Zwartkops delivers the highs and lows of motor racing

In a single-make racing series there’s nowhere to hide. If your lap times are slower than your rivals’ you can’t blame your equipment. All the GR86 cars in this year’s Toyota GR Cup are the same, and unlike in other one-make series you can’t fiddle with the set-up, such as tyre pressures or wheel cambers.

That means every GR86 on the grid is mechanically identical and the only difference is the nut behind the wheel, as the saying goes.

It creates a high-pressure environment that sometimes leaves scarred egos and even more scarred cars, and the lid truly blew off the pressure cooker at this past Saturday’s round at Zwartkops.

After Saturday morning’s qualifying saw the top five drivers separated by just 0.5 seconds, it was clear a combustible atmosphere prevailed and the two eight-lap races around the tight and technical 2.4km circuit would be intense, and so it proved. Adding spice to the mix was guest driver John Thomson, Toyota South Africa Motors' vice-president of Future Toyota, in a one-off drive joining the six motoring journalists who compete full time in the 2023 series.

I’d qualified fifth, and as the tightly bunched-up field made a rolling start in race one, on lap one I managed to nip my TimesLIVE car past The Citizen’s Mark Jones — winner of the previous round at Killarney — and Maroela Media’s Brendon Staniforth. I set off after Autotrader’s Chad Luckhoff and ASAMM’s Setshaba Mashigo. The three of us pulled a gap as the group behind engaged in a robust fender-bending war.

Mashigo and Luckhoff  tussled in a lively battle for the lead, which allowed me to close the gap and enter the fray. At one point I tried to out-brake Mashigo into the tight turn two hairpin but it wasn’t to be, and for most of the race I held station in third hoping for one of them to make a mistake. That’s exactly what happened on the last lap when Luckhoff got sideways in the penultimate corner, which allowed me to nip him in the final turn. Podium result: Mashigo, Droppa, Luckhoff.

Our three cars were still shiny and unblemished despite the close racing, but some in the pack behind us looked distinctly second-hand. News24’s Reuben van Niekerk came out of the elbow-barging melee in fourth place, but his battle-scarred car showed the intensity of their battle, as did fifth-placed Jones’ and sixth-placed Staniforth’s dented machines. Toyota man Thomson kept his nose clean and brought his GR86 home seventh without any rearranged bodywork.

Race two started much like the first eight-lapper, with the same top three up front but with Jones this time also in the fray. and the four cars pulled a gap on the rest of the field. I got past Luckhoff into second place after a few laps and set off after Mashigo for the lead, but the man made no mistakes and I couldn’t get close enough to attempt an overtake.

Things came to a head again on the final lap, when Luckhoff dived me into turn five and we made contact, right in front of the Toyota hospitality area with their management watching. The clash left my steering too damaged to continue and I limped into the pits as Mashigo took his second win of the day, followed by Luckhoff whose car was dented but drivable, with Jones third.

It was a racing incident. Luckhoff and I shook hands afterwards in the pits, no hard feelings.

So it goes: I was three corners away from taking second or third overall for the day and going home with a trophy. Instead I was classified last due to only finishing 15 of the day’s 16 laps — the only driver not to complete the full distance. It’s the highs and lows of motor racing, but at least I had the small consolation of setting the fastest lap in race 2.

Onward to the next round at Aldo Scribante circuit in Gqeberha on June 17.

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