Excitement is rapidly building for the South African Safari Rally, with the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) set to touch down on Southern African soil for the first time. As the third round of the premier international rally-raid series, taking place from 18 to 24 May 2025 at the Sun City Resort, the South African event represents the mid-way point in this fiercely competitive motorcycle championship.
Accordingly, the South African Safari Rally, brought to you by Toyota Gazoo Racing, will play a vital role in determining who tops the points table when the season draws to a close at Rallye du Maroc in October this year. Therefore, it’s no surprise that it had already attracted some of the biggest names in the sport by the close of early bird entries on 14 February.
“We are thrilled that amongst the first entries for our inaugural event, we can confirm that our local hero from Botswana and reigning FIM W2RC champion, Ross Branch, will be competing on what is effectively home soil for him,” said Archie Rutherford, CEO of the South African Safari Rally. “Ross, who many people refer to as the ‘Kalahari Ferrari’, has elevated motorcycle rally-raid to new heights in Southern Africa, and he is a fantastic ambassador for the sport.”
Branch competes in the top-tier Rally GP category in the Hero Motorsports Team Rally squad, and will be joined by team-mates Jose Cornejo (Chile) and Sebastian Bühler (Germany). Proving the impressive calibre of riders in the Hero team, Cornejo finished seventh at the 2025 Dakar Rally, while Bühler was seventh overall in the 2024 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship.
“We’re also delighted that the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team has confirmed that 2025 Dakar Rally winner Daniel Sanders will be competing at our event, which further raises the level of competition and excitement for rally-raid fans,” Rutherford added.
The factory KTM team is expected to confirm other riders for the SA Safari Rally after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (21-27 February), but Sanders will certainly be a rider that everyone will be watching after the Australian claimed an impressive five stage victories on his way to winning his first Dakar title at this year’s punishing event in Saudi Arabia.
The HRC Honda team has provisionally submitted five entries, but none of the riders have been confirmed yet.
Rally 2
In the Rally 2 category, a total of 24 entries were received by the early bird closing date on 14 February. This includes three BAS World KTM entrants, led by South African rider Michael Docherty who performed exceptionally well at the 2025 Dakar, finishing fifth in Rally 2 and an impressive 14th overall in the Bikes category. Docherty will be joined by team-mates Nathan Rafferty (Sweden) and Filip Grot from Poland.
The HT Rally team will be fielding no less than five riders on Husqvarna FR450 Rally machines, comprising Massimo Camurri, Gustavo Milutin, Deen Munsters, Julian Sanchez, and Robert Przebylowski.
They will be joined by four XRaids Experience team riders on the KTM 450 Rally, made up of Andro Korlaet (Chile), Dominique Cizeau (Spain), and Argentinian riders Santiago Rostan and Sebastian Urquia.
There’s also a strong contingent of South African privateer competitors, including Martin Camp and Alex Torrao, along with Martin Lourens and Anthony Raynard.
Malle Moto
Many people consider the Malle Moto riders the true heroes of rally-raid, as these are amateur riders who compete without any form of assistance. Aside from enduring long and tough hours in the race, they perform all the servicing and maintenance of the motorcycles themselves at the bivouac between stages with limited tools and resources at their disposal – making this an especially tough challenge.
Thus far, of the 24 riders competing in Rally 2, six riders have confirmed that they will be taking on the South African Safari Rally in the Malle Moto class: Jasti Yugandhar Prasad (India), French riders Benjamin Pousset and Matthieu Jauffraud, Italians Nicola Quinto and Andrea Gava, as well as South African Ruan Burger.
Quads
The quad category always delivers spectacular action as the riders battle the tough conditions on their compact four-wheel machines. Six early bird quad entries have been received, featuring two CFMoto Thunder Racing riders, Antanas Kanopkinas (Lithuania) and Gaëtan Martinez (France). They will be going head-to-head with the Can-Am Dakar Team duo of Bolivians Leonardo Martinez and Suany Martinez, and the privateer entries of Marcin Wilkolek (Poland), and South African rider Carien Teessen.
