The Citizen goes from hero to zero in Toyota GR Cup

Motorsport is a fickle mistress, and if ever you need a lesson in humility, go try some track racing. My weekend in the Toyota SA GR Cup 2023 at Killarney in the National Extreme Festival can only be summed up as “from hero to zero”.

At the beginning of the year in Cape Town, I qualified second and picked up a double win, albeit with some help from the on-track shenanigans going on behind me. But I also had the second fastest lap for the weekend and left as number one on the leader board.

ALSO READ: The Citizen returns to its happy hunting ground at Killarney

Challenging GR Cup outing

Fast forward a few months to the same festival, the same track, the same car, and with no excuses to blame anything on, the only thing I got right, was to not crash into Toyota SA CEO, Andrew Kirby again.

Friday GR Cup practice went okay. I finished third fastest and was looking to improve for qualifying on Saturday morning. A small tweak here and there in my mind, and I would be right in the mix at the sharp end of the grid.

But nothing came together in qualifying, and I had managed to relegate The Citizen Motoring GR86 to last place on the starting grid for race 1. This was to be my iceberg moment. From this point forward I was doomed. I just didn’t know it yet.

Stone last

Race 1 saw pole sitter, Setshaba Mashigo, second fastest qualifier, Brendon Staniforth and third quickest, Chad Lückhoff battle it out throughout the race to finish in this same order. The second team, a distant 10 seconds off the pace, saw a ferocious battle unfold with Toyota Gazoo Racing SA boss, Riaan Esterhuysen eventually getting past me, and then just pipping Toyota SA CEO, Andrew Kirby right at the line. Denis Droppa managed to hold fort and pick up a scrappy (his words) fourth place.

The starting grid for GR Cup race 2 is determined by your quickest lap in race 1, and not your finishing position. I hoped maybe I could jump up the starting grid this way. No chance. I was stone last again on the grid again. I was taking on water, my ship was starting to sink

What had transpired though was that Chad had jumped to first, Brendon stayed in second and Setshaba found himself in an unfamiliar place on the grid in third. Behind them the shuffle continued as Riaan jumped to fourth, Andrew to fifth and Denis had dropped down to six. Me in seventh, could already hear the band starting to play.

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Second bite

Race 2 saw the newly crowned GR Cup champion for 2023, Setshaba, assert his authority over us once again and finish first. Chad managed to hold off Brendon, and this left Riaan a few seconds back on his own in fourth. Meanwhile Denis got an early run-on Andrew and managed to put it up the inside and get past him. A position he was to hold onto till the end once again.

This left me and the boss to have another epic battle. Closer racing you could not get, and with pinpoint car positioning by Andrew, the better drive I had through the fast bottom section of the track, meant unless I tried a desperate car damaging move, I was not getting past. And I didn’t. My ship had sunk.

ALSO READ: The Citizen gets another drive in Toyota GR Cup

Rock bottom

The podium ended up being Setshaba, Brendon, Chad, Riaan, Denis, Andrew, and me. What this did, is properly shake up the leaderboard. The champ stays the champ, but Denis has jumped me by one point into second. Chad has now joined me in third with Brendon only two points back in fourth. The bottom of the ocean is a cold place when things don’t go right.

Did I have a successful GR Cup race weekend? No. Did I perform as well as I should have? Nope. Was I ever up front? No. But I can honestly say I had some of the most fun I have had on a track in a long time, thanks to the battles I had with the guys around me.

GR Cup wide open

Zwartkops in a month’s time means it is all to play for. It’s going to go down to the wire. Gazoo Racing HQ family cheering us on. A short track. Every move vitally important because a single point is going to decide our fate during the last round of the National Extreme Festival.