The 2026 Dakar Rally, the 48th edition of the toughest motorsport event in the world that took place over two weeks from 3 to 17 January in Saudi Arabia, will not only be remembered as one of the most gruelling, testing, challenging and puncture fraught in recent history, but it also produced extremely close results. And from a South African point of view, the records will show SA competitors delivered outstanding performances and locally manufactured vehicles are on par with the best in the world.
The event tested competitors and their teams to the max and they showed pure grit and determination to be able to survive a total of almost 8 000 kilometres in harsh racing conditions. Despite disappointments and heartache, everyone who completed the Dakar Rally, is a winner.
In the end, Dacia claimed its first overall victory with the experienced Nasser Al-Attiya who took his sixth victory in the Car Category. Al-Attiya/Fabian Lurquin finished less than 10 minutes ahead of another former winner, Nani Roma/Alex Haro (Ford) with another Ford team, Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist rounding off the overall podium. There were three Fords in the top five with yet another former winner, Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz, finishing fifth, just behind Sebastien Loeb/Edouard Boulager (Dacia).
The Midrand manufacturer, Century Racing, made history when the French outfit of, Mathieu Serradori/Loïc Minaudier won Stage 10 with the CR7. It was a see-saw race for the (privateer) team who finished sixth overall.
There were good results for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA / SVR as the newly crowned SARR champion, Saood Variawa (20) and his French navigator, Francois Cazalet finished 10th overall. Variawa also claimed his second stage victory with the team showing good pace and proving that the locally built Toyota Hilux IMT EVO can successfully compete on the world stage. Variawa made it three out of three Dakar Rally finishes and topped his previous results of 17th (2024) and 28th (2025). Variawa is the youngest driver in the top 10 and complimented the figure of three Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux vehicles to finish in the top 10 – TGR W2RC’s Toby Price/Armand Monleon and Seth Quintero/Andrew Short were eighth and ninth respectively – adding to the three Dacias; three Fords and one Century Racing.
Variawa/Cazalet’s team-mates, Guy Botterill and his Spanish navigator, Oriol Mena, experienced the yo-yo effect of the race, but never gave up to eventually finish 14th overall. The team finished on the podium after Stage Three, but punctures and mechanical issues saw them dropping to 25th place. They fought back and battled their way into the overall top 10 to be 10th after Stage 11, but a mishap that resulted in mechanical issues during the penultimate stage, saw them losing time and valuable positions. It was Botterill’s third Dakar attempt and his second finish. Another TGRSA Hilux IMT EVO in the hands of the Portuguese team, Joao Ferreira/Felipe Palmeiro, were 18th putting all three the SA built and prepared Toyota Hilux vehicles in the top 20.
All three the European TGR Overdrive vehicles also reached the finish line of the race in Yanbu. There was, however, extreme disappointment for the multiple South African champions, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings. Despite numerous flat tyres and tricky navigation, the team won Stage 4 and took the overall lead of the race which they kept during Stage 5. They then relinquished the lead to Al-Attiya before disaster struck during the next stage when mechanical issues saw them dropping to fourth place overall.
Their story continued and they fought back to third place during Stage 8, but dropped back one place again during the ninth stage when another disastrous day saw them losing power steering and their windscreen that cost them valuable time. Again, they clawed back time and worked themselves into second place after Stage 10, but the damage caused by a broken wheel bearing and having to wait for their service truck for assistance, cost them their Dakar during Stage 11. Lategan/Cummings finished 21st overall, but the rally-raid world took note of the former SA champions.
Also in the top 20 were two more South African competitors, Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer in the Century Racing CR7. Like almost all teams, they also had their share of bad luck, challenges – including punctures – and everything the event could throw at them, but they persevered to finish 16th overall putting both the SA CR7 vehicles in the top 20.
Unfortunately, neither of the two Red-Lined Motorsport REVO T1+ cars could complete the race.
The KZN navigator, Stuart Gregory, can write a book about his adventures next to the German driver, Jürgen Schröder in the VW Amarok, prepared by the SA vehicle builder, WCT Engineering. After their team-mates, Daniël Schröder and SA navigator, Henry Köhne, crashed out on the prologue stage, Schröder Sr and Gregory soldiered on to finish 57th in the Ultimate Class from 60 finishers.
The young Stellenbosch student, Puck Klaassen and her Argentine navigator, Augusto Sanz, put in a superb performance with the KTM X-Bow in the Challenge Class. They finished fifth in the class – from 33 finishers – less than an hour behind the winners. Klaassen also became only the fifth ever female competitor to win a stage on the Dakar.
The multiple SA navigators’ champion, Dennis Murphy, who usually sits next to Giniel de Villiers, embarked on a new adventure reading the notes from the seat in the Can-Am in the SSV Class for the American, Lawrence Janesky. And with 30 teams reaching the finish in this category, they can be proud of their 17th place overall.
With the Dakar Rally done and dusted and the first points in the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship on the scoreboard, teams and competitors will start preparing for the first round of the SA Rally-Raid Championship the VAPS HCV Stella 400 on 6 and 7 March in the North-West Province. The W2RC will see various South African competitors and locally prepared vehicles then travel to Portugal for the second round of the W2RC later in March.
Published by: Charmaine Fortune
Photography Supplied by: Century Racing; TGRSA; TGRW2RC
MSA Publishes media releases from a host of different sources on our website as a service to the sport. It is not practically possible to vet/approve every release that is published. Some news items and articles are written by correspondents and do not necessarily represent MSA’s views.