Summarize

Benjamin Habig and Barry White are South Africa’s Dunlop-shod 2025 Rally Champions after a win and a second over the weekend at the Dullstroom TracN4 National Rally final rounds 7 and 8. Habig and White shadowed title rivals Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz’s NRC1 Mazda2 through Friday, before the Mazda went out early Saturday leaving the new champions to dominate in their NRC2 Volkswagen Polo.

With nothing to lose on Friday’s TracN4 round 7, challengers Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz’s Mazda 2 dominated the going as they took five stage wins of the seven on the day. Championship leaders Benjamin Habig and Barry White on the other hand played it safe to pick up the remaining two test wins and ended second in the rest in their Polo. 

Behind them, NRC 2 top two, Johan Strauss and Caro Storm’s Subaru Impreza held Anton Raaths, Kes Naidoo Toyota RunX off to claim the round 7 third podium step. They wound up ahead of NRC 3 winners, George Smalberger and Carolyn Swan’s Polo, with NRC 4 winners Lood de Clercq and Dianelle Malan sixth overall in their Toyota Tazz.

The only other finishers, Jason Rathbone and Elzaan van der Schyff’s NRC 2 Subaru Impreza and NRC4 trio, Johann Fourie and Natasha Fourie-Kotze’s Conquest, Russel Stone and Jonty Brown RunX and Sarel Coetzer and Ciska Harding’s classic Datsun 160 U, closed off the top ten.

Top retirements included NRC1 trio Chris Coertse and Henry Adams’ new Polo, Mandla Mdakane and Simon Vacy-Lyle’s Starlet and Theuns Joubert and Schalk van Heerden’s Yaris, as well as NRC2 men Jody van Zummeren and James Johnson’s Polo, the Lynton Swatton and Tommie Coetzee’s Yaris and Paul van Niekerk and  Willemjan Human’s Polo.

Saturday’s South African Rally Championship final round 8 started dramatically. Title hopefuls van Wyk and Swartz won the opening stage before the Mazda suffered an alternator failure to retire. With no more championship pressure, Habig and White threw caution to the win but made no mistakes as they stormed home to win every other stage in their NRC 1 Polo.

They ended over three minutes clear of NRC 2 winners Paul van Niekerk and Willemjan Human with top two-wheel drive NRC 3 crew Gustav Potgieter and Armand du Toit third in their Ford Fiesta R2. George Smalberger and Carolyn Swan’s NRC 3 Volkswagen Polo followed in fourth from regional winners, Ashley and Les Mackenzie’s classic NR 4 Ford Escort and Lood de Clercq and Dianelle Malan’s NRC 4 Toyota Tazz.

Johann Fourie and Natasha Fourie-Kotze’s NRC 4 Toyota Conquest, Russel Stone and Jonty Brown’s NRC 4 Toyota RunX and HJ Vosloo and Chirene Snyman’s NR 1 Subaru Impreza, and Andrea Raaths-Duarte and Isabel Raaths’ NRC 4 Toyota Auris closed off the top ten. Sarel Coetzer and Ciska Harding’s NR 4 Datsun 160 U and Anton Raaths and Kes Naidoo’s NRC 2 Toyota RunX were the only other finishes. 

NRC 1 crews Coertse and Adams’ Volkswagen Polo and the Strauss Venter Subaru Impreza, and NRC 2 entries Joubert and van Heerden Toyota Yaris, the Strauss Storm Subaru Impreza and the van Zummeren Johnson Volkswagen Polo joined van Wyk and Swartz on a lengthy list of retirements.

Benjamin, son of six-time former South African Rally Champion Jannie Habig, is the second son of a former champion to take the title. Jannie’s former rival, 2006 and ’10 champion Enzo Kuun’s dad was a triple navigator’s champion in the early ‘70s. Habig made a name for himself in karting before switching to a twin rally and Polo Cup race campaign. He later concentrated on rallying before stepping up to the top class in 2024.

Run exclusively on Dunlop tyres, the South African Rally Championship has run annually since 1960. While thwarted by rally cancellations due to adverse weather and route conditions, the 2025 series marked a positive turnaround for the sport, with far more expected in the year ahead.