TOYOTA GAZOO RACING’S SAOOD VARIAWA AND FRANCOIS CAZALET SECURE THE 2025 SA RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE AT STRENUOUS FINAL ROUND

The Northam Zondereinde Bushveld 400, the sixth and final round of the 2025 SA Rally-Raid Championship that took place in the Thabazimbi area, did not only produce nail-biting racing, but this tough and challenging race will also be remembered as a cliffhanger that was won by the young Saood Variawa (20) and his French navigator, Francois Cazalet in the Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO, with the youthful duo clinching the sought after and prestigious SARR Championship Overall and Ultimate FIA T1+ titles.

The route for this event in the bushveld traversed some of Limpopo Province’s most spectacular scenery including dry riverbeds, flowing riverbeds, treelined tracks on game farms and some muddy patches on farm roads after the good spring rains. The Northam Zondereinde Bushveld 400 was marked by brilliant racing, determination, grit and rewards as well as disappointment for some with the outcome only clear once the chequered flag dropped.

All eyes were on the intense Ford vs Toyota battle at the front of the field. Only three points separated Variawa/Cazalet who were the overall leaders in the SARR Championship at the halfway mark of the season, and former champions, Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (Castrol NWM Ford Rally-Raid Evo Plus) who led the standings coming to the Thabazimbi event after regaining the lead at the penultimate event in KZN.

After Friday’s racing sections that totalled just over 100 kilometres, it was Woolridge/Dreyer who started Saturday with a mere 102 seconds in hand over Variawa/Cazalet and the stage was set for an intense final day in the bushveld.

Guy Botterill/Oriol Valdearcos (TGR Hilux IMT EVO) opened the road after posting the fastest combined times on Friday, but the team were overtaken by the Ford crew when they experienced some difficulties. Disaster struck, however, when the Ford’s windscreen was destroyed by an unfortunate incident and after continuing for 30 more kilometres, the extremely poor visibility forced them to stop and remove the windscreen. This cost them even more lost time as cooling issues which followed as a result of the vehicle not having a windscreen. To top it, a broken CV saw them finishing the race in two wheel-drive and the team had to settle for sixth overall (05:36:38).

Variawa/Cazalet felt the pressure from the start but kept their calm despite a few punctures and after starting Saturday from fourth place, they claimed their second race victory of the season and in doing so, won the championship. Their total race time was five hours, 28 minutes and 17 seconds. It is young Variawa’s first SARRC title after only his second year in the field. It was an all TGR podium with the Portuguese team of Joao Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro finishing second overall and in Ultimate FIA T1+ (05:30:02) followed by Botterill/Valdearcos who trailed them by only 59 seconds.

Johan and Werner Horn (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota Hilux) rounded off their see-saw season by scoring their third Ultimate SA T1+ victory for 2025 while their fourth place overall, only 26 seconds off the podium, came after a clean run. They were surrounded by TGR teams with Saood’s younger brother, Sa’aad and navigator, Zaheer Bodhanya finishing fifth after Sa’aad’s second national outing.

Woolridge/Dreyer finished 56 seconds ahead of their team-mates, Wors Prinsloo/André Vermeulen who started the final day from ninth place after losing time due to an excursion in the bush that damaged their windscreen the previous day.
It was a good event for Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt (Red-Lined Revo T1+) who were eighth overall and second in Ultimate SA T1+ with a puncture their only major issue to report. A mere 15 seconds separated them from the winners of the Adventurer Class, Gerhard and Rudi Heinlein (Red-Lined VK56) who claimed their second consecutive class victory and finished ninth overall.

A second place in the Adventurer Class was, however, enough for Johan van Staden (Renault Duster) to claim the drivers’ title in the class together with his son and regular navigator, Sean, who missed two events, the team survived navigation difficulties to round out the top 10 (05:49:03).

They were only 32 seconds ahead of the Dutch couple, Dave and Tessa Klaassen (Daklapack Rallysport Red-Lined Revo GTR) who took the third step on the Ultimate SA T1+ podium and were followed by Nickus Heinlein and Jaco Kriel (Red-Lined VK56) who rounded out the Adventurer podium.

Both the Challenger teams ended up in the top 15 with Puck Klaassen/Danie Stassen (GRally OT3) continuing their good display and walking away with the silverware and finishing 13th overall followed by Dave’s son, Pim Klaassen and Pretoria navigator, Gerhard Schutte (Daklapack Rallysport Taurus T3Max), who has already secured the title, in 14th place.

Also in the top 20 was the first of the two VAPS HCV Rally-Raid teams who completed the event – Abrie and Iaan Olivier (Red-Lined Revo T1+) who were 15th. The three-car team had mixed results with team-mates Peet Olivier/VanZyl Jonck who brought their Red-Lined VK50-2 home in 21st place while newcomers Tyler Botha/Kyle Lotter (Red-Lined VK50-1) could not complete the race distance.

Martin van der Vyver/Rikus Hatting (Red-Lined Revo) were 16th with the third of the Castrol NWM Ford Rally-Raid teams, the Brazilians, Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cinea, bringing the Ford Evo Plus home in 17th place. The up and down season for the Blignaut brothers, Fouché and Bertus (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid Toyota DKR T1+) continued, but they persevered to finish 18th after mechanical issues forced them to a halt on Friday and starting from the back of the field on Saturday.
Danie Ludick/Denzil Williamson (Red-Lined Revo T1+) could also not complete Stage One on Friday and had to start way back, but they took the bull by the horns and came home in 19th place with Johan de Bruyn/Adriaan Roets (Red-Lined Revo T1) 20th

It was also not easy for the Ultimate SA T1+ leaders, Marko Himmel/Francois Schoonbee (Red-Lined Navara Evo). The team kept their eyes on the title and were third in the class after the first day, but issues on the final day eventually saw them being the last overall and class finishers scoring sufficient points towards the class championship to secure the title for 2025.

There was heartache for the multiple former champion Giniel de Villiers and navigator Dennis Murphy (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid DKR Hilux T1+) who were fifth after Friday’s racing section with De Villiers standing an outside chance on the overall driver’s title. It all went wrong for the team early on Saturday morning when they rolled the vehicle and were forced to retire. Jayden Els/Johan Swemmer (Red-Lined Motorsport Revo T1+ GTR) and Geoff Minnitt/Rodney Burke (Hydro Power Equipment Maverick) could also not complete the event.

With just over five weeks to the 2026 Dakar Rally, competitors and teams are now in the final stages of preparation for this legendary event that will take place from 3 to 17 January in Saudi Arabia.

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.