Another gruelling Dakar Rally has come to an end and, yet again, the performance of both two- and four-wheeled entrants had a distinctly South and Southern African flavour.
While riders and drivers of the calibre of Henk Lategan – who was to finish an agonisingly close 3 min 57 seconds behind eventual winner Yazeed Al Rajhi – Giniel De Villiers, Ross Branch and Brain Baragwanath are well-known to enthusiasts, what might not be so well-known is the fact that a large percentage of cars taking part in the rally are of South African origin.
The SA-built Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux EVOs were allocated to four driver/navigator teams, but there was disappointment for two GR teams who unfortunately could not reach the finish. After starting and finishing 21 Dakar Rally events and winning the race in 2009, Giniel de Villiers was forced to retire after Stage 6 due to his navigator, Dirk von Zitzewitz, having to withdraw due to a neck injury. This event was also the last outing for De Villiers as part of the Toyota Gazoo Racing squad.
Their teammates, Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy, were also running well but experienced mechanical issues early in the race that dropped them down the field. They kept pushing and finished behind their teammates in second place on Stage 8 but rolled their GR Toyota Hilux EVO in the following stage and had to call it a day. Last year, Botterill finished sixth overall and was the best rookie at the event.
Midrand-based Century Racing had no fewer than ten cars entered, seven finishing. Another South African manufacturer, Red-Lined, entered four cars, and they all finished.
WCT Engineering, who manufacture rally-raid race vehicles for the local and international market, had a successful Dakar, as the SA prepared VW Amarok, in the hands of regular competitors in the SA Rally-Raid Championship, German driver, Daniel Schröder together with local SA navigator, Henry Köhne, made it to the finish in Shubaytah.
As mentioned, the SA team of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finished in a close second place with their South Africa-built Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux EVO, after covering a total of 7,828 kilometres. The team won the Prologue on the first day, while they also won Stage 8 and led the field until Stage 9 and again at Stage 10 before losing it to eventual winners Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk on stage 11 and running second to the end of the rally.
Four GR teams completed the Dakar Rally in the top 20 with Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz finishing ninth overall, Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon 14th and the 19-year-old South African, Sawood Variawa and his French navigator, Francois Cazalet, in 20th. Variawa also became the youngest driver to win a stage.
The SA team of Brian Baragwanath/Leonard Cremer were 10th while their French counterparts, Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier, brought their CR home in sixth place overall.
South Africa was well represented at the overall finish line in various teams. The multiple ‘Malle Moto’ Original by Motul (No Assistance) motorcycle finishers, Stuart Gregory, navigated the Zimbabwean, Will Battershill, to 38th place in the Ultimate T1.2 Class in the CR, while the young Dutch student Capetonian, Puck Klaassen, had the winner of the 2023 Original by Motul Motorcycle Category, Charan Moore from Ladybrand, showing the road in the T3.1 Challenger Class. The team finished 19th after an extremely challenging event, which saw them arrive back in the bivouac in the dark of night after being towed for nine hours on Stage 9.
They eventually finished just ahead of the young American, Corbin Leaverton, who had the young South African female competitor, Taye Perry, reading the notes. Perry is no stranger to the Dakar; she completed the 2020 Dakar Rally in the motorcycle category and navigated for Cyril Depres in 2022 when they finished 19th in the Car Category.
In the motorcycle category, two riders from SA managed to complete the distance with Michael Docherty winning Stages 8, 10 and 12 overall, finishing 14th overall and fifth in the Rally2 Class, while Dwain Barnard was 48th overall. Bradley Cox crashed out during Stage 6 while Aaron Mare did so in Stage 9.
The 2025 Rally Raid series continues with a brand new round in South Africa, the South Africa Safari Rally from the 18th to the 24th of May, in the North West and Limpopo provinces. For more information, head to – www.sarallyraid.co.za
