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The Citizen romps to double wins in GR Cup at Killarney
Mark Jones ends up on the top step of the podium twice during epic day of racing in GR86.
Mark Jones steered The Ctizen’s Toyota GR86 to two wins at Killarney on Saturday. Picture: Toyota
Wow! What a weekend in the Toyota SA GR Cup 2023. Killarney and the National Extreme Series dished up everything racing can, and then some.
I arrived on Friday and I placed anywhere from stone last to second on the timesheets, but I was okay with this as we all know the race is not won on the practice day.
Came race day and inclement weather once again saw us go out on a wet track for qualifying.
After lots of slipping and sliding around in the rear-wheel-drive GR86s, the six drivers were separated by only half a second.
All-out action in Toyota GR Cup
Chad Lückhoff had jumped onto pole, followed by me, and Brendon Staniforth, while Reuben Van Niekerk, Setshaba Mashigo and Denis Droppa rounded off the field.
I figured this would lead to some epic battles and that’s exactly what it did.
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I managed to squeeze past Chad on the first lap and thought it would be race on, but the chasing pack was thrown into chaos by some “robust” defending which allowed me to get away and romp home to my first victory in the Toyota GR Cup.
Once the dust and paint chips had settled, it was Denis who had moved up to second, with Setshaba in third. Chad, Reuben and Brendon wrapped up the final places in Race 1.
Double delight
I started Race 2 from the front and I think because of the mayhem and battle scars from the previous race, the chasing pack settled into a less frantic, spread-out, train.
Setshaba, eventually got past Denis and I watched as he started to go on the hunt for me, but the flag showed itself shortly after this.
The hard-charging youngster had to settle for second with Denis in tow in third.
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The weekend’s overall results saw me taking the Toyota GR Cup spoils courtesy of two wins.
Setshaba relegated Denis to third based on a better overall combined race time of just over a second, while Chad, Reuben and Brendon finished pretty much as they had raced all day.
It was hectic. Racing is racing and it’s not easy.
Panels were bent, paint was swapped and tempers flared. But I think at the end of the day, some valuable lessons were learnt and this bodes well for the rest of the year.
Round three of the Toyota GR Cup takes place on 20 May at Zwartkops International Raceway.
Mark Jones is Road Test Editor for The Citizen Motoring.
