Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Banks Double Fourth-in- Class at Gruelling Algoa Rally
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa (TGRSA) came through a demanding Algoa National Rally with two solid results, as motoring journalist Mark Jones and navigator Kes Naidoo banked fourth in the NRC2 class in both Friday’s Round 6 through the Longmore Forest and Saturday’s rain-hit Round 7 around Uitenhage and Despatch.
Photo credits to Ziyaad Plaatjes
Round 6 lived up to its billing. The fast, natural mountain stages of the Longmore Forest, run with a night stage after dark on Friday, proved every bit as demanding as advertised, but the Toyota GR Yaris came through unscathed to finish fourth in class.
“It's everything everybody said it would be – it's real rally, it's not man-made stuff, probably the most rally of rally that I've done so far,”
said Jones.
“It's fast, natural mountain stages, up and down steep, and there's so much to contend with. You always know the danger of running wide at Longmore – you can't just turn it in and hope. If you run off, you're going to get into trouble; there's a long way down and lots of trees. But we got through it, and the car ran great. We had the night stage, which was tough – it's exciting, you've got lights on, but you can only see so far.”
Saturday's Round 7 around Uitenhage and Despatch turned into a battle with the weather rather than the stopwatch. Heavy rain flooded the opening stages so badly that organisers considered calling the round off altogether, sending competitors out to assess the Spidersweb stage before deciding whether to continue. By lunchtime, only three stages and ten kilometres of competitive running had been completed.
Conditions gradually improved through the afternoon, with Jones and Naidoo's times on Spidersweb dropping from twelve minutes to six as the stage dried out, while the single running of the Vlaktes stage stayed treacherously slippery underfoot.
“I've never done mud like that in my life,”
said Jones.
“I've never been so grateful for all-wheel drive. Even when you turned it in, the car would just go off into the grass. But again, the car performed faultlessly, and we banked two fourths in class.”
Jones was also keen to single out the contribution of navigator Kes Naidoo, who has grown into the role over the course of the season.
“Somebody said to him at the first rally of the year, ‘oh, you're just a navigator,’”
said Jones.
“Throughout the year he's been so much more than that – he's been like a co-driver, which is very important, and he's taught me so much. Yesterday and today that was vital. Calling lefts and rights is the easy part, but to actually drive and coach and get through it, a proper co-driver is vital to getting good results in a rally, and he's very much part of this.”
The double finish takes Jones and Naidoo through five of the seven rounds of the 2026 National Rally Championship, a welcome return to form after retirements at the GR Legends Rally and the Ermelo Rally earlier in the season. With the Algoa results now ratified by Motorsport South Africa, the pair move up to second in the NRC2 class standings on 95 points, 37 points behind championship leader Bruce Swatton (132) and eight clear of third-placed Lynton Swatton (87), with one round of the season remaining.
“In general, a great weekend,”
added Team Manager, Leeroy Poulter.
“We've at least completed five of the seven rounds this year, which was good after our two DNFs – it was really good to bounce back, and that was really important.”
TGRSA now turns its attention to the TRAC N4 Rally at Dullstroom on 30 and 31 October, the final round of the 2026 season.
“We just hope for, and look forward to, a solid outing at Dullstroom and bringing it home,”
said Jones.
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