Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa excels in the second stage of the 2025 South African Safari Rally
As per Marathon Stage regulations, no external technical support is allowed overnight, requiring crews to service and prepare their vehicles on their own.
Image: Supplied
After the struggles of the first stage on Tuesday, yesterday saw a much improved Marathon second stage for the Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa team in their GR Hilux EVOs at the 2025 South African Safari Rally around Sun City in the North West Province.
The event, sponsored by Toyota Gazoo Racing, is the third round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
Stage win
Local squads Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy claimed a commanding stage win, while teammates Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet followed closely behind in second place.
The stage covered 620 kilometres, including a 212 kilometre liaison, a 356 kilometre special stage, and a final 55 kilometre road section into the Marathon bivouac near the town of Stella.
As per Marathon Stage regulations, no external technical support is allowed overnight, requiring crews to service and prepare their vehicles on their own ahead of today’s Stage three.
Stage conditions varied, with fast open grassland sections with deep ruts, patches of sand, turf, and short stretches of tarmac. The lack of defined tracks in many areas made for difficult navigation, particularly in the second half of the route, which cut through long grass and densely vegetated areas.
A good day
Botterill and Murphy made the most of their favourable road position to set a time of 3hr 12min 36sec, winning the stage by 55 seconds.
“Today was a great day,” said Botterill.
“We benefited a lot from starting further down, but Dennis was great on the notes, and we managed to put it all together. It was really cool, super fast, high-speed stuff. Navigation was tricky, so I think the guys in front suffered a lot, but that was our story yesterday.
“We capitalised on our position today, pushed really hard, and there were no issues with the car, so a little bit of cleaning up and we’ll be good to go.”
Just behind them, Variawa and Cazalet posted their best stage result of the event, finishing second on the day.
“It was a really good day,” said Variawa.
Conditions on stage two varied, with fast open grassland sections with deep ruts, patches of sand, turf, and short stretches of tarmac.
Image: Supplied
“Obviously, starting position helped a little bit. We pushed hard, and I think we were leading by about a minute and a half at one point, and we continued to increase the gap.
“Unfortunately, in the last 120 kilometres, we suffered engine overheating issues. We went through a lot of bushes, and the radiators got clogged up, so we had to back off, let the car cool, then push again.
“We lost a lot of time, but it’s a good result for the team with Guy in first and myself in second. Overall, we are super happy with the performance.”
Stage three
Today’s stage brings competitors back to Sun City via a 246-kilometre special stage, followed by a 263-kilometre liaison. Road conditions are expected to mirror those seen yesterday, with dry and dusty surfaces prevailing across the region.
Navigation is again expected to be decisive, with minimal marking on the ground and continued pressure on co-drivers to read the terrain accurately from the roadbook.
The strong performance by both South African crews saw Variawa and Cazalet move up to 12th overall, just 7min 15sec off the lead.
Botterill and Murphy have now climbed to 14th overall, 14min 28sec behind the event leaders, Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz of Toyota Gazoo Racing Europe.