Friday marked the start of the 2022 Toyota GR Cup at Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town.
With a cool breeze blowing in from the sea and a soft cloth of cloud capping the world famous Table Mountain, I and the five other motoring journalists selected to represent our titles in this one-make series took to the 3.267km circuit to see what lap times we could clock — and get more comfortable with out identical GR Yaris race cars.
The first session started just before 9am and in it I had a good sparring match with Capetonian and legendary SA racing driver Deon Joubert, who was filling in for Sean Nurse from AutoTrader and Wheels24. It's a been a while since I've raced at Killarney (nine years to be precise), so it was helpful following him around for most of the 20-minute session. The circuit is a lot of fun with an exciting mix of fast sweeping corners, two tight hairpins and a gnarly long back straight that sees the GR Yaris reach just over 200km/h.
TimesLIVE tames Killarney in first Toyota GR Cup practice
Image: Supplied
Friday marked the start of the 2022 Toyota GR Cup at Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town.
With a cool breeze blowing in from the sea and a soft cloth of cloud capping the world famous Table Mountain, I and the five other motoring journalists selected to represent our titles in this one-make series took to the 3.267km circuit to see what lap times we could clock — and get more comfortable with out identical GR Yaris race cars.
The first session started just before 9am and in it I had a good sparring match with Capetonian and legendary SA racing driver Deon Joubert, who was filling in for Sean Nurse from AutoTrader and Wheels24. It's a been a while since I've raced at Killarney (nine years to be precise), so it was helpful following him around for most of the 20-minute session. The circuit is a lot of fun with an exciting mix of fast sweeping corners, two tight hairpins and a gnarly long back straight that sees the GR Yaris reach just over 200km/h.
It took a few laps to find my flow but once I did I managed to clock consistently in the mid 1:26s, with a session best time of 1:26.021. Conditions were a bit greasy out there (we were the first cars to take to the track after the bikes) but this just added to the excitement. Especially through the Malmesbury Sweep that feeds onto the lengthy back straight.
The second and final practice sessions were less eventful and due to an increase in temperature and the stirring of a blustery afternoon southeaster, a little bit slower. Even though the Garmin Catalyst telemetry system confirmed that I could punch into the mid-1:25s, I struggled to match the lap times registered in the opening session. Be this as it may I was still comfortably the third fastest GR Yaris of the bunch, which isn't too bad considering that this circuit is pretty much all-new to me. I know where I can find some time and hopefully on Saturday morning I can stitch up a flyer during qualifying.
Watch this space for more updates as and when they happen ...
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