The Citizen grabs another Toyota GR Cup podium in Gqeberha

A mostly calm and controlled weekend of racing dominated by Setshaba Mashigo is probably the best way to explain Round 4 of the National Extreme Festival at the Aldo Scribante Racetrack down in Gqeberha.

From qualifying to the flag in Race 2 of the Toyota GR Cup, the youngster who is fast developing his SIM racing talent into the real world had the measure of the chasing pack. And by chasing pack, it was a lone Denis Droppa that provided any sort of realistic chase for a few laps each time.

Mid-pack battle

Chad Lückhoff showed great quali pace once again and could have been up there on the podium. But luck is one thing he hasn’t had a lot of this year. A puncture in Race 1 saw him limping around the circuit for the last few laps, and out of overall contention, despite finishing third in Race 2.

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This basically left me, Brendon Staniforth, Reuben Van Niekerk and Toyota SA exec Anand Pather to scrap it out for most of the two race heats. Anand did make it a little easier for us by getting on the juice a bit too early coming out the hairpin in Race 2 on the first lap and spinning his Toyota GR86 into the fauna and flora next to the track.

Small margins in Toyota GR Cup

For most of the weekend this mid pack battle saw us separated by hundredths of seconds. With none of us wanting to be the first to damage any of the Toyota GR86s, we kept it clean. This meant I couldn’t get past Reuben and Brendon couldn’t get around me without doing something reckless.

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

The end result was that I ended up taking third overall by two seconds over Reuben. Reuben took fourth by two seconds over Brendon in fifth after 18 laps of racing.

The luckless duo of Anand and Chad finished sixth and seventh respectively.

The next round of the Toyota GR Cup is at the fastest track in the country, the East London Grand Prix Circuit, on 22 July. And I think it might just be a good thing that this upcoming round be more about race pace once again, and not the bash and barge racing of Zwartkops a month ago.