The 47th edition of the Dakar Rally that took place over 14 days from 4th to 17th January in Saudi Arabia, will go down in the history books as one of the most demanding, toughest and testing and will be remembered by many for formidable racing; perseverance and determination, while the number of awards and accompanying silverware will serve as a reminder of how well South Africans performed.
In the end, the SA team of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finished in a close second place with their locally built Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux EVO, in the extremely competitive Ultimate T1+ Class, after finishing 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 before their closest rivals, another Toyota Hilux team, Saudi hero, Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, benefitted from the leading team having to open the road. But the defending SA champions fought back and regained the lead after Stage 10.
They had to, however, relinquish it again to Al Rajhi/Gottschalk after Stage 11 when the local driver started the stage in the ‘Empty Quarter’ with a better road position and made-up time against the South Africans, and despite clawing back time on the very last stage, Lategan/Cummings had to settle for the runner-up position albeit by a mere 3min 57s.
The overall podium was rounded off by the Ford Raptor of Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist while the multiple Dakar Rally winner, Nasser Al-Attiya/Edouard Boulanger finished fourth in the Dacia Sandrider.
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.
Another Midrand-based race vehicle manufacturer, Century Racing, also returned home with good results. Ten CR vehicles started the event with three teams finishing in the top 15. 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. Seven CR vehicles completed the race.
There were also full marks for the South African vehicle manufacturer, Red-Lined, with all four the vehicles surviving this gruelling event.
WCT Engineering who also manufacture rally-raid race vehicles for the local and international market, also returned with a feather in their cap 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 podium in Shubaytah. The team had their challenges, but never gave up and were rewarded as 2025 Dakar Rally finishers.
Teams and supporters had to bear the disappointment of two GR teams who could unfortunately not reach the finish. After starting and finishing 21 Dakar Rally events – and winning the race in 2009 – it was Giniel de Villiers who had to call it a day 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 team-mates, Guy Botterill/Dennis Murphy also showed good pace, but they experienced mechanical issues early in the race that dropped them down the field. They kept pushing and finished behind their team-mates 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.
South Africa was well represented with competitors making it to the finish in various teams. The multiple ‘Malle Moto’ Original by Motul (No Assistance) motorcycle finisher, 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 South African, Taye Perry, reading the notes. Perry 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 finished 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.
With the Dakar Rally, the first round of the W2RC now something of the past, South Africans can look forward to the SA Safari Rally that will be hosted in the North-West and Limpopo Province and will form the third round of the world championship. This event will take place from 18 to 24 May from Sun City and will include an invitation race for the SA National cars.
