The South African Safari Rally has been a wild ride from start to finish. An untamed 2,645-kilometre adventure encompassing open savanna, dense bushveld and mountainous altitude is now complete. As well as tough terrain, there was also ferocious wildlife on the scene as we returned to the birthplace of rally-raid. Let’s find out which engines roared the loudest at Round 3 of the World Rally-Raid Championship…
It was a dominant display on two wheels by Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders to take victory in the Bike class in South Africa. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing biker has been on an unstoppable run of results this year and has now added a third win of the season to his triumphs at the Dakar Rally and in Abu Dhabi. The Australian rider is the first biker in W2RC history to have claimed three consecutive RallyGP wins.
« It’s always good to put KTM back on the top step. That’s three in a row for the year so that’s a good feeling. There’s two rounds to go this year and we want to enjoy them. » – Daniel Sanders
Luciano Benavides finished 8m55s behind Sanders to secure a 1-2 result for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in South Africa. Benavides rises up the W2RC rankings thanks to yet another impressive result and also helps KTM to stay in top spot in the W2RC manufacturer rankings.
« There was pressure on today to keep the Honda guys behind me and I did a good job with that. Of course I always want to win and in this race I got back the feeling that I can win again. » – Luciano Benavides
There was also success at the South African Safari Rally for the third Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider, Edgar Canet. The 20-year-old won the Rally2 category by 15m24s from Tobias Ebster as Canet continues to excel in his debut W2RC season.
« It’s another win in the Rally2 category so I’m super happy with that. The goal this year is to make as many kilometres as I can. One day in the future I want to be winning races outright. » – Edgar Canet
It was inevitable that a nail-biting contest in the Ultimate class came right down to the wire. Ahead of the fifth and final stage just 39 seconds separated Sébastien Loeb in P2 and race leader Henk Lategan. Loeb and co-driver Fabian Lurquin then put it all on the line during the final 111-kilometre lap around Sun City. However, the Dacia pair eventually had to settle for a runners-up finish behind home favourite Lategan.
« We did all we could, but in the end I guess Lategan deserves the win. Our main target was to reach the finish line at this rally. Now we’re here and on the podium so it’s not bad. » – Sébastien Loeb
Loeb’s Dacia Sandriders team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah took the Ultimate class stage win on the final day of racing in South Africa. The Qatari’s 45th stage victory of his outstanding W2RC career added points to his championship lead. Al-Attiyah and co-driver Édouard Boulanger ended 10th overall, their challenge for the race win halted by a 15-minute penalty for a missed waypoint earlier in the week.
« Overall we’ve had an amazing experience here. I hope to come back again and win this rally. The support we’ve had this week has been so nice. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
It was Lucas Moraes of Toyota Gazoo Racing who finished up third overall to join Lategan and Loeb on the final podium. Moraes and co-driver Armand Monleón got past Toyota team-mates Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz on the final stage to grab their spot on the podium. Moraes remains in contention for this season’s W2RC drivers’ title with two rounds left to try and reel in Al-Attiyah.
« Thanks to the whole Toyota Gazoo Racing team for the amazing job they did here in South Africa. We were right up there fighting with all the legends. Congratulations to Henk and Brett for winning their home race. » – Lucas Moraes
Returning to W2RC action for the first time since the Dakar were the all-Spanish Ford Raptor T1+ crews of Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz and Nani Roma/Alex Haro. Both drivers wasted no time in getting back on the pace with Roma finishing seventh overall and Sainz up in fifth, just 5m15s off first place.
« You always learn new things when you race on new roads and new tracks in a new country. It’s been an intense week of racing and it felt great to be back in the car again for the first time since Dakar. » – Carlos Sainz
The danger of the thorny bushveld found in South Africa’s North West Province was in evidence when Guillaume De Mévius brought his MINI John Cooper Works Rally 3.0i over the finish line. De Mévius and navigator Xavier Panseri found themselves doing plenty of gardening on their way to securing ninth place overall.
« The last stage was short, but tough. Driving through all the long grass ended up causing an overheating problem with our radiator. We had to stop three times during the stage to remove all the grass from our car. » – Guillaume De Mévius
Enjoying home support all week was 2009 Dakar winner Giniel De Villiers alongside co-driver Leander Pienaar. De Villiers had to settle for 16th overall as the convoy rolled into Sun City, but it’s a race that the South African driver is unlikely to forget in a hurry.
« Overall, the rally was really, really nice. It’s the first time that the world championship has come to South Africa so it was great for me to be racing at home. The organisers did a great job all week. » – Giniel De Villiers
In the Challenger class there was a further rise up W2RC driver rankings following this latest championship round for Dania Akeel. The Saudi Arabian racer and co-driver Stéphane Duplé backed up their win in Abu Dhabi with a fifth place finish here in South Africa. All these championship points now put Akeel third overall in the Challenger class leaderboard.
« An action packed final stage – we were leading until the final 10km – I hit a rut in a fast left turn and rolled the car. We pushed it back onto four wheels and finished the stage in P4 – that’s racing! » – Dania Akeel
Pau Navarro and co-driver Jan Rosa were disappointed with their sixth place result in the Challenger race at the South African Safari Rally. However, the pair did steer their Taurus T3 Max towards enough W2RC points to maintain Navarro’s spot in second overall, behind championship leader Nicolás Cavigliasso.
The World Rally-Raid Championship convoy returns to action in September as Round 4 takes us to Portugal. With narrow gaps across the W2RC rankings we’re all set for an intense event at the one and only championship round hosted in Europe this season. We’ll see you there!
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South African Safari Rally final results
ULTIMATE – Top 5
1. H. Lategan (RSA) / B. Cummings (RSA) – TOYOTA 12:10:42
2. S. LOEB (FRA) / F. LURQUIN (BEL) – DACIA +01:39
3. L. MORAES (BRA) / A. MONLEON (ESP) – TOYOTA +02:55
4. G. WOOLRIDGE (RSA) / B. DREYER (RSA) – FORD +04:48
5. C. SAINZ (ESP) / L. CRUZ (ESP) – FORD +05:15…
CHALLENGER – Top 5
1. D. ZILLE (ARG) / S. CESANA (ARG) – TAURUS 12:54:39
2. N. CAVIGLIASSO (ARG) / V. PERTEGARINI (ARG) – TAURUS +03:39
3. A. KUS (POL) / D. TSYRO (UKR) – TAURUS +18:22
4. K. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) / B. JACOMY (ARG) – TAURUS +19:26
5. D. AKEEL (KSA) / S. DUPLE (FRA) – TAURUS +23:33…
BIKE – Top 5
1. D. SANDERS (AUS) – KTM 13:27:44
2. L. BENAVIDES (ARG) – KTM +08:55
3. R. BRABEC (USA) – HONDA +10:00
4. A. VAN BEVEREN (FRA) – HONDA +15:47
5. S. HOWES (USA) – HONDA +35:48…
2025 World Rally-Raid Championship Standings
ULTIMATE – Top 5
1. N. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) – DACIA – 114 points
2. H. LATEGAN (ZAF) – TOYOTA – 94 pts
3. L. MORAES (BRA) – TOYOTA – 89 pts
4. S. QUINTERO (USA) – TOYOTA – 79 pts
5. Y. AL-RAJHI (SAU) – TOYOTA – 73 pts…
CHALLENGER – Top 5
1. N. CAVIGLIASSO (ARG) – TAURUS – 147 points
2. P. NAVARRO (ESP) – TAURUS – 116
3. D. AKEEL (KSA) – TAURUS – 98
4. Y. SEAIDAN (SAU) – TAURUS – 76
5. A. KUS (POL) – TAURUS – 72
BIKE – Top 5
1. D. SANDERS (AUS) – KTM – 88 points
2. L. BENAVIDES (ARG) – KTM – 53
3. R. BRABEC (USA) – HONDA – 53
4. A. VAN BEVEREN (FRA) – HONDA – 48
5. T. SCHAREINA (ESP) – HONDA – 46
QUOTES
Daniel Sanders: « I’ve really enjoyed myself this week. The organisers have done a wonderful job of giving us a big mixture of terrain and challenging navigation. On the final stage I ran into a few bushes and had some close calls coming down grassy hills with rocks hidden away. It’s always good to put KTM back on the top step. That’s three in a row for the year so that’s a good feeling. There’s two more rounds to go this year and we want to enjoy them. »
Luciano Benavides: « There was pressure on today to keep the Honda guys behind me and I did a good job with that. All week we had to be super concentrated on the navigation. I’m happy to finish and getting second position overall is nice. Of course I always want to win and in this race I got back the feeling that I can win again. »
Edgar Canet: « I’m super happy to finish this rally. It’s another win in the Rally2 category so I’m super happy with that. It was a long week with a lot of kilometres and a lot of tricky navigation. I had one crash on the final stage, but I could still bring the bike to the finish line. The goal this year is to make as many kilometres as I can. One day in the future I want to be winning races outright. »
Sébastien Loeb: « It was a big battle on the final day because we started the stage only 39 seconds behind Lategan. We pushed as hard as we could to catch him. We ended up getting lost at one point. We did all we could, but in the end I guess Lategan deserves the win. Our main target was to reach the finish line at this rally. Now we’re here and on the podium so it’s not bad. »
Lucas Moraes: « It was a clean final stage for us with a good pace. Thanks to the whole Toyota Gazoo Racing team for the amazing job they did here in South Africa. We were right up there fighting with all the legends. Congratulations to Henk and Brett for winning their home race. »
Carlos Sainz: « You always learn new things when you race on new roads and new tracks in a new country. It’s been an intense week of racing. We saw that your starting position on each stage had a big impact at this rally. It felt great to be racing the car again for the first time since Dakar. »
Nani Roma: « We ended up making a small mistake today in one place so maybe we were pushing a bit too much. The overall feeling from this rally is really positive for us. It’s the first time for our car on these type of tracks and everything worked really well. »
Guillaume De Mévius: « The last stage was short, but tough. Driving through all the long grass ended up causing an overheating problem with our radiator. We had to stop three times during the stage to remove all the grass from our car. I know there are things we can improve at the next rally in Portugal to try and get a better overall result. Thank you to South Africa for this amazing race. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « It feels great to finish this rally by winning the final stage. I’m also disappointed about the big penalty we got earlier in the race. Overall we’ve had an amazing experience here. I hope to come back again and win this rally. The support we’ve had this week has been so nice. »
Giniel De Villiers: « It was a fun last stage, but also tricky. We had some problems with the navigation. Overall, the rally was really, really nice. It’s the first time that the world championship has come to South Africa so it was great for me to be racing at home. The organisers did a great job all week. »
Dania Akeel: « An action packed final stage – we were leading until the final 10km – I hit a rut in a fast left turn and rolled the car. We pushed it back onto four wheels and finished the stage in P4 – that’s racing! Give it your best and learn from everything! »
Christine Fial,