The Toyota Hilux duo became embroiled in a gripping tussle with Dacia’s Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin on the short final stage of 110.71km but held off the European crew’s challenge to win the event by 1min 39sec after Loeb was awarded a one-minute time penalty.

This was the first ever round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) to be held in South Africa and was one of the closest events for a long time with championship leader Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah winning two stages and the South African Toyota trio of Lategan, Guy Botterill and Saood Variawa taking one win apiece. The result moves Lategan up to second in the Drivers’ Championship after his runner-up spot at the Dakar Rally.

Lategan’s team-mates, Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón, strengthened their challenge for the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championships with a third-place finish. Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer were fourth in their Ford Evo Plus but were the only team inside the top 10 not to be registered for W2RC points.

It was a strong event for the M-Sport Ford team with Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz finishing fifth in their Raptor and Joan Roma and Alex Haro coming home in seventh after incurring a two-minute time penalty after the final stage. Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz were sandwiched between the two Fords in sixth place.

German privateer Daniel Schröder teamed up with Carl Henri Köhne to finish eighth in his Volkswagen WCT Amarok and Belgian driver Guillaume de Mévius teamed up with Frenchman Xavier Panseri to bring the sole-surviving X-Raid Mini JCW Rally to the finish in ninth.

An expensive 15-minute time penalty for missing a waypoint and other smaller penalties ruined Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah’s bid to extend his W2RC lead and the Qatari had to settle for 10th overall with Edouard Boulanger, despite claiming two stage wins.

The result also boosted Toyota Gazoo Racing’s lead in the W2RC Manufacturers’ Championship over the Dacia Sandriders and Ford M-Sport.

Lategan took full benefit from his starting position to win the opening 259.17km stage that wound its way through off-road terrain to the east of Lichtenberg. The South African beat Sainz by 2min 38sec with Loeb opening the stage and finishing third. Al-Attiyah was 5min 25sec off the pace in ninth after incurring a two-minute time penalty for missing a waypoint. Variawa was plagued by a loose turbo pipe and had to stop on three occasions to make repairs.

Botterill and Variawa finished first and second on the first part of the two-day Marathon stage that ran for 356.07km from Sun City to the bivouac in Stella and crossed Barberspans’s open savannah and offered tricky navigation.

De Mévius incurred a two-minute time penalty that cost him the win but team-mate Joāo Ferreira was not so fortunate and was sidelined after breaking a differential mounting on his Mini. Matthieu Serradori also suffered a technical issue and headed for the road section after 255km of the stage. 

Loeb was down in 10th after losing around 10 minutes to the leaders and Al-Attiyah was 20 minutes behind and also incurred a 15-minute time penalty for missing a waypoint. 

After a cold and frosty night camping out in tents, the second half of the Marathon stage ran for 245.28km north of Stella to finish close to the frontier with Botswana. Al-Attiyah beat Sainz to the stage win by five seconds with Loeb coming home in fourth behind Serradori. A one-minute time penalty for Moraes pushed the Brazilian down to fourth in the general classification behind Loeb, Sainz and Lategan. Al-Attiyah was also handed a 40-second penalty for a torque meter violation.

Al-Attiyah said: “We didn’t take any big risks and we still managed to get the win. The 15-minute penalty has put us out of the podium so it’s important for us to get these stage wins.”

Brian Baragwanath was forced to retire his Century C7 with terminal engine damage after nursing the car across the finish line of stage three after an OEM black plug burst on the water line. X-Raid Mini’s Ferreira was also forced to call it a day after technical issues on the first part of the Marathon stage prevented him from starting stage three.

The penultimate stage skirted the border with Botswana and a gruelling day of 692.57km included 223.28km against the clock. Variawa won the stage by 54 seconds from De Mévius but seventh-placed Lategan climbed 65 seconds ahead of Loeb in the overall classification. The third quickest time on the final stage enabled Lategan to secure the outright win.

BBR Motorsport’s Zille and Cesana win Challenger category

The Argentine duo of David Zille and Sebastian Cesana dominated the Challenger category in their BBR Motorsport Taurus T3 Max and won their class by 3min 39sec.

Team-mates Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini finished second and continue to lead the championship category, while Pole Adam Kus and his Ukrainian navigator Dmytro Tsyro rounded off the podium places in their Akpol Recykling Team Taurus.

All seven of the registered crews made it to the finish with Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and Bruno Jacomy coming home in fourth ahead of fifth-placed Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé and Pau Navarro and Jan Rosa Vinas in sixth. Puck Klaassen and Charen Moore guided the solitary G Rally Team OT3 to the finish in seventh.

Navarro beat Kus and Zille to the best time on the Prologue, where Akeel was penalised 30 minutes for driving on three wheels after a sudden right rear suspension failure. Zille then got the better of Navarro on the opening stage to carve out a 2min 51sec advantage. Cavigliasso, Kus and Puck Klaassen rounded off the top five but Akeel dropped another 11min 35sec to the stage winner.

Cavigliasso bounced back from delays on stage one to top the Challenger times on the first part of the Marathon stage. The Argentine beat Navarro by 1min 28sec with Zille, Akeel and Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah rounding off the top five. Navarro was then handed a two-minute penalty for missing a waypoint, Zille got a similar one for speeding and Akeel and Al-Attiyah moved up to second and third on the stage. Zille led overall by just five seconds from Cavigliasso.

Zille beat Cavigliasso by 2min 51sec on the second part of the Marathon to move 2min 56sec in front of the Argentine. Kus, Puck Klaassen and Akeel rounded off the overall top five with Navarro down in sixth after losing time with a leaking radiator.

Zille topped the times again in stage four from Navarro and Akeel and headed to the final day with a lead of 5min 32sec over Cavigliasso with Kus, Al-Attiyah and Akeel close behind. Cavigliasso won the final stage but Zille did enough to take the overall class victory. Akeel survived a roll on the last stage.

Portugal’s Franco and Miranda cruise to SSV category win

Portugal’s Mario Franco and Joāo Miranda guided their Francosport Can-Am Maverick R to an 11min 56sec victory in the SSV class. Their fellow countrymen Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira continue to lead the Drivers’ and Navigators’ Championship after picking up points for third of the W2RC crews at the finish.

Franco finished ahead of Richard Aczel in his South Racing Can-Am Maverick R but the British driver was not registered for points. Italy’s Michele Cinotto and Maurizio Dominella finished third (second W2RC) in their CST Xtreme Plus Polaris RXR Pro R Sport with Pinto down in sixth place (third W2RC).

Behind Pinto, Enrico Gaspari and Fausto Moto were seventh (fourth W2RC) and French veteran Claude Fournier and Patrick Jimbert finished ninth (fifth W2RC). Gasparo now holds second place in the Drivers’ Championship.

Pinto got the better of Franco and Gaspari among the W2RC SSV crews on the Prologue. Aczel was the quickest on the opening stage, but Franco was the best of the registered drivers from Cinotto, Fournier and Gaspari. Pinto stopped for over an hour and a half 153km into the stage with steering issues.

Pinto won the second stage from Franco and Gaspari but the Portuguese was in trouble again on stage three and stopped with mechanical problems after 160km. Franco began the second half of the Marathon stage with a 2min 29sec cushion over Aczel and a lead of 21min 38sec over Cinotto.

The Portuguese topped the times on this stage as well and extended his lead over Aczel to 11min 33sec and Cinotto to 28min 41sec. Pinto was down in ninth and fourth of the classified W2RC entrants.

Pinto got the better of Gaspari in the fourth stage, where Franco was the third of the registered W2RC drivers. That enabled Franco to take a cushion of 13min 50sec over Aczel into the last day. Cinotto was a distant third and second of the W2RC contenders. Gaspari won the final stage from Pinto but Franco did enough to secure the victory.

The fourth round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship is the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal on September 22nd-28th.

2025 South African Safari Rally – final result:

1. Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Toyota GR DKR Hilux                                                    12hr 10min 42sec     

2. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider                                          12hr 12min 21sec

3. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux                                12hr 13min 37sec

4. Gareth Woolridge (RSA)/Boyd Dreyer (RSA) Evo Plus                                                                       12hr 15min 30sec*

5. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Lucas Cruz (ESP) Ford Raptor                                                             12hr 15min 57sec

6. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (GER) Toyota GR DKR Hilux                                        12hr 17min 01sec

7. Joan Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Ford Raptor                                                                12hr 17min 27sec

8. Daniel Schröder (GER)/Carl Henri Köhne (RSA) Volkswagen WCT Amarok                     12hr 19min 46sec

9. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i                            12hr 22min 26sec

10. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider                   12hr 22min 30sec

11. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor RS                                             12hr 29min 40sec

12. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                             12hr 30min 36sec

13. Guy Botterill (RSA)/Dennis Murphy (RSA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                                    12hr 31min 41sec

14. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                      12hr 34min 38sec

15. David Zille (ARG)/Sebastian Cesana (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                            12hr 54min 39sec

16. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                        12hr 58min 18sec

17. Fouche Blignaut (RSA)/Bertus Blignaut (RSA) Toyota Hilux DKR                                                     12h 59min 19sec*     

18. Giniel de Villiers (RSA)/Leander Pienaar (RSA) Toyota Hilux IMT                                                    13hr 02min 57sec*

19. Hernan Garces (CHL)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                       13hr 03min 58sec*

20. Adam Kus (POL)/Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) Taurus T3 Max                                                   13hr 13min 01sec

21. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Bruno Jacomy (ITA) Taurus T3 Max                              13hr 14min 05sec

22. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                             13hr 18min 12sec      

23. Jürgen Schröder (GER)/Stuart Gregory (RSA) Volkswagen WCT Amarok                      13hr 27min 23sec*

24. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Jan Rosa Vinas (ESP) Taurus T3 Max                                               13hr 33min 28sec

25. Akira Miura (JPN)/Jean-Michel Polato (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                           13hr 44min 19sec*

26. Puck Klaassen (RSA)/Charan Moore (RSA) G Rally Team OT3                                       13hr 46min 06sec

27. Danie Ludick (RSA)/Denzil Williamson (RSA) Red-Lined Revo T1+                                13hr 52min 40sec*

28. Rik Van Den Brink (NED)/Gydo Heimans (NED) Century CR7                                        14hr 09min 27sec*

29. Mario Franco (POR)/João Miranda (POR)                 Can-Am Maverick R                                      14hr 13min 56sec

30. Gerhardt Heinlein (RSA)/Rudi Heinlein (RSA) Red-Lined VK56                                     14hr 15min 40sec*

31. Nickus Heinlein (RSA)/Jaco Kriel (RSA) Red-Lined VK50                                                14hr 17min 08sec*

32. Dave Klaassen (NED)/Tessa Klaassen (NED) Red-Lined Revo                                        14hr 17min 34sec

33. Richard Aczel (GBR)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                               14hr 25min 52sec*

34. Michele Cinotto (ITA)/Maurizio Dominella (ITA) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                     15hr 05min 12sec

35. George Halles (GBR)/Max Delfino (ITA) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                                                     15hr 15min 56sec*

36. Jan Kraaij (AUS)/Gerhard Schutte (RSA) Century CR6                                                   16hr 09min 24sec*

37. José Nogueira (POR)/Arcelio Couto (POR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                                  16hr 14min 00sec*

38. Alexandre Pinto (POR)/Bernardo Oliveira (POR) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR       16hr 20min 11sec

39. Domingo Roman (ESP)/Alberto Herrero (ESP) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                         16hr 38min 32sec*

40. Claude Fournier (FRA)/Patrick Jimbert (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR            16hr 48min 00sec

41. Graham Knight (GBR)/David Watson (GBR) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                            21hr 02min 09sec*

42. Enrico Gaspari (ITA)/Fausto Mota (POR)                  Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                    31hr 26min 55sec

43. Ignacio Gayoso (ESP)/Santiago Ramiro (ESP) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                          33hr 05min 08sec*

44. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ISR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                          34hr 17min 50sec

45. Rients Hofstra (NED)/Wade Harris (RSA)                  Red-Lined Revo GTR                                      35hr 38min 58sec*

46. Mattieu Serradori (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Century CR7-T                                     39hr 51min 47sec

47. Jayden Els (RSA)/Johan Swemmer (RSA) Red-Lined Revo GTR                                      60hr 42min 07sec*

48. Johan Van Staden (RSA)/Sean Van Staden (RSA) Renault Duster                                 61hr 31min 25sec*

*denotes not registered for the W2RC