Dakar 2009 winner Giniel de Villiers put in a strong performance to win the inaugural Outeniqua 400 of the 2025 SA Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) this past weekend.
The experienced rallyist, who now races for privately owned Team Hilux Rally-Raid, expertly commanded proceedings from the start, fending off the determined Castrol NWM Ford Rally Raid pairings of Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer and Marcos Baumgart/Kieber Cincea.
The Ford teams finished second and third, respectively, on the winner’s podium.
The halfway mark race on the calendar was set on the tranquil Louvain Guest Farm near Uniondale.
The event had its moments of drama that began with Toyota Gazoo Racing and championship leader Saood Variawa crashing out during Friday’s 84km prologue stage.
Misfortune again struck the young driver and his French navigator Francois Cazalet when the pair landed in a ditch in Saturday’s main race, but they recovered to finish fifth overall on the day. Variawa entered the race with a 15-point overall lead in the championship.
Meanwhile, Toyota teammates Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena also experienced bad luck when their Hilux IMT Evo went off the path and landed in a river just 3km after the start. It took hours to recover their vehicle but they opted to take a penalty and restart the race, finishing 11th overall.
Class winners included Johan and Sean van Staden (Renault Duster) in the Adventurer Class, who finished sixth overall. The Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt pair in the Red-Lined Revo T1+ won the Ultimate SA T1+ Class while Henk Klaassen/Gerhard Schutte (Daklapack Rallysport Taurus T3Max) won the Challenger Class.
Route director Evan Hutchison says he designed a route with a variation of terrain including fast, open lowlands, rugged mountain passes, river crossings, historic ox-wagon trails and challenging game farm-style tracks. Much of the course has been graded to accommodate the wide-track Ultimate T1+ cars.
South African Rally Raid
Vehicles such as the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO are locally built and developed specials, and the SARRC provides the ultimate test conditions for crews to collect development data to improve the performance and reliability needed to compete in the Dakar Rally, the world’s toughest off-road race.
The SARRC is also integrated with the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) that includes the Dakar.
Unlike regular rallies such as the Outeniqua 400, the W2RC blends vehicle, truck, motorcycle and other classes, and the racing takes place on open terrain such as deserts and forests, challenging the teams with unpredictability and testing their stamina and the durability of their machines.
The teams will now prepare for the penultimate PS Laser Vryheid 400 race that will take place from October 31 — November 1.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.