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TimesLIVE
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- TimesLIVE
A strong showing for TimesLIVE rookie racer at Zwartkops Raceway
The fourth leg of the Extreme Festival powered by Coca-Cola came and went at the Zwartkops raceway in Pretoria at the weekend. As part of the GR Cup media challenge competing for TimesLIVE against motoring journalists from four other local publications, and a regional manager from SuperSport, we share the racing space with Toyota dealers in GR Corollas and Toyota development drivers in GR 86 coupes in the largest single grouping of racing machinery and bodies in the series. Again the large GR Cup field lived up to its promise of action with 25 cars roaring off the starting blocks. The six development drivers started at a fair distance to lessen the chaos while the GR Yaris/Corolla pack fielded 19 cars after a few debutants from the Toyota dealer network. SuperSport's Nabil Abdool was in his element as usual, qualifying at the top of the field with a time of 1:11.571 for race one. In second place was dealer man Mario de Sousa (Motus Toyota) in a GR Corolla with a 1:12.013 and in third place was GR Academy manager Devon Scott with a time of 1:12.166 in one of the older GR Yaris manuals. I started fourth on the media/dealer grid for race one at midday after posting a qualifying time of 1:12.324 early on Saturday morning, ahead of the MD of the Toyota Gazoo Racing driving academy Paul de Vos with 1:12.434. Heat one got off without a hitch, but seldom do race drivers malign motorsport for its inherent frights and dangers, at least not in public or in the heat of the moment. While that is not a baseless critique expressed mostly in the aftermath, one cannot guarantee an incident-free outing or the trading of coats of paint when racing and which nearly happened to me on lap two when De Vos capitalised on the smallest of gaps to squeeze past me. In a split second decision to sustain the pressure and risk a mirror or something worse, I chose to relinquish the position, waving the Toyota man on his way, thus gifting class peer Abdool an extra cushion in the process. It was a lost cause, though, as Abdool had opened a sizeable gap between himself and the chasing trio of De Sousa, Scott and De Vos. Meanwhile, our front running skirmish had opened up a comfortable lead from the rest of the field and I finished race one in fifth, but second in the class. Race two started after 3pm with me not in a better position in fifth overall, but still second in our GR Yaris class behind Abdool. Again, the racing was a hard charged affair so much that our class experienced its first racing incident since the series began in March. Lawrence Minnie of AutoTrader connected with Kyle Kock of Car Magazine, with the latter's car suffering terminal damage and limping off to the pits. Minnie was able to finish the race and collected maximum points. My points haul has improved my position in the overall driver standings. I occupy second place behind Abdool, with three more races left in the series. Zwartkops was an otherwise fantastic outing for racing. There were no injuries from any of the racing incidents, thankfully, and the spectators added to the magic, some of them arriving at 5am to secure top spot for viewing. The round five race will be held in East London on July 19. We hope to meet and greet some the TimesLIVE readers from the region.
The Citizen
24-06-2025
- Automotive
- The Citizen
From zero to almost podium hero in Toyota GR Cup stunner
Halfway mark in this year's series at Zwartkops saw The Citizen finish third on-track in race two, but just out of reach of an overall podium for the day. The Citizen's GR Cup rookie bounced back from a terrible race one finish, to place third in race two. Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing Four-time British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) champion Win Percy probably summarised it the best when talking about the series in a documentary with broadcaster ITV back in 2014. 'The said truth is, a lot of people go (motor racing events) to watch accidents, it is terrible but it is true. To a lot of people, if it is a boring race because someone has driven very well, but there has been no incidents, they don't enjoy it the same if there is a crash'. While round four of the Toyota GR Cup this past weekend at the Zwartkops Raceway outside Pretoria cannot be seen as on par with some of the panel bashing that has characterised the BTCC, it still amounted the most heated weekend of the season so far. Biggest grid so far Similar to the Super Touring era of the BTCC, the halfway mark of this year's championship also saw the biggest field of GRs take to the grid. ALSO READ: Return to home ground counts for little in Toyota GR Cup thriller Supposedly put out of service after round two at Kyalami, four of the manual GR Yaris' were brought back, three campaigned by dealers and one by the GR Academy. It, therefore, meant that 25 GR Yaris', GR Corollas and GR86s were present for round four of the GR Cup and of the National Extreme Festival, the most of any discipline and set to grow further if mutterings around the pitlane were to be true. Zwartkops yielded the biggest field of Toyota GR Cup cars, 25, in the season's four-year history. Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing What it meant was a massive grid and, like the BTCC in its heyday, prone to a few unavoidable scratches which until now, had been in the minority. A track that warrants respects After a reasonably good debut for the new eight-speed Direct Automatic Transmission (DAT) GR Yaris at the last round at Aldo Scribante, my hopes for Zwartkops were pretty low in the weeks leading up to the event. Besides the learning process of still getting to know the car, any supposed advantages were zero as our shakedown introduction to the GR Cup in March had been with the manual GR Yaris. Adding to the ease provided by the DAT, it would down to skill to master a circuit which, although compact and short at 2.4 km, deserves respect to get right. Besides the fast turn one and tight turn two hairpin, the backstraight into turn four seldom misses an opportunity to catch those out who get it wrong. Get it right, the run up the hill to turns five and six passes Toyota GR HQ where all of the executives were seated – the biggest hint not to go off or bash panels. From there, the run down the hill pass turns seven and then turn eight hairpin comes with its own challenge – the latter prone to see drivers spin out for entering too fast, or fly onto the gravel on the outside of what becomes the main straight. Practise Setting off for practise, the same lack of feel with the Yaris experienced at Scribante at all but disappeared even in the colder temperatures of running early. Gaining confidence, I managed to set a time of 1.14.6 after the first session. However, I knew I could still go faster. That, of course, means becoming a braver and taking some risk, which, halfway through the second session, saw the magnetising effect of turn four grip the front of the Yaris while letting the rear slide. A spin during second practise, fortunately, didn't repeat itself in either of the two races. Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing Thinking the rear would eventually, literally, come around, I kept calm even as the inside barrier got ever closer. Eventually, only a half spin was executed, but needles to say, my confidence had been shattered, not helped by the car going into the limp mode as I tried to start a new lap. It wasn't all lost though and apart from there being no damage, I still improved on my best time. A largely clean third session yielded the same result, but with a two-tenths gain over my best run. Qualifying Come qualifying, and after having endured anything but a good night's rest, the nerves were at an all-time high. Unlike Scribante, there was no need to worry about Zwartkops chowing our Dunlop Direzza rubber to bits. The biggest issue though was going to be traffic. As a way of overcoming this, the field was split into two, thereby avoiding any possible heated moments and accusations of impeding one another. Going out as part of the second group, I decided to through caution out of the window and try to be as fast and smooth as possible without spinning or turning The Citizen's GR Yaris into a GR Yaris Cross. Using the intercooler sprayer that activates at full throttle, my lap time tumbled and eventually came with my set goal of under 1.14. My enthusiasm soon disappeared though as I realised that my time of 1.13.9 was nearly three-tenths slower than my arch rival, IOL/Independent's Willem van de Putte. Speechless and anything but pleased, the goal for race one was a familiar one – get ahead as quickly as possible and try to latch-up with the fourth place CAR Magazine Yaris of Kyle Kock. Although I was to start directly behind Willem, my immediate target was getting passed the Rola Yaris of Andries de Villiers starting on the opposite side. As with Killarney, the first two corners would be under yellow flag conditions to avoid a possible mass accident of 25 of Toyota's finest performance cars smashing into each other or into the barriers at once. Race 1 From the rolling start and once out of turn two, I made a reasonable getaway but simply couldn't mount on a challenge on the Rola ahead car. Trying my hardest as de Villiers and van der Putte squabbled, my hopes came to an end when a bad exit out of turn two ended with oversteer and a trip onto gravel. Missing the outside wall, my race was over as watched the IOL and Rola Yaris' nearly coming to blows on the final lap. A race best described as sloppy and with one of too many off-road ventures, besides the turn two mishap, I knew I had blown my weekend and any chances of getting close to AutoTrader's Lawrence Minnie, who lies fourth in the championship ahead of me. Downhearted, I learned that my best time in race had, however, been enough to place me ahead of Willem for race two. Race 2 As the lights went out, the IOL Yaris got the jump once again, but this time, I found myself also having to content with the fast-starting Halfway GR Corolla of an ever improving Kevin Crowie. The Halfway man proceeded to pass me soon after, but after overtaking Willem as well, matters came unstuck as we went up the up the hill. Having ducked and dived behind the pink IOL Yaris, a good exit out of turn four saw me take a deep breath and, using the passing lines, dive pass him in front of Toyota HQ. At the same time, I also overtook Crowie, who had gone in to deep and onto the gravel, dropping him behind Willem. It wasn't over though and after a mistake that saw me going wide, Willem retook my fifth position, but not for long. Having lost a position to the NMI GR Corolla of Theo Brits, de Villiers found himself in front of van der Putte at the start of lap four. A ballsy overtook in front of Toyota GR headquarters paid-off early for The Citizen in race two. Image: Toyota Gazoo Racing The inevitable then happened as Willem's attempt to pass at turn two saw the Rola Yaris come to into contact with the IOL man. Having had a grandstand view, evasive driving was required as myself and Kevin took to the gravel to avoid the drama in front of us. With my nearest rival gone, and the Halfway Corolla big in my mirrors, concentration was needed to score yet another fifth place finish. This almost ended as I entered turn eight too fast with two laps to go and ended on the gravel, still with Kevin behind me. With the NMI entry visible but well out of striking range, I entered turn two on my last lap to the sight of first the CAR Magazine Yaris and then the AutoTrader entry going slowly after an incident at the hairpin. Keeping my foot down despite not knowing what had happened, I crossed the line to finish third behind race winner and championship leader, Nabil Abdool (SuperSport), and Phuti Mpyane (TimesLive). It is also happened though, Lawrence had nursed his Yaris across the line and based on his third place finish in race one and my sixth, had done enough in the combined overall results to finish third. This meant that, despite finishing third on-track, my overall result for the day saw me in fourth place with a total time of 21:04:724 versus the AutoTrader man's 20:56:543. Next…. As much as luck played had played its part in my third place finish, the omen couldn't have come at a better time as the next round heads to the fastest and scariest track in South Africa, the East London Grand Prix Circuit on 19 July. NOW READ: Kyalami deals cruel hand to The Citizen in Toyota GR Cup
IOL News
23-06-2025
- Automotive
- IOL News
Racing reflections as we encounter highs and lows from the Toyota Gazoo GR Cup at Zwartkops
There were lots of thrills and spills for car #60 at the GR Cup held at Zwartkops this weekend. Image: Stefan Van Niekerk It was a mixture of euphoria and disappointment as I drove my Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) GR Yaris into the pits after the final race of the fourth round of the GR Cup held at Zwartkops this weekend. Racing can be a cruel mistress and the highs and lows that come with it put you on an emotional rollercoaster. Practice It had been more than a month since we drove at the Aldo Scribante Circuit in Gqeberha and during the first practice at Zwartkops I felt a little detached from the car as I tried to get back into my rhythm with my times reflecting that as well. The previous week I had done a number of laps during a Mercedes-Benz AMG day and with the help of a racing and media colleague had worked out all the important entry and exit zones. I stuck to them for the second practice ending with more competitive times despite struggling to get an open run in a field of 25 cars including our GR Yaris', dealers in their Corollas and the GR Academy youngsters in their GR 86's. Going as fast as possible in the Toyota GR Yaris. Image: Stefan Van Niekerk Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading GR Cup popularity Talking of 25 cars… It's a testimony to the hard work and vision of the TGRSA staff that has seen the series grow exponentially in popularity from an initial six cars in 2022 to the almost full grid this season including five of the manual Yaris' that we started the season with. It's now a fully-fledged racing series that follows the Extreme Festival around South Africa's most iconic race tracks. Practice three went a lot better after I had spoken to Lorenzo Gualtieri from Comprehensive Driving Solutions and shown him my inboard footage. There was lots of time to be made up in turn one, two and four with later braking and earlier acceleration. I heeded the advice; my times improved, and more importantly, I was being consistent. It's strange how the two days dominate your every thought as you go through each corner in your mind even while you're trying to fall asleep, knowing that race day takes a lot out of you. Because of the large field, qualifying was split into two 10 minute sessions to allow for cleaner runs. Keeping the chasing cars at bay into turn six. Image: Stefan Van Niekerk Qualifying As we exited Parc fermé onto the track I latched onto one of the Corollas who had set some fast practice times and in doing so took two seconds off my best practice time. For the rest of the session I concentrated on braking, entry and exit points trying to save my tyres for the races ahead. Our GR Media Cup Challenge with Charl Bosch (Citizen), Lawrence Minnie (Auto Trader), Phuti Mpyane (TimesLive), Kyle Kock (CAR Magazine) and Nabil Abdool (SuperSport) again saw Abdool tear up the track throughout the weekend. Race one The rolling start for race one saw me get a lucky break into turn one and two allowing me to make up a couple of places, but it meant that they were hunting me down. Remembering the advice of keeping your lines and running your race, a group of three GR Corollas and myself ran bonnet to boot. It's damn exhilarating trying to outbrake and out maneuver the others but at the hairpin on turn two on the second last lap I turned too late, allowing a Corolla to pass me on the inside. Still, it was a fantastic dice. Hugging the apex. Image: Stefan Van Niekerk Race two Race two started in much the same way but with six of us going head to head. It's a tough job focussing on your race when you're chasing, there's someone pushing behind you and you have to keep your cool going into every corner. I needed to pass one car in order to get a clean run and took my chance on lap four at the turn two hairpin. The Corolla braked too late and came in wide, allowing me to sneak inside. Perhaps he didn't see me in his side mirrors but he turned in and smacked me on my left front, sending him into the kitty litter and me sideways before arresting it for turn three. The calm before the storm. Image: Stefan Van Niekerk
The Advertiser
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- The Advertiser
Toyota lands second Supercars team for 2026 season
Toyota have unveiled Brad Jones Racing as their second Supercars outfit, leaving General Motors down to four teams for the 2026 season. Brad Jones Racing joins Toyota's testing team Walkinshaw Andretti United in making the jump to the GR Supra. The outfit currently fields four Chevrolet Camaros, driven by Andre Heimgartner, Jaxon Evans, Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones. The Supra model has been redesigned in-house to feature a five-litre V8 engine. "I'm a creature of habit, and so change is not always easy," Brad Jones told Fox Sports. "But once I met with the guys and could spend some time understanding them and they took me through their vision, it seemed very clear that this was a great opportunity I couldn't miss. "I think Toyota will be up there or thereabouts. We need to earn our stripes and there'll be a lot of work, but it's a very exciting time for the group." Brad Jones Racing's defection to Toyota comes amid a General Motors rebuild following competition heavyweight Triple Eight's shock move to rival Ford. The remaining Chevrolet teams are Matt Stone Racing, PremiAir Racing, Erebus Motorsport and new homologation team Team 18. Out of the four, only Erebus has won a drivers' and teams' championship. General Motors are also pondering the future of the Camaro, after production ceased last year, and a possible extension to 2027 with Supercars. Toyota will be the first manufacturer other than Ford and General Motors to race in the competition since 2019, when Nissan pulled out of the category. The automotive giant is no stranger to Australia's touring cars circuit, with the GR Cup, featuring Toyota 86 coupes, a longtime support category on the Supercars track. The brand also competes in many motorsport events around the world, including NASCAR and Formula Drift in the United States, Super GT and Super Formula in Japan and Formula Three in Europe. Toyota have unveiled Brad Jones Racing as their second Supercars outfit, leaving General Motors down to four teams for the 2026 season. Brad Jones Racing joins Toyota's testing team Walkinshaw Andretti United in making the jump to the GR Supra. The outfit currently fields four Chevrolet Camaros, driven by Andre Heimgartner, Jaxon Evans, Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones. The Supra model has been redesigned in-house to feature a five-litre V8 engine. "I'm a creature of habit, and so change is not always easy," Brad Jones told Fox Sports. "But once I met with the guys and could spend some time understanding them and they took me through their vision, it seemed very clear that this was a great opportunity I couldn't miss. "I think Toyota will be up there or thereabouts. We need to earn our stripes and there'll be a lot of work, but it's a very exciting time for the group." Brad Jones Racing's defection to Toyota comes amid a General Motors rebuild following competition heavyweight Triple Eight's shock move to rival Ford. The remaining Chevrolet teams are Matt Stone Racing, PremiAir Racing, Erebus Motorsport and new homologation team Team 18. Out of the four, only Erebus has won a drivers' and teams' championship. General Motors are also pondering the future of the Camaro, after production ceased last year, and a possible extension to 2027 with Supercars. Toyota will be the first manufacturer other than Ford and General Motors to race in the competition since 2019, when Nissan pulled out of the category. The automotive giant is no stranger to Australia's touring cars circuit, with the GR Cup, featuring Toyota 86 coupes, a longtime support category on the Supercars track. The brand also competes in many motorsport events around the world, including NASCAR and Formula Drift in the United States, Super GT and Super Formula in Japan and Formula Three in Europe. Toyota have unveiled Brad Jones Racing as their second Supercars outfit, leaving General Motors down to four teams for the 2026 season. Brad Jones Racing joins Toyota's testing team Walkinshaw Andretti United in making the jump to the GR Supra. The outfit currently fields four Chevrolet Camaros, driven by Andre Heimgartner, Jaxon Evans, Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones. The Supra model has been redesigned in-house to feature a five-litre V8 engine. "I'm a creature of habit, and so change is not always easy," Brad Jones told Fox Sports. "But once I met with the guys and could spend some time understanding them and they took me through their vision, it seemed very clear that this was a great opportunity I couldn't miss. "I think Toyota will be up there or thereabouts. We need to earn our stripes and there'll be a lot of work, but it's a very exciting time for the group." Brad Jones Racing's defection to Toyota comes amid a General Motors rebuild following competition heavyweight Triple Eight's shock move to rival Ford. The remaining Chevrolet teams are Matt Stone Racing, PremiAir Racing, Erebus Motorsport and new homologation team Team 18. Out of the four, only Erebus has won a drivers' and teams' championship. General Motors are also pondering the future of the Camaro, after production ceased last year, and a possible extension to 2027 with Supercars. Toyota will be the first manufacturer other than Ford and General Motors to race in the competition since 2019, when Nissan pulled out of the category. The automotive giant is no stranger to Australia's touring cars circuit, with the GR Cup, featuring Toyota 86 coupes, a longtime support category on the Supercars track. The brand also competes in many motorsport events around the world, including NASCAR and Formula Drift in the United States, Super GT and Super Formula in Japan and Formula Three in Europe.
West Australian
10-05-2025
- Automotive
- West Australian
Toyota lands second Supercars team for 2026 season
Toyota have unveiled Brad Jones Racing as their second Supercars outfit, leaving General Motors down to four teams for the 2026 season. Brad Jones Racing joins Toyota's testing team Walkinshaw Andretti United in making the jump to the GR Supra. The outfit currently fields four Chevrolet Camaros, driven by Andre Heimgartner, Jaxon Evans, Bryce Fullwood and Macauley Jones. The Supra model has been redesigned in-house to feature a five-litre V8 engine. "I'm a creature of habit, and so change is not always easy," Brad Jones told Fox Sports. "But once I met with the guys and could spend some time understanding them and they took me through their vision, it seemed very clear that this was a great opportunity I couldn't miss. "I think Toyota will be up there or thereabouts. We need to earn our stripes and there'll be a lot of work, but it's a very exciting time for the group." Brad Jones Racing's defection to Toyota comes amid a General Motors rebuild following competition heavyweight Triple Eight's shock move to rival Ford. The remaining Chevrolet teams are Matt Stone Racing, PremiAir Racing, Erebus Motorsport and new homologation team Team 18. Out of the four, only Erebus has won a drivers' and teams' championship. General Motors are also pondering the future of the Camaro, after production ceased last year, and a possible extension to 2027 with Supercars. Toyota will be the first manufacturer other than Ford and General Motors to race in the competition since 2019, when Nissan pulled out of the category. The automotive giant is no stranger to Australia's touring cars circuit, with the GR Cup, featuring Toyota 86 coupes, a longtime support category on the Supercars track. The brand also competes in many motorsport events around the world, including NASCAR and Formula Drift in the United States, Super GT and Super Formula in Japan and Formula Three in Europe.
