Summarize

Rapid regional crew Wilro Dippenaar and Carolyn Swan may have stolen the battles with a double overall victory at a fast and treacherous King Price Swartland Rally over the past weekend. Reigning national champions and 2026 leaders Benjamin Habig and Barry White however won the Dunlop shod National Championship war as they continue unbeaten so far this season.

“The flat out King Price Swartland Rally is unique in the National Championship as it demands a different approach,” Dunlop racing partner ATS Motorsport Supplies’ Heinz Böse explains. “Long stretches of full throttle, flat out running, very fast corners, heavy braking on stony and dusty ground are just another challenge for what our dedicated Dunlop DZ74R high-performance gravel rally tyre is designed for. And a completely different test to what the DZ74R was subjected to last time out on the All Tar Rally.”

Friday’s King Price Swartland Rally action started with local heroes, Dippenaar and Swan’s regional WC6-4 class Ford Fiesta 1.6T AWD taking the overall win. The win that mattered more from a national point of view, was however Habig and White in second as they scored a back to back National victory on Dunlop tyres aboard their NRC 1 Volkswagen Polo 2.0T AWD. The reigning champions came home ahead of Chris Coertse and Matt Kohler’s Rally Technic NRC 1 Mazda2 1.6T AWD.

Dippenaar and Swan took the first four stages before leaving Habig and White to take the final two tests as they controlled an ultimately close 8 second victory. Next home, spectacular home hero Werner Koekermoer drove his ever sideways rear-wheel drive WC2 BMW E36 3 Series to fourth overall with daughter Leane reading the notes. They finished ahead of another delighted home crew NRC 2 winners, Ismaeel Davids and Yusuf Ganief’s stunning new Toyota Yaris GR 1.6T 4x4.

Another Cape home crew, Inus du Plessis and Piet Carinus brought their WC2 BMW 330i home sixth overall from Port Elizabeth men, Nick Davidson and Ashley Bezuidenhout’s  NRC 2 Volkswagen Polo 2.0T AWD. NRC 3 winners, George Smalberger and Etienne Lourens were eighth overall in their Volkswagen Polo 1.0T from Bruce Swatton and Craig Reyneke’s NRC 2 Volkswagen Polo 2.0T AWD and class rivals, Johan Strauss, and Caro Storm in a Subaru Impreza.

Delayed NRC1 crew Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz’s Volkswagen Polo 2.0T AWD followed from NRC3 crew Kent and Justin Rutherford’s Volkswagen Polo and regional WC4 winners, Juneyed Edas and Matthew Neethling’s Toyota Tazz. Zachary Martin and Anique Schoeman took NRC 4 honours in their Volkswagen Polo and Gareth Vernon and Marius Rudolph won WC2 in their BMW 328.

Dunlop-shod National victors Habig and White left regional duo Dippenaar and Swan to take five of the six stage wins en route to another overall victory in Saturday’s round 3. Which meant that stage 2 winners Habig and White completed their hat trick of national wins in the first three rounds of 2026 as they held Nico and Juandre Nienaber’s NRC1 Hyundai i20 1.6T AWD, Coertse and Kohler’s Mazda and van Wyk and Swartz’s Polo off for championship honours.

Regional crews, Owen Jones and Aden Bredekamp’s WC1 Subaru Impreza WRX, the Koekemoers and Warren Scholtz and David Stigling WC1 Subaru Impreza WRX followed from Davids and Ganief’s Yaris and Davidson and Bezuidenhout’s Polo in tenth. Smalberger and Lourens held the Rutherfords’ similar Polo off for NRC 3 honours. Toyota Corolla crews, Pierre and Wynand du Plessis and Tyler Croy and Jayden-Ryle Hendricks took regional WC3 and WC4 honours.

The 2026 South African National Rally heads back to a more conventional test through the forests and foothills of the Tzaneen Rally on 29 and 30 March 2026, where Dunlop’s rally tyres can once again be expected to be completely in their element.