Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) heads to Killarney for Round 6 of the 2026 season as broadcaster Kriya Gangiah joins the GR Cup hot seat
Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) heads to the Killarney International Raceway in Cape Town this weekend (18–19 September) for Round 6 of both the GR Cup and South African Touring Cars (SATC) championships, as the 2026 season moves into its penultimate round.
Killarney is one of the most established venues on the national motorsport calendar, and its tight, technical layout has long produced close, unpredictable racing across every category that visits. With so much still to play for in each of the championships, this weekend promises to be no exception.
Friday’s practice running is expected to take place in cool and foggy conditions typical of Cape Town at this time of year, though no significant rain is forecast for the weekend. Qualifying and both of Saturday’s races should therefore be contested in stable, if chilly, conditions.
In the GR Cup Media Challenge, SuperSport’s Nabil Abdool arrives at Killarney with a perfect record intact, having won every one of the ten races held so far this season to lead the standings on a maximum 70 points. News24 Motoring’s Craig Nicholson remains his closest pursuer in second place on 48 points, with eNCA’s Justin Ford and AutoTrader’s Tayedza Mbiri locked together on 25 points apiece for third.
Brandon Jacobs (Khulekani on Wheels) sits fifth on 17 points, sharing the entry with Kumbi Mtshakazi (Kumbi-M on Cars), fourth in the shared car’s most recent outing and sixth in the standings on 14 points. Added together, the pairing’s combined tally of 31 points across the season would be enough to rank third outright, ahead of both Ford and Mbiri – a reflection of just how competitive the shared entry has been all year. The Witness and Algoa FM’s Naresh Maharaj completes the regular order on nine points.
At Aldo Scribante, Abdool extended his unbeaten run with another pole position and race double, while Nicholson’s podium consistency kept him firmly entrenched in second. Jacobs enjoyed the strongest weekend of his season yet, with back-to-back podium finishes lifting the shared Khulekani on Wheels/Kumbi-M on Cars entry further up the order.
Round 6 also carries extra significance for the Media Challenge field, marking the second appearance of the GR Cup Hot Seat – TGRSA’s programme inviting well-known South African media personalities to swap their microphones for a race suit. Broadcaster Kriya Gangiah will take her turn behind the wheel of the GR Yaris AT at Killarney, following Yolanda “Girlie” Lukhele’s impressive Hot Seat debut at Zwartkops in May, where she claimed back-to-back third-place finishes on her first-ever competitive outing.
Gangiah, who regularly discusses motorsport on air, admits that stepping into the car for the first time will be a very different experience to talking about it from the outside. “I always get the opportunity to talk about racing and understand the theory behind it,” she said. “Now I finally get to put that theory into practice. I’ve driven road cars on various circuits before, but never Killarney, so this is going to be a completely new experience for me.” Asked about her goals for the weekend, Gangiah kept things refreshingly simple, joking that her first target would be to “keep it on the black stuff” – before the final GR Cup Hot Seat appearance of the season goes to sports broadcaster Mpho Maboi at Zwartkops in October.
The GR Cup Dealer Challenge arrives at Killarney with a much-reduced grid, after international commitments ruled out several of the championship’s regular campaigners for the weekend. Among those sitting out the round is GR Driving Academy’s Devon Scott, who trails standings leader Werner Venter (NMI Toyota Menlyn) by just two points after closing the gap at Aldo Scribante – handing Venter, on 44 points, a rare opportunity to extend his advantage while his closest title rival watches on from home. Scott’s shared GR Driving Academy entry with Paul de Vos will also sit out the round.
Six cars are set to take the start at Killarney. Venter will be joined by NMI Toyota Centurion’s Theo Brits, third in the standings on 30 points, and Tiaan Combrink, along with two stand-in drives: Theo Claasen deputises for his brother Marius in the Rola Toyota Corolla, while Mario de Sousa steps in for Andries de Villiers, also for Rola Toyota. Stefan Bester completes the entry list in the #555 CFAO Mobility Toyota.
The GR86 Development Academy title fight heads to Cape Town on a knife edge. Kobus Reyneke arrives with a narrow three-point lead over Connor Weston, 52 points to 49, after the pair made contact twice at Turn 6 during Race 2 at Aldo Scribante. Emma Dowling continues to impress in third on 33 points, with Kian Fussel fourth on 29. Reagile Mailula sits fifth on 24 points, ahead of Tshepang Shisinwana (17) and Vatiswa Mokhonoana (10), while Russell Davidson and Miklos Hegyi have both opened their accounts with a single point apiece.
With only Killarney and the Zwartkops season finale left to run, the destination of the GR86 Development Academy title looks set to go down to the wire between the two championship protagonists.
The SATC championship also returns to action at Killarney, with TGRSA arriving in good form after a strong showing at Aldo Scribante. Jason Coetzee produced the standout result of the weekend, fighting through from fifth on the grid to win Race 2, while team-mate Michael van Rooyen backed up a solid qualifying performance with fourth-place finishes in both races. That form has carried through into the standings, where Julian van der Watt leads the championship on 125 points, with Klayden ‘KC’ Ensor-Smith second on 101. Coetzee has moved up to third on 93 points, just eight points shy of Ensor-Smith, with Van Rooyen close behind in fourth on 91 – a gap of only two points between the two TGRSA team-mates. Keegan Campos rounds out the group in fifth on 85 points, ahead of Andrew Schofield (69) and Robert Wolk (68). Coetzee’s own description of the fight for second as ‘still alive’ after Aldo Scribante now looks well founded, with both he and Van Rooyen firmly inside the top four and within striking distance of the runner-up spot as the GR Corolla package continues to find form at Killarney.
With Killarney marking the penultimate round of the 2026 season, and the spotlight also turning to Kriya Gangiah’s GR Cup Hot Seat debut, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa heads to Cape Town for another crucial weekend of action across both the GR Cup and SATC championships.
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