TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa is heading back into the mix this weekend, with the 2025 South African Rally-Raid Championship just about hitting the halfway mark. Organisers have added a new event onto the calendar this year—the Outeniqua 400—which means crews are off to the Langkloof Valley in the Western Cape.
The event’s happening on the 19th and 20th of September, centred at Louvain Guest Farm near Uniondale. Honestly, not your everyday rally route—those Kammanassie, Kouga and Outeniqua mountains make for a setting you don’t get everywhere.
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TGRSA aren’t exactly limping in. Saood Variawa and his French co-driver Francois Cazalet are holding onto the lead comfortably with a 15-point buffer. Their teammates Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena have their noses just behind, third in the pecking order and only three points off second spot. Both teams are bringing the latest version of the GR Hilux IMT EVO, which has been giving a steady showing up till now.
This Outeniqua 400 is shaping up to be a proper test through a mix of terrain. The first bit is the Falken Wild Peak Prologue on Friday morning—38 km to kick things off. That’s just the start though, with Stage One bringing 84 km later that same day. Saturday the crews are in for two laps of 178 km, which adds up to nearly 480 km for the competitive sections. It’s not going to be a walk in the park.
Evan Hutchison, who mapped out the route, reckons crews will be up against all sorts: you get your fast stretches across lowlands, a few serious mountain passes, river crossings chucked in and even some old ox-wagon trails from way back in the day. Plus those game farm tracks that always seem to catch people out.
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They’ve smoothed out the track to fit the bigger Ultimate T1+ cars, but there’s all sorts out there: gravel, grass, rocks, sandy bits. Drivers are going to have to stay sharp.
So for the TGRSA lads, the job’s the usual: keep things tidy, pull in those points, and don’t leave the door open for anyone to sneak past in the title race. Variawa and Cazalet just need to keep it steady to hold that top spot. Botterill and Mena, they’ll be eager for a strong finish to make their play for the championship.
The route’s a looker, with the Langkloof mountains always in your eyeline, and the organisers seem pretty chuffed with what they’ve put together. Supporters can catch some of the action from a couple of spots along the way or follow everything live thanks to the RallySafe App. All in all, it’s shaping up to be one for the books, but no one’s calling it a walkover.
Colin Windell for Colin-on-Cars in association with
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