SuperSport shines in opening leg of 2025 GR Cup

The 2025 South African national circuit racing season got under way with Round 1 of the Extreme Festival, which was hosted by the Killarney International Raceway in the Mother City on 7 and 8 March.

This was also the first outing for the 2025 GR Cup, consisting of the GR Cup Media Challenge, GR Cup Dealer Challenge, and GR86 Development Academy.

Killarney is known as a short but challenging circuit, with a bumpy surface and mix of fast and technical corners, ranging from the daunting Cape Town corner to the high-speed Sarel Sweep. As such, it proved a tough baptism of fire for this year’s GR Cup contestants, many of who had not driven around the Cape Town circuit in anger before.

GR CUP MEDIA CHALLENGE

The opening race of this year’s GR Cup Media Challenge again saw six of the country’s top motoring writers take to the track – this time from behind the wheel of the punchy GR Yaris.

The six competitors for 2025 are:

• Willem van de Putte (Independent Media/IOL)

• Charl Bosch (Citizen)

• Lawrence Minnie (AutoTrader)

• Phuti Mpyane (TimesLive)

• Kyle Kock (CAR Magazine)

• Nabil Abdool (SuperSport)

The weekend started with practice sessions on the Friday, followed by a qualifying session early on the Saturday morning. While all the drivers were on a similar pace during the early sessions, it was SuperSport’s Nabil Abdool who set the fastest time in qualifying.

Abdool’s time of 1:25:146 was not only the fastest of the Media Challenge crews, but the fastest time of the entire GR Cup field overall. For Abdool, this result came as a surprise, as his previous racing experience was limited to a simulator, and this was his first ever outing at Killarney.

The SuperSport man was followed by Kyle Kock and Phuti Mpyane, with Lawrence Minnie, Willem van de Putte and Charl Bosch completing the Media Challenge line-up.

Race 1 saw Abdool continue his dominance, as he completed the eight-lap opening race in first place, leading the Media Challenge from flag to flag. Kock held onto second place, with Mpyane in third and Minnie in fourth. Bosch came through in fifth place, with Van de Putte completing the Media Challenge in sixth place.

Race 2 was a rinse-and-repeat of the opening race, with Abdool again dominating the race. Kock was in second, Mpyane in third and Minnie in fourth. Bosch and Van de Putte again completed the results. This was a power performance by Abdool, and the SuperSport driver will be one to watch over the coming rounds. With that said, Kock is quickly finding his feet, and may well be a factor as the season unfolds.

The next round of the championship is set to take place on 12 April at the Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit.

QUALIFYING RESULTS - GR Cup Media Challenge

Nabil Abdool – best lap 1:25.146

Kyle Kock - 1:27.393

Phuti Mpyane - 1:28.572

Lawrence Minnie – 1:29.927

Willem van de Putte - 1:33.028

Charl Bosch - 1:35.157

RACE 1 RESULTS:

Nabil Abdool – best lap 1:27.652

Kyle Kock - 1:28.073

Phuti Mpyane - 1:29.145