TimesLIVE scores solid Toyota GR Cup debut at Killarney

After months of build-up it was finally lights out on Saturday for the 2022 Toyota GR Cup at Cape Town's Killarney International Raceway. Forming part of the Extreme Festival that plays host to the country's flagship Global Touring Car (GTC) series, I and the five other motoring scribes selected to represent our titles in this single-make series arrived at the circuit early on Saturday morning to prep for our 10-minute qualifying session at 8:20am.

Track conditions were optimal — no wind and still relatively cool — so after getting some heat into my tyres I put the hammer down and started to clock as many flying laps as I could in the limited time allocated to our red, white and black liveried GR Yaris Cup cars. Thanks to the Garmin Catalyst driving performance optimiser stuck to my windscreen I was able to identify one or two problem areas around the 3.267km circuit where I could find some time and hopefully improve upon the 1:26.021 I turned during Friday practice. 

Cape Town corner at the end of the long back straight was clearly my biggest nemesis here: a deep hairpin with an unusual banked layout that my mind simply couldn't get to grips with in terms of braking and apex points. Even now, while writing, I'm still not really sure how best to conquer this strange and foreign asphalt anomaly and it remains my most prominent time-suck when circling Cape Town's 75-year-old circuit. 

Be this as it may I managed to find enough time around the rest of the six corners to chalk up a 1:25.978 on my final lap. This was good enough put the TimesLIVE GR Yaris third on the grid behind Deon Joubert (1:25.148) and Pole-sitter Ashley Oldfield (1:24.997). Fourth place went to Mark Jones (1:26.611) and fifth to Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger (1:27.106). Rising to the challenge of his first-ever racing event, Lerato Matebese secured sixth (1:28.388).

Race One saw us all take to the track at 11:20am when weather conditions were now noticeably hotter. Though a standing start had been on the cards, the powers that be eventually decided that the inaugural GR Cup race would use a rolling start. So after the safety car ducked into the pits it was up to pole-position man Oldfield to determine the pace once the red lights went out.

All six GR Yaris Cup cars made it through the first corner without any incidents and by the time we threaded through Malmesbury on to the back straight I was chasing down Joubert's rear bumper on the long charge down to Cape Town corner. Predictably, this is where the ex-Touring Car ace blew whatever gains I had made into the weeds, meaning that I had to start all over again as we crossed the finish line and began another lap.

For some reason I was proving to be particularly snappy through the first half of the circuit and there were a few occasions where there was hardly anything between us on the approach down to Interceptor Corner. However, once back on the straight and en route to my aforementioned 'nemesis,' any hope of a clean pass lay in tatters. With me focusing on Joubert and Joubert focusing on yours truly, Oldfield had the perfect opportunity to pull away and take a well-deserved lights to flag victory. Behind me, Jones, Kok-Kritzinger and Matebese crossed the finish line in the same positions they started.

Race two, held slightly ahead of schedule at 4:10am, was essentially a carbon copy of race one with Oldfield running away with proceedings up front while I tried my best to reel in Joubert (without any success). By now conditions were absolutely blistering and a few incidents in prior races meant that the track surface had already seen a fair amount of oil and cement dust. Despite this my TimesLIVE GR Yaris performed well and I was able to clock the second-fastest lap of the race with a 1:26.370 (Oldfield managed a 1.26.042). 

In actual fact the little Toyota proved to be an impressive package on its racing debut with not a single gremlin to report over two full days of hard running. The engine ran cool and consistent — even in the blazing Cape Town summer heat — with power levels seemingly unaffected by high ambient temperatures. Even the brakes — often a trouble area when a standard road car is used within the confines of a demanding high-speed track environment — were pretty much bulletproof with the middle pedal staying firm and positive even after repeated hard stabs from over 200km/h. To add some extra bite and endurance, all the Fast Development team did was install some more aggressive Ferodo DS2500 brake pads, which is probably the only modification you would want to make to your own Toyota GR Yaris should you wish to go and track it with any real enthusiasm. 

Now as we are still running standard suspension geometry, understeer can be quite pronounced through certain corners in the GR Yaris. I soon discovered that you can lessen this tyre-scrubbing characteristic by a) dialling the all-wheel drive system into Sport Mode to send 70% of torque to the rear wheels, and b) being more aggressive with how you modulate your trail braking technique. In other words you ideally want to brake harder and later and then just as you turn the wheel to steer into the corner, come fully off the brake and maximise the natural weight transfer to help the car pivot inwards. This takes some practice but once you've waxed it you can definitely feel the difference.

However, for our next race at Zwartkops on April 23 there's a chance that Fast Development might dial in some negative camber to help up our corner game. Well, as much as the standard suspension allows for, that is — it will be interesting to see. Whatever happens I'm looking forward to it and hopefully this time I can get a bit closer to Oldfield.

Toyota GR Cup Killarney Overall Result:

Ashley Oldfield (cars.co.za): 23:06.982

Deon Joubert (substituting for SN Automotive): +6.268

Thomas Falkiner (TimesLIVE): +7.886

Mark Jones (The Citizen): +23.882

Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger (Wiele2Wiele): +33.636

Lerato Matebese (TopGear SA): +56.996