Local Pietermaritzburg heroes and former champions, Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer, made their home crowd proud by taking the early lead in the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400, the fifth and penultimate round of the 2025 SA Rally-Raid Championship that returned to the Vryheid area in KwaZulu-Natal after being postponed as the season opener earlier in the year. With almost 70 technical and challenging kilometres done and dusted, the scene has been set for even more exciting racing with almost 400 kilometres awaiting teams before receiving the chequered flag after two days of racing.
The VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 started on Friday, 31 October, with a 17-kilometre Falken Wild Peak Prologue that saw a few teams losing time with tight and twisty racing in the woods. In the end, Woolridge/Dreyer (Castrol NWM Ford Rally Raid Evo Plus) came out on top posting a time of 15 minutes and 18 seconds. They were closely followed by Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR Hilux T1+) who trailed them by only 14 seconds with yet another constructor Red-Lined Motorsport, rounding off the podium with Jayden Els/Johann Swemmer (Red-Lined Revo T1+ GTR) finishing a further 19 seconds back.
A mere minute covered the first seven teams with Woolridge/Dreyer’s teammates, Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea and Wors Prinsloo/André Vermeulen finishing fourth and fifth. They were followed by the two Variawa brothers, Saood and Francois Cazalet (Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO) whose time was only a second slower and track racer, Sa’aad, who is making his SARRC debut together with Zaheer Bodhanya in a similar vehicle, in seventh place, 58 seconds behind the leaders.
Also in the top ten were Marko Himmel/Francois Schoonbee (Red-Lined Navara Evo) who were the first Ultimate T1+ SA team behind the FIA T1+ teams with the top ten rounded off by the remaining two #TeamHilux Rally-Raid teams, the brother pairings of Fouché and Bertus Blignaut (DKR Hilux T1+) and Johan and Werner Horn who posted the same time of 16 minutes 43 seconds. TGR’s Guy Botterill/Mena Valdearcos lost time on the tight route and had to settle for 14th place, two minutes 19 seconds behind the leaders.
The results of the prologue determined the starting order for Stage One with the leading 10 teams drawing for their starting positions for Stage One. This 50-kilometre racing section proved to be less technical and provided teams with an opportunity to make up lost time.
Once again it was Woolridge/Dreyer who posted the fastest time after starting the stage from fifth position. Their combined result (00:49:11) put them in the lead after the first day of the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 although only 26 seconds separated them from De Villiers/Murphy who will start Stage Two on Saturday from second place. The Blignaut brothers posted the fastest time on Stage One and made up valuable positions to finish the first day in third place, a mere 31 seconds behind their teammates ahead of them.
Els/Swemmer finished short of the podium in fourth place a scant two seconds behind the Blignauts. Botterill/Valdearcos, who were less than a second slower than the Blignaut duo after Stage One, made up nine places, with their combined time moving them to fifth overall and in Ultimate FIA T1+, 43 seconds behind Els/Swemmer. Variawa/Cazalet were sixth (00:51:55), 23 seconds ahead of Prinsloo/Vermeulen in seventh.
Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt (Red-Lined Revo T1+) took the lead in Ultimate SA T1+ and finished the day in eighth place overall after starting Stage Two from 16th place. The Horn brothers, who had to open the tricky road for Stage One, held onto second place in the class but fell back to 15th overall 82 seconds behind Botha/Mynhardt in the SA T1+ Class.
Also in the top 10 are the leaders of the Adventurer Class, Johan and Sean van Staden (Renault Duster) who posted the fastest time in this class after the qualifying session. They are ninth overall, 16 seconds behind Botha/Mynhardt and 17 seconds ahead of the second team in the class, Johan de Bruyn/Adriaan Roets (Red-Lined Revo T1).
Mere seconds separate the teams, and the pressure will be on to avoid putting a wheel wrong. Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein (Red-Lined VK56) made a good comeback to the season by finishing the first day just outside the top 10 in 11th place overall and third in the Adventurer Class with 28 seconds separating them from de Bruyn/Roets and a slender four seconds ahead of the third Castrol NWM Ford Rally Raid Evo Plus in the hands of the Brazilian team (Baumgart/Cincea) who are 12th overall.
Geoff Minnitt/Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment Maverick R XRS) lead the Challenger Class and are 13th overall with Nickus Heinlein/Jaco Kriel (Red-Lined VK56) in 14th place, five seconds ahead of the Horn brothers who are 15th.
A time penalty for a rule infringement during the prologue resulted in Gary Bertholdt/Philip Herselman (Toyota Hilux IMT EVO) dropping down to 16th place followed by Danie Ludick/Denzil Williamson (Red-Lined Revo T1+) who also received a time penalty. The team experienced power steering issues and survived a scary moment as they almost rolled their vehicle. They are fourth in T1+ SA.
The two VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Teams also finished in the top 20 with Peet Victor/VanZyl Jonck (Red-Lined VK 50-2) completing the first day in 18th place and fourth in Adventurer Class while their teammates, Abrie and Iaan Olivier (Red-Lined VK50-1) are 20th sandwiching yet another of the 11 Red-Lined vehicles, Martin van der Vyver/Rikus Hatting who are sixth in the Adventurer Class.
There were problems in Stage One for Himmel/Schoonbee who will have to fight their way back from the back of the field, while boost issues and low power resulted in SARRC newcomer Sa’aad Variawa and uncle Zaheer Bodhanya will tackle their first national from the last position.
Stages Two and Three will cover 183 kilometres each with the action starting at 09:00 from the Vryheid Airfield.
All the action can be followed on the RallySafe App which can be downloaded from the Apple Store and Google Play Store or the social media platforms – Facebook: @sarallyraidchampionship; Instagram: @sarallyraidchampionship and YouTube: @SouthAfricanRallyRaidSARRC
Published by: Charmaine Fortune
Photography by: Dave Ledbitter
Motorsport South Africa (MSA) publishes media releases from a variety of sources on its website as a service to the sport. Due to the volume of content, it is not feasible to review or approve every release prior to publication. Some news items and articles are written by independent correspondents and may not necessarily reflect the official views or positions of MSA.