Coming off his racing debut at round one of the National Extreme Festival at Killarney in Cape Town, CAR road test editor Kyle Kock will take on the legendary Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit in Midrand for races three and four of the Toyota South Africa Motors Gazoo Racing GR Cup on Saturday 12 April 2025.
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Although a switch from the three-year-old GR Yaris manual to the updated and more powerful automatic model was on the cards after the opening round of the national series, the cars are still not fully prepared and ready for their racing debut so the championship battle for the GR Cup media challenge resumes with the seasoned alternatives.
Related: CAR Rookie Places Second Overall at GR Cup Round 1
“Although the prospect of racing what should realistically be a much faster car was very exciting, I didn’t want to get my hopes up as there have been a few logistical issues with the cars arriving in time to be prepared for Kyalami. And to be honest, I really wanted to have a go in the manual GR Yaris again.”
As it turns out, the updated GR Yaris cars will likely only be ready at the next round of the GR Cup at Aldo Scribante in Gqeberha. Meanwhile, Kyle is looking forward to the challenge of three pedals on the 4.529 km long Kyalami, which is the historic home of motorsport in South Africa and our best hope of returning to the F1 calendar.
“Nervously checking my weather app over the last two weeks, I was almost certain we’d have a wet qualifying session as Gauteng has been waterlogged for two weeks, but the weather looks promising for fast times and consistently getting quicker over the weekend.”
Kyle will have his work cut out for him if he intends to chase down current GR Cup Media Challenge standings leader Nabil Abdool, who led the field to take two wins in the SuperSport #11 GR Yaris in Cape Town. Tembisa’s own Phuti Mpyane in the #50 TimesLive GR Yaris will no doubt also be looking to make an impact on home soil, while Autotrader’s Lawrence Minnie, Citizen’s Charl Bosch and IOL’s Willem van der Putte have shaken off the first round jitters as well.
Related: Toyota’s 2026 GR Corolla Teased With Big Wing
Aside from the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR CUP, round two of the National Extreme Festival includes categories like SA Touring Cars, Dunlop V8 Supercars, Extreme SuperCars driven by Dunlop, Astron Energy Polo Cup, ATE VW Challenge, Ferro Energia 111/GT Sports & Saloons, BMW M Performance Parts Race Series, DOE Formula Vee, and the new MSA4 including Formula Ford Kent.
Want to get familiar with the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit layout? Watch 2024 CAR Magazine GR Cup contender Alex Shahini pilot the GR Corolla to pole position below.
A weekend Ticket (Friday & Saturday) will set you back R260 per person, the Friday Only ticket costs R100 per person, and kids under 12 enter for free.
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