• South African Rally-Raid Championship - SARRC

 The Dakar Rally, considered as one of the toughest in many years, is now something of the past and South African Rally-Raid competitors proved their talent while local race vehicle manufacturers and constructors showed their worth and returned from Saudi Arabia to the country with various titles and trophies in the bag.
Now it is time to prepare for the 2023 SA Rally-Raid Championship that starts in two months and an exciting season with popular venues and racing terrain are awaiting competitors. The SA Rally-Raid Championship is internationally recognised as a high-level series and is a favourite of many visiting competitors. This year will be no different and looking at the calendar, a variety of challenging terrain as well as popular events and new events are on the cards predicting an exciting season.
The championship will kick off with a return to Malelane in Mpumalanga with the opening round taking place on 24 and 25 March. This event featured on the calendar between 2013 and 2016 and was twice awarded Best Event of the Year. Malelane is the hometown of the Horn family and the brothers, Johan and Werner, have been avid competitors in the Production Vehicle Category or many years. Johan Horn Snr. is again the driving force behind this event being reinstated on the SARRC calendar.
For the second round of the series, competitors will travel to the Eston and Mid-Illovo areas of KwaZulu-Natal for the traditional Sugarbelt 400 on 12 and 13 May. This event, which ran in the area as a national championship since the early 1990’s, was cancelled in 2022 due to the flooding disaster.
After three years of not competing in Botswana, the TGRSA 1000 Desert Race will return to the diamond-mining town of Jwaneng for Round Three on 23, 24 and 25 June. This will be the only marathon event on the calendar.
The Debswana Jwaneng mine is the richest diamond mine in the world and the historical Desert Race was hosted at Jwaneng from 2014 to 2018. Competitors can look forward to be welcomed back in Botswana by local supporters, and to the biggest sporting event on their calendar.
After a break of just under two months, the SARRC will then continue on 18 and 19 August when the fourth and fifth rounds will be decided at Parys in the Free State. Competitors tackled a wet and muddy event during November 2022 at Parys and fingers will be crossed for the weather gods to play along for a dry event during August.
This year, a new race has been added to the calendar with Welkom in the Free State playing host to Round Six of the 2023 SARRC. This event will take place on 6 and 7 October. The seventh and final event of the season is scheduled for 10 and 11 November and the venue will be announced soon.
If 2022 was anything to go by with exhilarating racing and titles that went down to the wire, competitors, teams, supporters and enthusiasts can look forward to yet another exciting SA Rally-Raid Championship season.

DATE ROUND VENUE

• 24 – 25 March ONE MALELANE
• 12 – 13 MAY TWO ESTON KZN
• 23 – 25 JUNE THREE JWANENG BOTSWANA
• 18 – 19 AUGUST FOUR / FIVE PARYS
• 6 – 7 OCTOBER SIX WELKOM
• 10 – 11 NOVEMBER SEVEN TBA 

Source: Official SARRC press release

Here is the official statement from AER organizers:

Dear friends,
After several editions impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic, we did everything possible to go on the adventure again in March 2023.
However, despite all our commitment, and in consultation with the Senegalese Federation of Motor Sports and Motorcycling, we have regretfully taken the decision to postpone the 15th edition of the AFRICA ECO RACE.
Indeed, like other sporting events, the current climatic upheavals are forcing us to rethink and adapt our human activities.
Other races have also been hit hard at the beginning of 2023, like the one that has just ended in Saudi Arabia in harsh and unsatisfactory conditions.
The AFRICA ECO RACE is an adventure rally-raid that challenges athletes to go beyond their limits.
As we are writing these lines, the mythical Lac Rose in Dakar, the finish line of our race, is in the grip of major flooding, with water levels rising by almost three meters on its banks*.
Mauritania and its wild landscapes, awaited by all on our event, is one of the most fragile territories due to the extreme events that occur there, such as the sandstorms or the extreme heat that we experienced during our 14th edition, in October 2022.
Based on these observations, we have decided to postpone our event.
As you know, the strength of the AFRICA ECO RACE is its resilience, its history but also its capacity to innovate.
Thus, the 15th edition will return to its historical dates, and will start on December 30th 2023 to finish on the shores of the Lac Rose on January 14th 2024. The weather will be more clement, and less likely to cause extreme events. This edition will innovate, by allowing the greatest number of participants to follow in the footsteps of Thierry Sabine.
True to itself, our race will retain its values of mutual aid, benevolence and friendship.
We are counting on you, but above all, you can count on us,

More information is available on the race's official site:  https://www.africarace.com/

Source: Africa Eco Race