Again a bridesmaid at South Africa’s fastest track

There was rain on the windscreen when I took the 186km/h Potter’s Pass corner flat out for the first time in Friday’s practice.

The right-hand sweep at the end of the long straight at the East London Grand Prix circuit holds a special place in South African motor racing lore. Certain cars — if they’re relatively but not absurdly powerful and have good traction — are able to sweep through the fast right-hander without a tap on the brakes or even a throttle lift. That takes you onto the even faster Rifle right hand downhill curve before you brake hard for the tight Cocobana right-hander.

In Friday’s early practice there was a light, intermittent drizzle which made me lift off on the entry to Potter’s for the first few laps. But the track grip seemed fine despite the light rain, so late in the session I took a leap of faith and there it was: flat through Potter’s. The Toyota GR86’s pinned-down handling and the great grip of the semi-slick Dunlops got the car through the high speed corner without undue drama.

Back in the pits, as I compared notes with the other journalists taking part in the one-make series, the first question everyone asked was: “Did you take Potter’s flat?”

“Yup, you?”

“Yup.”

Much excited talk and high-fives ensued.

That dragon slew, we got down to the business of trying to out-qualify one another on the historic, old-school seaside circuit where legends like Jim Clark and Graham Hill won Formula One races back in the sixties.

The GR Cup visited East London on Saturday July 22 as part of the National Extreme Festival races.

In the Toyota GR86 you arrive at Cocobana corner at around 216km/h, by far the fastest speed we achieve all season, after spending around 38 seconds flat on the throttle. But the track’s not just about ballsy high-speed corners; it also has a technical infield complex and a hairpin bend, making it a challenging circuit that calls on all your driving skills.

I qualified fourth on Saturday morning which left me with some work to do if I was to challenge for victory in my TimesLIVE car. I’d finished second to Setshaba Mashigo in the ASAMM car at the previous round in Port Elizabeth, and he was in pole ahead of Brendon Staniforth (Maroela Media) and Chad Luckhoff (AutoTrader). Reuben Van Niekerk (News 24/Jumping Kids) was out of action for the weekend after crashing in practice.

Race one didn’t start well and I dropped to fifth behind the Citizen’s Mark Jones by the time we went through Potter’s for the first time. But when he and Luckhoff went wide at Cocobana a few moments later, it allowed me to nip past into third.

I pulled a gap on them and over the next few laps I duelled with championship leader Mashigo for second place as Staniforth, who had nipped into the front in the first corner, opened a lead of a few seconds.

Mashigo defended robustly so I needed to take a risk. Late in the race I tried to take him into Cocobana but braked too late and went off into the dirt. There was colourful language in my car but fortunately I rejoined the track with enough of a gap on the rest of the field to maintain third place.

Staniforth held on for the win — his first in the series — ahead of Mashigo. Fourth was taken by Jones in front of former Group N racer Mario de Sousa who joined as this round’s guest driver from Toyota, with Luckhoff sixth.

I started race two second on the grid as the positions are decided according to your fastest lap time from the first heat. I was determined to nab first place from pole-sitter Staniforth at the rolling start. That best-laid plan went awry as Mashigo swept past me and I fell to third, with Luckhoff right on my tail.

The ensuing eight laps had the four of us battling nose to tail as we pulled a gap on the remaining drivers. It was an exciting race-long dice, and on the final lap Mashigo got past Staniforth on the entry to Potter’s and took the chequered flag. I tried a move on Staniforth to grab second but it didn’t work out, leaving me third again with Luckhoff glued to my bumper.

The four of us were separated by just three seconds across the line and I was left to rue what might have been had I made a better start. I’ve been on the podium in every race finished this season but always as a bridesmaid; victory has remained elusive.

There are two more rounds remaining to set this right: Killarney in September and the season ender at Zwartkops in October.

Mashigo has a firm hold on the championship on 59 points, but second place is a battle between Jones (35), myself (32), Luckhoff (27) and Staniforth (25).

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