KEC Racing

The marathon stage is where the Safari Rally will show its true character. Crews will leave the comforts of the Sun City bivouac behind and race deep into the Botswana bush, arriving at a smaller satellite camp with none of the usual technical support waiting for them. There, under open African skies, they will pitch camp for the night, carry out their own repairs by torchlight, and rely on nothing but their own resourcefulness before racing back across the border to Sun City on the following stage. It is a format with deep roots in rally-raid tradition, one that strips the sport back to its essentials: driver, machine, and the vastness of the terrain around them.

While this will be the first time the South African Safari Rally itself has crossed into a second country, Botswana is anything but unfamiliar territory for South African rally-raid competitors. The SARRC has raced across its sweeping savannah and demanding bushveld for close to two decades, most notably through the Toyota 1,000 Desert Race, long one of the most iconic fixtures on the local calendar. That history gives organisers, teams, and crews alike an intimate working knowledge of the terrain they will return to in 2027.

The news has been met with genuine excitement in Botswana, a country whose passion for motorsport runs deep, and the prospect of hosting two stages of a W2RC round is expected to draw strong local interest and support from a public eager to see the world's best rally-raid crews race through their own backyard.

It follows a debut year that exceeded expectations on every front. The inaugural 2025 South African Safari Rally, based at Sun City, attracted one of the strongest and most diverse fields of the entire championship season, bringing together Ultimate, Challenger, SSV, RallyGP, Rally2, and Quad crews in a format unique to the FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship. The car field alone featured Nasser Al-Attiyah, Sébastien Loeb, Carlos Sainz, Nani Roma, and Giniel de Villiers alongside a new generation of contenders including Henk Lategan, Lucas Moraes, Seth Quintero, and Saood Variawa, while factory motorcycle teams from KTM, Honda, Hero, and Sherco lined up riders such as Daniel Sanders, Ross Branch, Ricky Brabec, Skyler Howes, José Ignacio Cornejo, and South Africa's own Bradley Cox. Home fans were rewarded when Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings won a thrilling FIA Ultimate battle that went down to the final stage, while Daniel Sanders took overall honours in RallyGP. Competitors praised the event's flowing bushveld tracks, open savannah, technical mountain sections, and its own marathon stage, along with the efficiency of the centralised Sun City bivouac, cementing the rally's reputation as one of the standout rounds of the championship in its very first year.

“This is going to be a true African adventure,” said Archie Rutherford, CEO of the South African Safari Rally. “Competitors will race from South Africa into Botswana for the marathon stage, spend a night in the bush with no support, and then race back across the border to finish at Sun City, something you won’t experience on a normal round of the World Rally-Raid Championship. We’re inviting every competitor, every team and every rally-raid fan from around the world to come and experience Africa with us in 2027.”

Further details on the 2027 route, including individual stage locations on both sides of the border, will be announced in due course.

The South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) returns to the historic town of Vryheid in the Zululand region of Northern KwaZulu-Natal for the penultimate round of the prestigious 2026 Championship, which due to irregular weather conditions, has been condensed into the last five months of an erratic year.
The VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 will form the fourth round of the 2026 SARRC with the overall and various class championship titles still wide open, the two-day race is expected to draw a full field of competitors that will produce racing action at the highest level. The action will take place from the Vryheid Airfield where the Designated Service Point (DSP) as well as the Start/Finish and Race Headquarters will be situated, and the planned route that proved popular with competitors will add to the fierce racing action.
The taxing route will comprise a short 20-kilometre Qualifying Race on Friday, 9 October that will start at 09:30 to determine the starting order for the 70-kilometre Stage One at 13:00, with its unique characteristics set in the lowlands amongst farmlands and the river where the action will play out on fast roads and tracks..
These results will determine the order for the line-up of Stage Two on Saturday, 10 October when the first team takes on the 175-kilometre racing section at 08:30 on a route meandering across well-maintained forest roads before encountering two magnificent mountain trails encompassing technical, flowing and interesting sections that will add a distinct level of excitement to the event.
After completion of Stage Two, competitors will take a compulsory 30-minute service break at the DSP before embarking on the third and final 175-kilometre stage in anticipation of receiving the chequered flag and popping the bubbly on the podium at the Vryheid Flying Club.
The route includes a bit of everything, and the undulating terrain makes for an exciting and challenging experience that will test the concentration. And those who can deliver the complete package, will be rewarded with well-earned results.
Thanks to the landowners and farmers who have been incredibly co-operative, competitors and spectators can look forward to an exciting and successful event.
Spectators are welcome as the compact nature of the route provides multiple vantage points to witness this world class action.
The Vryheid Flying Club, the custodians of the Vryheid Airfield are well prepared for the occasion offering something to satisfy everyone’s taste on the menu – from boerewors rolls to bagels with a variety of tasty fillings while the local Wimpy will also be offering a selected menu from the b**r garden where music will add to the carnival atmosphere of the event.
Spectators and enthusiasts can follow the race via the RallySafe App with various spectacular vantage points along the route or on Facebook: ; Instagram: ; Tik Tok: and YouTube:
Images: Dave Ledbitter click to download image002.png 26 VAPS ROUTE
Information: Charmaine Fortune 082 991 0011 [email protected]

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Cailo Labuschagne, Jaco van Dyk, Sparks Murison, Dania Paulis Kruger, Nico Kriek, Chris Mans, Jorrie Jordaan, Anne Marie Kruger, Werner Mostert, Douw Grobler

RED-LINED RAIDS TO OUTENIQUA GLORY SA rally-raid class win as Red-Lined leads two classes

Thanks very much to all for a great race weekend

🏁🔥 Championship battles are set to intensify as the postponed Century Racing Outeniqua 400 finally takes centre stage in South Africa's 2026 Rally-Raid season.

With crucial points on the line, Red-Lined Motorsport arrives in the Southern Cape fielding six competitive entries and leading championship campaigns in multiple classes. From the fierce T1+ title fight between teammates Philip Botha and Johan van Staden, to the emerging stars chasing glory in T1 Adventure, every kilometre could prove decisive.

Adding even more excitement, Daklapack Rallysport will field two striking DKR Evo machines, giving fans a unique spectacle as they tackle the demanding and technical terrain of the Garden Route.

Can Red-Lined Motorsport maintain its championship advantage, or will the Outeniqua 400 reshape the title race?

Read the full article here:

https://www.rallyraidnetwork.com/2023/index.php/racing-news/africa/africa-news/outeniqua-400-outeniqua-crunch-time-for-red-lined.html