The Citizen keeps eye on the prize in Toyota GR Cup

We are heading down to the Aldo Scribante circuit in Gqeberha in our Toyota GR86s for Round 4 of the National Extreme Series this weekend.

After the mayhem at Zwartkops in May, I hope that Aldo can be the calm after the storm. Almost every car in the Toyota GR Cup came away from the weekend in Pretoria with damage that ranged from mild to proper bent.

The end result might have made for some great television, but the bosses at Toyota SA were less impressed. There were some hefty repair bills that could have been avoided.

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Mashigo leads the way

The ever-fast and smooth Setshaba Mashigo was one of the few who stayed away from the drama. He claimed a double win and he now leads the championship with 33 points.

This has dropped me to second on 26 points courtesy of a scrappy third place overall at Zwartkops. Chad Lückhoff has pulled the pin and has hustled up into third with 19 points. Hot and cold Denis Droppa finds himself in fourth on 14 points.

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Fast quali man, Brendon Staniforth, is hurting by not being able to convert his single lap pace into race pace. He finds himself at the bottom of the table with 11 points. The hard-charging Reuben van Niekerk is just ahead of him in fifth with 12 points.

Toyota GR Cup far from settled

I don’t believe this is a true reflection of what either of these drivers are capable of. There is no reason why these two guys can’t come good at Aldo on the day. They can easily provide for a few upsets and finish on the podium.

This is the midway point of the season and it’s all still to play for.

The Toyota GR86s will have all their horsepower on tap at sea level. Aldo Scribante Raceway is a fast, technical track that none of us have spent a lot of time racing on. So you just might have a high octane mix that will play its own part in throwing up an upset.