Stage 4: Sun City – Sun City: 224km, liaison 470km
You have to get up really early to beat the likes of Nasser Al-Attiyah, Sebastian Loeb, Carlos Sainz and a whole host of other rivals, but that is what 20-year-old Saood Variawa and co-driver Francois Cazalet did on stage four of the South African Safari Rally, round three of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, banking his second W2RC stage win.
The Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa youngster became the fifth different winner from the four stages and prologue run so far and the fourth South African driver to take the top step of the stage podium.
Second fastest through the stage, which ran within 100 meters of the border with Botswana, was Guillaume de Mevius and Xavier Panseri in their X-Raid Mini JCW who was 58 seconds behind the winning Hilux with TGRSA teammate Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy rounding out the podium.
Both Variawa and Botterill started well down the order in 19th and 17th positions, once again allowing for the later runners to scorch through the stage with their rivals’ tracks to follow.
At the 36km mark, Henk Lategan had taken the virtual overall lead from Loeb with the leading quartet racing within the minute a minute of each other.
At the halfway mark through the stage, Variawa had a 24’ advantage over Seth Quintero with Botterill in third, making for a happy event sponsor.
As the race unfolded, the overall standing swung back and fourth between Lategan and fellow TGR driver Lucas Moraes. A disputed note in the road book left the organisers with no choice but to review the stage results. Times over a 2.5 km stretch were adjusted to ensure a level playing field. While the stage classification and the overall remain largely intact, the gaps at the top have tightened! Henk Lategan now leads Sébastien Loeb by just 39 seconds, and the top 5, rounded out by Guillaume de Mévius, Seth Quintero and Lucas Moraes, are all within 3 minutes. Tomorrow’s finale seems certain to be an absolute thriller between the Big Five!
Lategan, Loeb, De Mevius, Quintero, Moraes?
111km will decide who takes the biggest trophy home…
Daniel Schroder and Henri Kohne had a sensational run to fourth in the stage aboard their NIssan GTR-engined WCT Amarok, heading off Quintero in fifth and another strong showing from Jayden Els, who was forced to retire his Revo GTR with a broken turbo on the first leg of the Marathon stage. Lategan finished the stage in seventh, and ideal position to attack the final stage and defend his provisional lead.
Loeb, Gareth Woolridge and Nani Roma rounded out the top 10.
Just like yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, Daniel Sanders (KTM) won the special from the front. The Australian bagged his third consecutive stage victory and extended his overall lead on teammate Luciano Benavides to 6′42″ on the eve of the finish.
“Chucky” now stands alone as the most prolific stage winner in W2RC history, with 19 victories to Adrien Van Beveren’s 18.
The Frenchman finished second on Friday, 1′32″ down, and held fourth in the ranking at +10′56″. His teammate Ricky Brabec was fourth on the day, +2′12″ down, just behind Skyler Howes (+1′39″), and retained third overall by +10′31″. On the final day, Sanders will be in prime position to seal the win at the inaugural South African Safari Rally and notch up a third straight victory in the 2025 world championship!
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