Tight battles, mud and dust combined with a tricky, but enjoyable route characterized The Renault KEC 400, the opening round of the 2025 SA Rally-Raid Championship at Legends Adventure Farm Rhino Park and in the end, it was the former champions, Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer who claimed the victory with their Castrol Ford Rally-Raid NWM EVO PLUS to take an early lead in the championship.
After a short 20km Falken Wild Peak Prologue followed by 80 kilometres of Stages One on Friday, 27 June the combined times of Woolridge/Dreyer resulted in them starting the first of the two 148km loops on Saturday from second place behind Guy Botterill/Oriol Mena Valdearcos (Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO) with a mere seven seconds separating the two teams.
There was, however, trouble in paradise when Botterill/Valdearcos lost power steering only three kilometres into the stage resulting in Woolridge/Dreyer taking the lead and opening the road. With their opponents returning to the pits for repairs – they took the relevant five hour time penalty and started the race again to eventually finish 15th overall and seventh in the class – and the third TGR Hilux IMT EVO in the hands of the Portuguese team, Joao Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro not starting due to mechanical problems after landing in a river the previous day, the pressure was on Saood Variawa/Francois Cazalet (TGR Hilux IMT EVO). Young Variawa and his French navigator started the final day from third place trailing the Ford team by only 11 seconds and pushed hard to keep the Ford team in their sights.
Woolridge/Dreyer, who finished in a total time of 06:07:24, had a flawless outing and opened their title chase on a high note. Variawa/Cazalet suffered two punctures and finished second, in the end trailing the winners by two minutes and 38 seconds that included a two-minute penalty for a speeding violation.
And while the two leading teams locked horns at the front, the battle for the remaining podium position in both the overall and the Ultimate FIA T1+ Class championships continued between the German driver, Daniel Schröder/Henry Köhne (WCT VW Amarok) and multiple champions, Giniel de Villiers/Leander Pienaar (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota DKR T1+ EVO).
The two teams started Stage Two from fourth and fifth places respectively with Schröder/Köhne leading for the best part of the race before disaster struck when they experienced power steering problems 50 kilometres from the finish, which allowed De Villiers/Pienaar, who had a relatively clean run albeit for them having to manage fuel pressure issues and leaving the Designated Service Area at the halfway mark 15 seconds late, to pass them and secure the final podium position. Only 63 seconds eventually separated De Villiers/Pienaar from Variawa/Cazalet while they were three minutes 18 seconds ahead of the stricken VW Amarok (06:14:23).
The top five was rounded out by the second of the three Castrol Ford Rally-Raid NWM EVO PLUS teams, Lance Woolridge, who stood in for Wors Prinsloo and navigator André Vermeulen. The team had a good run, despite two punctures during the race and finished 83 seconds behind Schröder/Köhne. Their Brazilian team-mates, Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea (06:28:38) also had an enjoyable and trouble-free race were happy finishing seventh overall and sixth in the class.
Also in the top 10 were the first winners of the Ultimate T1+ SA Class, the Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota Hilux) who started and finished the day in sixth place overall after an uneventful race. They finished in a total time of 06:22:12 with the remainder of the Ultimate T1+ SA podium consisting of Marko Himmel/Francois Schoonbee (Red-Lined Navara Evo) in second place – they were 10th overall (07:06:46) – and Danie Ludick/Denzil Williamson (Red-Lined Revo T1+) rounding off the podium (07:34:48) and completing the race in 13th place overall.
Two more class winners also finished in the overall top 10. Lady student, Puck Klaassen and navigator Danie Stassen (GRally OT3) won the Challenger Class and finished eighth overall (06:37:01) while the Adventurer Class was won by the Van Staden family, Johan and his son, Sean (Renault Duster) in a time of 06:39:34. They were ninth overall and shared the class podium with second-placed Johan de Bruyn/Adriaan Roets (Red-Lined REVO T1) who were 11th overall and Nickus Heinlein/Jaco Kriel (Red-Lined VK56) who finished third in the class in their first outing in the SARRC.
It was the first SARRC outing for the Belgian team of Vincent Vroninks/Dave Berghmans (Red-Lined VK56) who started towards the back of the field after the first day, but the team persevered to finish fourth in the Adventurer Class and were placed 14th overall.
The tricky route caught out a few unlucky teams while a mud whole also caused problems for some. Only two more teams managed to receive the chequered flag after a long day of racing with both teams ironically leading the race at some stage during the two days. Jayden Els/Johan Swemmer (Red-Lined REVO T1+ GTR) posted the second fastest time after the qualifying race on Friday and was the first team out of the blocks for Stage One which they could not complete. They started at the back of the field to finish the race in 16th place overall and bagged points for their eighth place in the Ultimate T1+ FIA Class.
The same fate befell the Blignaut brothers, Fouché and Bertus (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota DKR T1+) who were fastest after the Falken Wild Peak prologue, but then damaged the suspension over a bump during Stage One that saw them not being able to complete the racing section. They also started towards the back of the field on Saturday and lost heaps of time getting stuck in the mud. The team finished 17th overall and were ninth in the class.
With the first points towards the overall and class championships now in the bag for some while others will return to the drawing board, teams will have seven weeks to prepare for rounds two and three, the Parys / Vaal 400, of the 2025 SARRC that will take them to Stonehenge River Lodge on the banks of the Vaal River on 15 and 16 August.
Pubished by: Charmaine Fortune
Photography by: Dave Ledbitter
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