You won't believe what happened

AFTER seven thrilling rounds of the Toyota GR Cup, I've hung up my gloves and helmet.

- WILLEM VAN DE PUTTE

It was a bittersweet moment as I piloted my GR Yaris into the pits and switched it off for the last time at the Extreme Festival at Swartkops Raceway this past weekend.

It was a weekend of highs and lows that included some fast times but also a crash into the tyres and a race-stopping red flag.

The weekend would be a little different from the others, with us out first early in the morning for practice one, and we would also be qualifying on the same day.

That meant four outings, well, turns out it was just two and a bit for me.

Practice one

Once the tyres had warmed up and the brakes bedded in, practice one saw me running tighter lines than during our previous outing at Swartkops, and as a result, my times were faster.

This was a good sign, and I approached session two with confidence.

Crash boom bang

I kept back to allow me space and put in a few quick laps before catching up with some of the guys on cool-down laps.

With 22 GR Yarises, GR Corollas and GR 86s on the track, there was a lot of traffic, and after a slowish lap to create a gap, I put the hammer down as I entered the straight.

I lifted slightly as I turned into turn one a little early, aimed for the apex and turned in to accelerate out of the corner.

As the car turned in, the right rear wheel clipped the sand, and car #60 shot me across the track into the tyre wall, at about 120km/h.