MOTORSPORT
SA Rally-Raid Championship
An epic calendar of events for the 2026 season as teams build towards DAKAR 2027.
South African motorsport is spearheaded by its rally-raiding community. From drivers to bikers, race technicians and vehicles, rally raiding is the one global racing formula where South Africans compete with the world’ s best. And win.
The local Rally-Raid Championship is a proven formula, having created multiple Dakar stage winners and an overall champion, in Giniel de Villiers. It’ s also been crucial in developing proudly South African racing vehicles that have beaten the world’ s best international teams at the Dakar.
Each year, the global Rally-Raid season starts with the renowned and respected Dakar Rally Raid. The 2026 event was the 7th Saudi Arabian Dakar, and one of the most challenging in memory. Towering dune fields and brutal rock gardens made for an uncompromising route, with many of the world’ s best rally-raid teams and drivers being humbled by the Saudi Arabian terrain.
South Africa’ s 2025 Rally Raid driver’ s champion, and also the youngest ever Dakar stage winner, Saood Variawa, took one of the two overall South African stage wins in the car class, on stage 8, but ultimately finished 10th. Last year’ s Dakar runner-up, Henk Lategan, was the other overall stage winner on stage 4 and looked set for an overall win before mechanical issues affected his Dakar, finishing 21st overall.
A proud moment for South African racecar engineering was the stage 10 win, for France’ s Mathieu Serradori, in the Midrand-built Century Racing CR7.
Stellenbosch student Puck Klaassen, the sister of renowned freeride mountain biker Ike Klaassen, became only the fifth woman ever to win a Dakar stage when she took stage 3 in the Challenger Class.
The presence and influence of South African drivers, riders, and vehicles are a direct development of the local Rally-Raid Champion. With a calendar of 6 events, all configured to leverage South Africa’ s amazing rally-raid terrain, and allow local drivers the ideal pathway to realise their ambitions and prepare for Dakar 2027.
WORDS IN ACTION 16 JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2026