Summarize

Inclement and changeable conditions, using Dunlop gravel rally tyres on tarmac and a few pesky wildcard surprises could not prevent reigning South African National Rally Champions Benjamin Habig and Barry White from ultimately dominating the season opening iCAR All-Tar Rally. 

The first round of the Dunlop-shod 2026 South African National Rally Championship also attracted an impressive 30-car entry as a healthy crowd followed the action from the Gerotek Test facility across to the Zwartkops raceway. Already an ultimate tarmac test of man, machine and tyres, the wet and dry conditions pushed the field to the limit in what also proved a rally of attrition.

“In an effort to keep costs down, the iCAR All Tar Rally rules demanded that crews compete on fully rough treaded Dunlop gravel rally tyres, rather than the entire field having to buy more suitable semi slicks for just one day,” Dunlop Tyres South Africa strategic partner ATS Motorsport’s Heinz Boze explains. “So it was already a case of fishes out of the water. But then the rain came to further complicate matters. 

“Our Dunlop rally tyres stood up remarkably well and the cream rose in the end, but not without a few surprises and shock stage results and winners along the way. The most popular first iCAR National All Tar Rally was hugely exciting, a lot of fun and a great success that’s likely to be repeated regularly in future. Well done to the organisers and competitors on a brilliant start to the new season.”

Habig and White paced themselves well as they kept out of trouble, yet still spectacularly steered their NRC 1 Volkswagen Polo home to a two minute victory over NRC 1 rivals Chris Coertse and Matt Kohler’s Mazda2. Regional winners Juan de Wet and Gert Nienaber’s NR 1 Subaru Impreza closed the podium in third. Behind them, Rally-Raid refugees, brothers Kent and Justin Rutherford impressed mightily to win two wheel drive NRC 3 on debut in their Volkswagen Polo.

Paul van Niekerk and Willemjan Human’s NRC 1 Polo and NRC 2 winners Johan Strauss and Caro Storm’s Subaru Impreza followed. In at the deep end, Citizen journalist Mark Jones, and experienced notes man Kes Naidoo kept Strauss and Storm honest all the way in Toyota’s prototype NRC 2 Gazoo Yaris. Anton and Isabel Raaths followed as similarly impressed and surprised in their rasping classic NRC 3 Mazda Capella rotary.

Regional NR 2 class winners Johan Strauss and Francois Keyser’s Subaru was ninth ahead of Johann Fourie and Natasha Fourie-Kotze’s NR 4 winning Toyota Conquest and  national NRC 3 regulars George Smalberger and Carolyn Swan’s Polo. It was however a little less straightforward for the rally leaders, who as expected, had to deal with some standout wildcard performances along the way.

First off, regional duo Johan and Wallie de Bruyn upset the applecart by taking the opening Gerotek Mountain stage by over 42 seconds in their Nissan 350Z from 2025 championship runners up Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz’s new NRC 1 Volkswagen Polo, and Habig and White. The reigning champions then turned the tables to take the following three stages, two on the Gerotek Mountain and one on the Dynamic track, while both the de Bruyn 350Z and van Wyk Swartz’s Polo retired.

Anton and Isabel Raaths’ 1970s Mazda Capella rotary was the next oddball entry to challenge the status quo, taking the second Dynamic stage from the Habig White Polo and Coertse and Kohler’s far more contemporary Mazda2. Moving on to Zwartkops, there was another surprise. Regional couple Reinhardt and Jo-Ann Janse van Rensburg’s NR 4 Fiat Uno Turbo rejoined after an earlier problem to take a 25 second Stage 7 win over class rivals Christo Swanepoel and Jacobus van Zyl’s SupaPolo.

Rally frontrunners Coertse and Habig however restored the status quo on their second stab at the Zwartkops stage to close what had proven a most popular and most exciting event. The Dunlop-shod 2026 championship returns to the gravel and the Cape with a little tarmac in between for rounds 2 and 3 at the Cape  Swartland National Rally, set for 24–25 April.