The SA Rally-Raid Championship is expected to reach unprecedented heights at the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400

The title chase in the SA Rally-Raid Championship is expected to reach unprecedented heights at the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400, the fifth and penultimate round of the 2025 season, which takes place on 31 October and 1 November in the Vryheid area in KwaZulu-Natal. And as this event was scheduled as the season opener in March this year but postponed due to heavy rains and flooding in the area, it will add to the excitement for competitors, spectators, enthusiasts and local supporters.

The event also boasts a new partner – VAPS HCV – and no less than two teams will represent this company with Managing Director, Abrie Olivier behind the wheel of the VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Red-Lined VK50-1 together with Iaan Olivier in the navigator seat while Marketing Manager, Peet Victor and VanZyl Jonck will be in a similar VK50-2 in the Adventurer Class.

In this class, Johan de Bruyn/Adriaan Roets (Red-Lined Revo T1) will aim for that elusive victory while another win for Johan van Staden and his son, Sean (Renault Duster) will do their record book no harm. The Heinlein family will also be back in action with Gerhard and his dad, Rudi as well as brother, Nickus and navigator Jaco Kriel in two similar Red-Lined VK56 vehicles. The Heinleins only competed in the season opener with Nickus/Kriel taking third in the class, and more silverware will look good in the trophy cabinet. Martin van der Vyver/Rikus Hatting (Red-Lined Revo) will also be on the start line aiming to receive the chequered flag at the end of the two-day race.

Fast and furious racing action can certainly be expected in the Ultimate FIA T1+ Class where four different teams claimed a victory after each of the four races while the overall lead has also changed a few times. The victors of the third round, young Saood Variawa and French navigator, Francois Cazalet (Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux IMT EVO) are still the overall and class leaders and will put the unfortunate incidents, costing them valuable time and good results behind them to focus on maintaining their lead in the standings. They have just returned from successfully completing the Rallye du Maroc, a round of the World Rally-Raid Championship where they finished sixth.

The race will be a truly family affair with TGR entering Saood’s younger brother, Sa’aad Variawa. The youngster has a comprehensive CV that includes karting, track racing and titles while he has competed in a few regional rally-raid events this season. This interesting entry might just cause a few upsets in the class.

And with only a handful of points separating his brother (Saood) and Cazalet from the winners of the opening round, local KZN heroes, Gareth Woolridge/Boyd Dreyer (Castrol NWM Ford Rally Raid Evo Plus), who are hot on their heels in second place, the leaders will have to keep their wits about them as the chase will be serious. The Pietermaritzburg based NWM team would like nothing better than to score a victory in front of their home crowd and more points will assist to widen the small gap to the most recent race winners, Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy (#TeamHilux RallyRaid DKR Hilux T1+) who also aim for the titles.

And with a topsy-turvy season for Guy Botterill/Oriol Valdearcos in another TGR Hilux IMT EVO, which included winning Round Two, the team will no doubt want to add another helping of good results to their scoresheet and keep their title hopes alive.

Also in the mix will be De Villiers/Murphy’s team-mates, Fouché and Bertus Blignaut who have showed pace throughout the season so far as well as two more Castrol NWM Ford Rally Raid Evo Plus teams, the Brazilians, Marcos Baumgart/Kleber Cincea who also completed the recent Morocco event successfully and Wors Prinsloo/André Vermeulen. Jayden Els/Johann Swemmer will also be back in the Red-Lined Motorsport Revo T1+ GTR after also competing successfully in Morocco in the Challenger Class.

The Ultimate T1+ SA Class has also produced four different winning teams so far this season and the consistent Namibian team of Marko Himmel and Francois Schoonbee (Red-Lined Navara Evo), who were triumphant at the third round, have built a relatively comfortable gap for themselves in the lead. They are, however, not out of the woods yet and the sparks will again fly in this class at the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400.

Philip Botha/Andries Mynhardt (Red-Lined Revo T1+) and the Horn brothers, Johan and Werner (#TeamHilux Rally-Raid) have both scored a victory and after four rounds – and see-saw results for the Horns – they are now separated by a single point in the class championship. This tight situation will add to the continued fight between the podium sitters. Veteran competitor, Gary Bertholdt (Toyota Hilux) won in the second round, but missed the season opener. Bertholdt will make use of the experienced friend and navigator Philip Herselman, and will no doubt aim for another win while Danie Ludick/Denzil Williamson (Red-Lined Revo T1+) are likely to add more points to their tally.

The VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 will start with the 17km Falken Wild Peak Prologue at 09:30 on Friday, 31 October with all the action taking place from the Vryheid Airfield where the Start/Finish, Race Headquarters and the Designated Service Point (DSP) will be situated.

The results of the prologue will determine the starting order for Stage One that will start at 13:00 and will consist of approximately 50 kilometres. And with almost 70 kilometres in the bag after the first day, the combined results determine the starting positions for Stage Two on Saturday morning with the first of the two 183km stages that will commence at 09:00 from the Vryheid Airfield. Competitors will return to the DSP for a 30-minute de-control after completion of Stage Two before taking on the third and final stage and the podium celebrations at the finish at the airfield.

Spectators will be able to follow the racing action from exciting vantage points along the route.

Information will be available on the RallySafe App which can be downloaded free from the Apple Store and Google Play Store or follow us on our social media channels – Facebook: @sarallyraidchampionship; Instagram: @sarallyraidchampionship and YouTube: @SouthAfricanRallyRaidSARRC