TGRSA HEADS TO ZWARTKOPS FOR THE FINAL ROUND OF THE 2026 SEASON WITH THREE CHAMPIONSHIPS STILL TO BE DECIDED
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa (TGRSA) heads to the Zwartkops Raceway in Pretoria this weekend (16–17 October) for the seventh and final round of the 2026 GR Cup and South African Touring Cars (SATC) championships.
Round 6 at Killarney was brought to a premature close, and as a result the GR Cup and SATC championship standings head into the Zwartkops finale unchanged since Round 5 at Aldo Scribante in August.
Zwartkops Raceway, just outside Pretoria, is among the most popular circuits on the South African motorsport calendar and has already hosted one round of the 2026 season. It is also home to TGRSA’s GR Driving Academy, adding extra significance to this weekend’s result for several competitors.
With the GR Cup Dealer Challenge and GR86 Development Academy titles both still unresolved, and the SATC championship picture also far from settled, Zwartkops is set to provide a fitting conclusion to a closely fought season.
In the GR Cup Media Challenge, SuperSport’s Nabil Abdool arrives at Zwartkops with the championship already wrapped up, having won every one of the ten races held so far this season, over the five completed rounds. His tally of 70 points cannot be caught by any rival with only two races remaining, leaving Abdool free to chase a perfect season at the GR Driving Academy’s home circuit. News24 Motoring’s Craig Nicholson remains a clear second on 48 points, with Justin Ford and AutoTrader’s Tayedza Mbiri still tied 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), sixth on 14 points; added together, the pairing’s combined season tally of 31 points would be enough to rank third outright. The Witness and Algoa FM’s Naresh Maharaj completes the regular order on nine points.
Zwartkops will also mark the final instalment of the GR Cup Hot Seat for 2026, and for the first time this season two guest competitors will share the grid. Broadcaster Kriya Gangiah, whose automatic GR Yaris AT outing at Killarney was an aborted debut, steps up into the manual car for the finale – a considerably tougher proposition for her second outing. The automatic car, in turn, passes to sports broadcaster Mpho Maboi, who makes her own Hot Seat debut at Zwartkops, a circuit she has raced at before. Having already sampled circuit racing, Maboi arrives with a degree of experience her Hot Seat predecessors lacked, while Gangiah faces the sternest test yet of the programme’s debut season.
The GR Cup Dealer Challenge comes down to the wire, fittingly, at the home of the GR Driving Academy itself. GR Driving Academy’s Devon Scott trails NMI Toyota Menlyn’s Werner Venter by just two points, 44 to 42, with two races left to decide the title. NMI Toyota Centurion’s Theo Brits sits a distant third on 30 points, ahead of Scott’s team-mate Paul de Vos in fourth on 28. Rola Toyota’s Marius Claasen is fifth on 24 points, with Andries de Villiers (19) and Malalane Toyota’s Werner Horn (18) completing the leading group. Johan Boonzaier, Jaco Barendse, Dylan Jones, Rudolf Boonzaier and Tiaan Combrink complete the Dealer Challenge order.
“Heading into Zwartkops, I’m two points behind Werner, so the primary goal is the championship – I need to beat him in both races,” said Scott. “The secondary goal is Nabil. We’ve been battling all year long, and it’s been properly entertaining, so I definitely want to redeem myself against him and take the overall victory in the turbo class at the home of GR, at the Driving Academy’s home. I can’t let him beat us at home, so that’s basically my goal for the weekend – try to take the championship for the GR Driving Academy, and protect our pride at our own home circuit by beating Nabil. Those are my goals, and to have a bit of fun along the way, obviously.”
The GR86 Development Academy title will also be decided at Zwartkops. Kobus Reyneke heads into the finale with a three-point advantage over Connor Weston, 52 points to 49, after the pair’s coming-together at Turn 6 during Round 5 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 two races standing between the pair and the title, the GR86 Development Academy looks set to be decided by the smallest of margins at the season finale.
The SATC championship also concludes at Zwartkops, with the outright title still mathematically open. Julian van der Watt leads on 125 points, with Klayden ‘KC’ Ensor-Smith second on 101 – a 24-point buffer heading into the final round. TGRSA’s Jason Coetzee sits third on 93 points, eight adrift of Ensor-Smith, with team-mate Michael van Rooyen close behind in fourth on 91 – a gap of just two points between the pair. Keegan Campos rounds out the group in fifth on 85 points, ahead of Andrew Schofield on 69. Both Coetzee and Van Rooyen will be chasing a strong final result to close out the season, with the runner-up spot still within reach for TGRSA’s GR Corolla pairing.
With three championships still to be decided, and the GR Cup Hot Seat programme concluding with both Kriya Gangiah and Mpho Maboi in action, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa heads to the final round expecting plenty of on-track excitement.
