The South African Safari Rally is taking the world’s best off-roaders on a wild ride over the savanna. Mega distances through the bushveld have seen leaderboards changing daily as South Africa makes its debut on the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) calendar. With two stages remaining it’s still all to play for as the world championship carries on in safari mode.
On Thursday the rally’s two-day Marathon Stage concluded with 246 kilometres of timed racing as the convoy returned to Sun City. It was Nasser Al-Attiyah who set the day’s fastest time in the Ultimate class, taking the 44th stage win of his distinguished W2RC career. However, the unpredictable nature of this rally was on show during yesterday’s Stage 2 when Al-Attiyah and co-driver Édouard Boulanger were hit with a 15-minute penalty due to their Dacia missing a waypoint on the course.
« 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. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
It’s Al-Attiyah’s Dacia team-mate Sébastien Loeb who leads the Ultimate class of the South African Safari Rally after Stage 3. The Frenchman and co-driver Fabian Lurquin have successfully fought back from a tricky opening day Prologue Stage to put themselves on top of the pile with two stages to go.
« It looks like everybody lost a bit of time during this stage and now we’re leading the rally. Things are still very tight in the classification and we need two more good days to get the result we want. » – Sébastien Loeb
The gap between Loeb in first overall and four-time Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz stands at a tantalising 23 seconds. Sainz narrowly missed out on a Stage 3 win, but his rapid pace was enough to have him, co-driver Lucas Cruz and their Ford Raptor T1+ breathing down Loeb’s neck.
« It was cold last night when we were camping and waking up this morning everything outside the tent was covered in frost. We lost some time yesterday because of our starting position, but today we were able to come back. » – Carlos Sainz
Sainz is joined in the fight for podium places by the fellow Ford Performance crew of Nani Roma and Alex Haro. This Spanish pair are currently fifth overall, just over two minutes off third on an ultra tight leaderboard in South Africa.
« It was really cold last night, but still I managed to sleep well in the tent. Even if I could hear some lions close to us! This has been a tough rally so far, but also a really nice experience. » – Nani Roma
The crews of Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleón and Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz have been flying the flag for Toyota Gazoo Racing at the team’s home race. Quintero led the rally following Stage 2, but had dropped to eighth overall at the conclusion of Stage 3. Moraes returns to the Sun City bivouac fourth overall and less than a minute behind Loeb in first. Both Toyota Gazoo Racing crews will have favourable road positions at the start of Stage 4 to launch their attacks.
« Our start position tomorrow can help us to make some time back. I saw plenty of animals out there again today, there was an ostrich watching the race. » – Seth Quintero
Also running Toyota machinery is home favourite Giniel De Villiers and co-driver Leander Pienaar. De Villiers is an icon of rally-raid in South Africa following his Dakar Rally win in 2009 and local fans have been giving him their full support.
Guillaume De Mévius finds himself back in 10th overall, but given how tight things are on the Ultimate class leaderboard he’s just over five minutes off the lead. De Mévius and co-driver Xavier Panseri have two stages left to reduce the deficit in their MINI John Cooper Works Rally 3.0i.
« We started in the front and didn’t lose too much on the navigation so that was good. There’s two days to go and the gaps are still quite tight. Everything is still possible. » – Guillaume De Mévius
On two wheels it’s been a continuation of Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders’s remarkable 2025. Following wins at the Dakar and in Abu Dhabi, the Australian is in top spot again in South Africa. On Stage 3 he led from start to finish to take his 18th W2RC stage win.
« The trick to opening a stage is always to cut down on mistakes and just push as hard as you can. It looks like I’ll be opening again on Stage 4. » – Daniel Sanders
Despite a close encounter with some lions, Luciano Benavides kept his cool to maintain second place overall. There’s now 2m48s separating the two Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bikers at the top of leaderboard.
« I saw lions and they were really big. Last night we slept out in tents for the Marathon Stage and I could hear lions during the night, they sounded like they were close! » – Luciano Benavides
The third Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider in South Africa is Edgar Canet and he’s out front by 20 minutes in the Rally2 class. It’s turning into a marvellous debut season for the biker who recently turned 20 years old.
« I had a good feeling with a bike and with the navigation. I made a couple of mistakes so there’s still room for improvement, but things are looking good for the last two stages. » – Edgar Canet
Sherco biker Harith Noah got closer to nature than he expected during Stage 1 when an animal jumped in front of him and caused him to crash. The medical team assessed him and fortunately X-rays showed no fractures were sustained in the accident.
« Sometimes you feel strong and in control – then, in a second, you’re on the ground. You wonder why it happens again… But I’ve been here before, and I’ll get through it again. I didn’t come this far to just come this far. » – Harith Noah
A win on the Prologue Stage gave Pau Navarro and co-driver Jan Rosa an early lead in the Challenger class. Since then the safari scrubland has taken a bite out of Navarro’s charge for the win and his Taurus T3 Max is now 33m29s off the lead.
« We started Stage 3 with the intention of making up some time. Unfortunately we ran into an issue of water leaking from our radiator and that ended up costing us quite a bit of time. » – Pau Navarro
Dania Akeel won the Challenger race at the previous W2RC round in Abu Dhabi and the Saudi Arabian racer is fighting for the podium once again in South Africa. Akeel and her co-driver Stephane Duplé are less than 10 minutes off third place overall with two stages left to race around Sun City.
On Friday comes a 224-kilometre special stage before the South African Safari Rally concludes with a further 118 kilometres against the clock on Saturday. With plenty more twists and turns still to come it’s anyone’s guess who will come out on top and claim maximum championship points here in the birthplace of rally-raid.
South African Safari Rally rankings after Stage 3
ULTIMATE – Top 5
1. S. Loeb (FRA)/F. Lurquin (BEL) – DACIA, 08:47:05
2. C. Sainz (ESP)/L. Cruz (ESP) – FORD, +00:23
3. H. Lategan (RSA)/B. Cummings (RSA) – TOYOTA, +00:30
4. L. Moraes (BRA)/A. Monleon (ESP) – TOYOTA, +00:56
5. N. Roma (ESP)/A. Haro (ESP) – FORD, +02:41
CHALLENGER – Top 5
1. D. Zilles (ARG)/S. Cesana (ARG) – TAURUS, 09:19:32
2. N. Cavigliasso (ARG)/V. Pertegarini – TAURUS, +02:56
3. A. Kus (POL)/D. Tsyro (UKR) – TAURUS, +11:02
4. P. Klaassen (RSA)/C. Moore (RSA) – OT3, +11:06
5. K. Al-Attiyah (QAT)/B. Jacomy (ARG) – TAURUS, +14:30
BIKE – Top 5
1. D. Sanders (AUS) – KTM, 09:41:32
2. L. Benavides (ARG) – KTM, +02:48
3. R. Brabec (USA) – HONDA, +08:19
4. A. Van Beveren (FRA) – HONDA, +09:24
5. S. Howes (USA) – HONDA, +29:32
QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « It was a good stage for us. 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. You can see our Dacia is working well here in South Africa and Seb is leading the rally. »
Sébastien Loeb: « It’s been a difficult day with really tricky navigation. It looks like everybody lost a bit of time during this stage and now we’re leading the rally. Things are still very tight in the classification and we need two more good days to get the result we want. »
Nani Roma: « It was really cold last night, but still I managed to sleep well in the tent. Even if I could hear some lions close to us! This has been a tough rally so far, but also a really nice experience. We were in the dust of other cars quite a lot today so we couldn’t push as much as we wanted. We needed to be patient. »
Lucas Moraes: « We were leading the race until we picked up a penalty when I braked a little late coming into a speed zone. We’re staying consistent and I hope we can keep doing this until the end. We’re in a good position and the car is unbelievable so we’re ready for a big push tomorrow. »
Seth Quintero: « Stage 2 and 3 have gone really well for us. On Stage 2 we made up a lot of time on the leaders. We knew we’d lose a little bit running up front on Stage 3, but we managed that the best we could. Our start position tomorrow can help us to make some time back. I saw plenty of animals out there again today, there was an ostrich watching the race. »
Giniel De Villiers: « It was an eventful two stages that made up this Marathon. Unfortunately we picked up a big penalty yesterday for a missed waypoint. It’s all been going good overall though and we’re learning a lot about this new V8 engine we’re running. »
Guillaume De Mévius: « We started in the front and didn’t lose too much on the navigation so that was good. There’s two days to go and the gaps are still quite tight. Everything is still possible. »
Daniel Sanders: « Another tricky day in this terrain. It was a chilly start this morning, everything was frozen. It was a clean day with quick fixes for any problems that popped up along the way. We ended up making some time today so things went pretty good for us. The trick to opening a stage is always to cut down on mistakes and just push as hard as you can. It looks like I’ll be opening again on Stage 4. »
Luciano Benavides: « The team are doing an amazing job on the bike. Since last year there has been such an improvement in many things. Everybody is putting everything they have into giving us a great bike to ride. It feels good to play my part and put us 1-2 so far at this rally behind Daniel in first place. Hopefully we can continue like that for the next two days. Last night we slept out in tents for the Marathon Stage and I could hear lions during the night, they sounded like they were close! »
Edgar Canet: « It was a day of tough navigation today, but I managed to get through it OK. I had a good feeling with a bike and with the navigation, but I made a couple of mistakes so there’s still room for improvement. Things are looking good for the last two stages. »
Harith Noah: « Sometimes you feel strong and in control – then, in a second, you’re on the ground. You wonder why it happens again… But I’ve been here before, and I’ll get through it again. I didn’t come this far to just come this far. »
Pau Navarro: « We’ve finished up two long days of Marathon Stage. On the first day we ran into a few problems. Navigation was tough, but that was the same for everyone. We started Stage 3 with the intention of making up some time. Unfortunately we ran into an issue of water leaking from our radiator and that ended up costing us quite a bit of time. »
Christine Fial,