laps dancing between the realms of speedy poise and in truth, a total loss of control of the car, the better their chances of reeling in or creating a gap of clean air between them and rivals.
The Dunlop DZ03 225/45/18 is approved for road use. While they offer motorsport levels of grip and handling in dry conditions, they are also engineered for the road but with limitations, particularly in wet conditions. They have proven durable and grippy throughout my rookie season and it was on Aldo Scribante’s fast but coarse tarmac last month where I was able to gather more willpower to peer deeper into their true capabilities.
The mental gamble paid off handsomely and netted me one of the fastest lap times recorded during the race, which counted towards eclipsing my nearest points rival, Kyle Kock from Car magazine, for a second-place overall finish — my best so far.
It’s this sort of maximum attack-mindedness and confidence in the rubber that’s needed to enter this weekend’s Zwartkops race — or any of the other racetracks still to be tackled before the season concludes towards the end of 2025.
Let's meet at Zwartkops this weekend. The weather forecast says it'll be a “braai and sunny day's racing” kind of vibe. Tickets can be bought at the venue.
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