Christchurch’s Harry McDonald is back in New Zealand after his debut in the GT4 Scandinavian Series round at Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. It’s his first international experience and the 19-year-old is fizzing at the opportunity.
“It was a really good learning experience in terms of environment, both on and off the track,” commented McDonald. “To experience the aggressiveness of the European competition was unreal and how upscaled it is compared with NZ. It’s at another level.”
Competing in a Toyota GR Supra GT4, McDonald finished on the podium with co-driver Tommy Gråberg in the second race at the GT4 Scandinavia Series round at Spa.
“The Supra is an incredible car to drive. It is so sophisticated, like a computer on wheels. In saying that, it was extremely easy and driver friendly to use. It has been so well developed in the factory and kept very simple, almost what I would say as idiot proof. You can’t really go to wrong with the buttons that you push.
“You can change throttle maps, ABS and traction control all with the flick of a dial during the race.”
Which begs the question, was it difficult to drive?
“It was more drive by the seat of your pants. It helped having experience with iRacing (sim racing) as that teaches you to use different brake bias in corners and I had done a lot of work on this heading to Spa.
“However, it is different in the car. You realise how tight the track is which at first caught me off guard but didn’t take too long to get my head around it and adjust to it.”
Competing in the Pro-Am category, McDonald and Gråberg are part of a two-car Toyota Gazoo Racing team from Sweden driving Toyota GR Supra GT4s, with their sister car, driven by Hans Holmlund and co-driver Emil Skärås, winning the round.
“The experience with the team was unreal and completely incredible to be part of. They were so welcoming of me into the team. A real home feeling.
“They all spoke English which was so helpful. There were two mechanics working on each of the cars, very professional in their approach plus there were two helpers from Toyota GR in Europe.”
The GT4 Scandinavia is a motor racing series for GT4 Grand Tourismo, factory-built track day cars, that have FIA-approved modifications so that competition performance is similar, whatever the brand. The competition format in GT4 Scandinavia follows other championships for the same category of cars. A competition weekend begins with an hour-long test session and is then followed by qualifiers (2 × 15 minutes). The race is between 50 -60 minutes long, including a mandatory pit stop for driver change.
McDonald shortly heads over to Sweden for two more rounds in Anderstorp and Gellerasen.
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