Just ten days to go until the first timed start of the South African Safari Rally, which will pit the field against 2,645 km of savannah racing (1,218 km of specials) around Sun City, north-west of Johannesburg, from 18 to 24 May.
There are 96 entries. 29 of the 54 FIA vehicles are W2RC competitors (17 in Ultimate, 7 in Challenger and 5 in SSV). All 42 FIM vehicles are registered for the W2RC (9 in Rally GP, 29 in Rally 2 and 4 in quads).
Every single championship leader is travelling to South Africa for the third round. On the FIA front, Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders) leads the Ultimate class, Nicolás Cavigliasso (BBR Motorsport) tops the Challenger board and Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally) is perched at the summit of the SSV ranking.
The car race will see the return of titans of the calibre of Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma (Ford M-Sport) and the homegrown talent Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing).
As in the previous round, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Dacia, Mini and Ford will field two crews each. Nasser Al Attiyah (96 points) and Sébastien Loeb (10 points) will pursue contrasting objectives: the Lion King from Qatar wants to consolidate his position as the top cat, whereas the French driver is eager to end a drought stretching back to the 2022 season finale. João Ferreira (39 points) and Guillaume de Mévius (18 points) will be back behind the wheels of their X-raid Minis. The American manufacturer is switching crews in and out between one round and the next. This time round, the Raptors will take flight with Nani Roma (18 points) and Carlos Sainz (2 points). "El Matador", who made a premature exit from the Dakar with just a couple of points in the bag, is poised to step back into the W2RC arena and make his first foray into the African savannah. On the flip side, this terrain holds no secrets for Henk Lategan, who is also returning to the series after tackling the Dakar in Saudi Arabia, where he came in second last January. The South African, fifth overall at 41 points from the leader, is the favourite to win this round. Lategan and his team will have the home advantage on a route designed by the organiser of the South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC), in which he is the reigning champion with Toyota. Saood Variawa, who became the youngest Dakar stage winner last January at the tender age of 19, will be another national championship entrant driving a Hilux in this round.
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing), who prevailed in the Dakar and sits in second place overall, 23 points down, will have to sit this one out while he recovers from a spinal injury sustained during a race in April. Even so, Toyota remain the greatest threat to Al Attiyah (see Did you know?). The two TGR factory drivers, Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero, stand third (33 points down) and fourth (36 points down) overall, respectively. The Qatari has no room for error in this round, where a DNF would be a gift to the Hilux trident consisting of Moraes, Quintero and Lategan.
BBR Motorsport make up half of the field in the Challenger class. Their three drivers are the top-ranked entrants in this round, with Nicolás Cavigliasso (104 points), Pau Navarro (93 points) and Dania Akeel (73 points). The internecine war within the French squad is heating up. In SSV, the top 4 overall is expected to take the start: Alexandre Pinto (131 points), Enrico Gaspari (MMP — 120 points), Michele Cinotto (CST Xtreme Plus Polaris — 66 points) and the old rocker Claude Fournier (MMP — 55 points).
DID YOU KNOW?
Almost two thirds of Ultimate cars "Proudly South African"
10 out of 17 Ultimate cars in the field have been designed and built in South Africa. The 7 GR DKR Hilux Evo entries make up half of this contingent, with the rest consisting of Mathieu Serradori (SRT) in his Century Racing CR7-T, Dave Klaassen (Daklapack Rallysport) in his Red-Lined Revo and Daniel Schröder (PS Laser Racing) in his VW WCT Amarock. The slogan "Proudly South African", proclaimed loudly to support the local economy by purchasing or shining a spotlight on South African production, will take pride of place!
SCHEDULE:
17–18 May: administrative and technical scrutineering
19 May: prologue — Sun City (road section: 26 km / special: 9 km / Total: 35 km)
20 May: stage 1 — Sun City–Sun City (road section: 295 km / special: 262 km / total: 557 km)
21 May: stage 2 — Sun City–Marathon Camp (road section: 268 km / special: 352 km / total: 620 km)
22 May: stage 3 — Marathon Camp–Sun City (road section: 270 km / special: 253 km / total: 523 km)
23 May: stage 4 — Sun City–Sun City (road section: 470 km / special: 224 km / total: 693 km)
24 May: stage 5 — Sun City–Sun City (road section: 98 km / special: 118 km / total: 216 km)
Source: W2RC / A.S.O.
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