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The 2022 Killarney 9-Hour exploded into life on Friday with a morning of free practice for drivers and cars to stretch their legs around the 3.267km circuit. While the sharp end of the grid is awash with GT3-spec machinery (think Audi R8s, Porsche 911s and Lamborghini Huracans), the lower echelons are home to whips such as Volkswagen Polo SupaCup cars, various BMW 3 series, a rogue Lotus 7, a clutch of Backdraft Cobras, an incredibly fast (in a straight line) 1965 Ford Mustang Fastback and, of course, two Toyota GR Yaris Cup cars piloted by Toyota executives and motoring journalists who took part in this year's GR Cup.
Joining me in the No.33 car are fellow scribes Ashley Oldfield (cars.co.za), Mark Jones (Citizen Motoring) and Jeanette Kok-Kritzinger (Wiele2Wiele). Sean Nurse (SN Automotive) is sharing driving duties in the sister car, No.95, with Toyota brass Leon Theron, Mario de Sousa and Anand Pather. Competing in Class D, we are using GR Yaris Cup cars each lightly modified with an auxiliary fuel tank and endurance brake pads. Oh, and a radio unit that allows us drivers to keep in contact with the mechanics on pit wall.
Oldfield and I shared the first practice session of the morning and we both managed to circulate in the low 1:25s (more or less our GR Cup Killarney race pace) without breaking too much of a sweat. Jones used the whole of the second session to re-familiarise himself with the track as did Kok-Kritzinger who had the whole third session to herself.
While there were no surprises in terms of how the GR Yaris went about its business, it did take a lap or two to get used to the faster cars looming ever large in our rear-view mirrors. For unlike in a GR Cup sprint race where you focus 99% on what's happening in front of you, here you have to keep a constant eye out for the pack of insanely rapid GT cars that pass you every three laps or so. Hold your line, give them space when you can and try not to compromise your own lap time in the process. Suffice to say it keeps you real busy.
Qualifying started at 2pm and we decided to give Oldfield the honours as he holds the GR Cup lap record at this Cape Town track. After a few flyers he clocked a 1:25.079, which was good enough to secure seventh in Class D and 30th overall for the start of Saturday's race. Nurse in the sister car logged a 1:25.9, which put him eighth in class and 31st overall (out of 37). Now as our GR Yaris cup cars are slower than all the other Class D competitors it's unlikely that we'll finish on the podium unless attrition knocks some of the SupaCup cars out of the running (not an entirely impossible scenario in a nine-hour endurance race). Instead we are focusing on getting our machinery across the finish line: something that will be an impressive feat for two cars that have a full season of hard racing behind them.
The 2022 Killarney 9-Hour will start on Saturday at 12pm and end at 9pm. Watch this space (or follow me on Instagram) for updates as and when they happen.
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