Wet and slippery start to National Rally Championship campaign

Having never been in a rally car before and with no testing under my belt, the first round of the 2026 National Rally Championship was always going to be a very steep learning curve. Our team plan was to just bring the car home while gaining valuable seat time.

Rally is a flat out

And this we did. With the experienced Kes Naidoo on my left not only reading the pace notes, but also guiding me as a driver, we started slowly and got a little bit quicker each stage.

Rally is flat out sport it would seem. These guys don’t hold back. They are in it to win it or bin it. And this means that the attrition rate is rather high.

Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa is back

So, just by staying on the road – well, most of the time, as I did have three proper spin offs – we managed to finish second in class and sixth overall. A result we were not expecting but one we will take.

For me, straight up, the biggest change from circuit racing is that where you do a few laps and sit for a few hours and then do a few laps and sit again. In rally, everything, and I mean everything is done to a strict time schedule.

Chasing time

Once the rally starts you are either racing, or moving from one stage to another, or spending a few minutes at the service park checking the car over. Clock in too early and that is a penalty, clock in too late and that is a penalty too.

The other tricky aspect of this first round of the iCAM All Tar Rally is that everything you do and setup on a rally car is about giving you grip and drive on gravel. But this rally was on tar. So, you have off-road rally tyres that don’t offer you grip. And the abrasive concreate surface at Gerotek ate them up until they looked like slicks.

Rain created havoc

Add to this a very wet Zwartkops in the afternoon and it was more like an ice-skating rink than a racetrack. Especially in a light car with 200kW at your disposal that was set-up with a 70-30% rear bias on the all-wheel drive system.

If the guys are to be believed I should find the grip offered by the gravel at the Swartland Rally in the Western Cape next month a bit better than what we had this weekend. I can only hope so because this will be my first time on dirt. Round 2 is set to be another big learning curve.

Overall Rally Results

The reigning South African National Rally Champions Benjamin Habig and Barry White got their title defence off to a perfect start after storming to victory. The KwaZulu-Natal driver had a near faultless drive, winning four of the seven stages.

Second overall, after an absence of a year, was the 2022 and 2024 NRC champion Chris Coertse, teamed with a new co-driver, Matt Kohler. The Rally Technics Mazda2 machine performed faultlessly.

In a stunning display of car control, Kent and Justin Rutherford claimed the final step on the podium and won class NRC3 in their Shield Volkswagen Polo. This following a perfect run across the seven-stage event, setting three top four stage times.

Fourth overall was Paul van Niekerk and co-driver Willemjan Hugo in their Volkswagen Polo.  Johan Strauss and Caro Storm brought their new Subaru Impreza STI home in fifth place overall.

Anton and Isabel Raaths had a strong run to seventh in their venerable Toyota RunX. George Smalberger and Carolyn Swan ended eighth overall in their Shield Volkswagen Polo.

Johan Pretorius and Jack Radford brought their NRC3 Polo home in ninth, followed by the standout drive of the day, which came from Girlie Lukhele and Shaun Visser in 10th in her Shield Toyota RunX.

The next round of the SA National Rally Championship is the Swartland Rally in the Western Cape on 24 and 25 April.