South African Rally-Raid Championship - Leading Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Heads Rally of Morocco
TOYOTA GAZOO Racing South Africa (TGRSA) heads to the Rally of Morocco this week, fielding three GR Hilux IMT EVOs in the fourth round of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). The event runs from Monday 28 September to Saturday 3 October, starting on the Atlantic coast at Agadir and finishing in the desert town of Zagora.
A shakedown takes place in Agadir on the opening day, before Tuesday’s Stage One covers 268 timed kilometres to link the two host cities. The event then settles into a four-day loop out of Zagora and into the Chegaga and Chebbi dune fields, with the timed stages growing to 384 kilometres at their longest. In total, the five stages cover 2,524 kilometres, of which 1,575 kilometres are run against the clock – terrain that will demand tenacity from all three TGRSA crews.
The trip comes on the back of a perfect start to the 2026 South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) season, in which TGRSA has won every round held so far. Saood Variawa and Charan Moore opened the campaign with victory at the INGCO Parys 400 in June, before Guy Botterill and Henry Köhne won at Stella in July and again at the Outeniqua 400 in August. Botterill leads the SARRC drivers’ standings by 18 points, with Köhne on top of the navigators’ championship, while Variawa, the reigning SARRC champion, sits fourth overall after rolling out of the Outeniqua 400 (both he and Moore were unhurt).
TGRSA’s line-up in Morocco is Botterill and Köhne (#216) and Variawa and Moore (#215), with Portugal’s João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro (#240) also flying TGRSA colours in a third GR Hilux. Ferreira and Palmeiro arrive on form, having claimed a fifth consecutive win at the Baja TT Sharish Gin in Reguengos, Portugal, in the days before departing for Morocco.
Variawa and Moore also head into the event full of confidence, having led the Baja España Aragón earlier this month before a mechanical issue cost them the lead and dropped them to third at the finish.
“We’ve got all three TGRSA cars here – João, myself and Guy – and we’ve really prepared well for this one,”
said Variawa.
“I’m quite confident with how the car has been over the last few races. We led in Aragon and finished third overall after an issue cost us the lead, and possibly the win, but we still got the podium. My co-driver has been doing a tremendous job on the notes, and I’ve never felt this confident in the car with someone else. We’re really keen to get going in Morocco – we’ve got five stages, and we’re going to give it full gas.”
For Botterill, the event is as much about preparation for the 2027 Dakar Rally as it is about results in Morocco.
“It was always our plan at the start of the year to try to do Morocco,”
he said, speaking en route to the event.
“It’s important for Dakar training, and for the driver and navigator to get a feel for that kind of terrain and the navigation of the open desert, which is always a challenge. This is the first time Henry and I are doing an international race together, and the first time either of us has been back in the desert since Dakar, so it’s important for us to find our feet here rather than in Stage One, Two or Three of Dakar itself. Our main objective is simply to complete the full distance.”
Botterill, who tweaked his wrist in a heavy moment on Stage Two of last month’s Outeniqua 400, said he had since been cleared to race.
“I hurt my hand a little at Outeniqua and there’s still a bit of a niggle, so I’ll be nursing my left hand more than usual, but the doctor has signed me off and I’m ready to go. Honestly, the car has been really good – the best I’ve ever driven – so I’m confident we’ll be fine.”
On the challenge that awaits in the desert, Botterill added:
“Morocco is a tough race. The navigation seems to get harder every year, and it has a reputation for big accidents, so we need to keep our nose clean and not make mistakes. I’ve always wanted to come here, and Henry and I have found our feet together really quickly, which I think comes from our rallying background. The big picture is always Dakar, and if this is a stepping stone to get there, that’s exactly what we need it to be.”
TGRSA’s SARRC campaign resumes on 9 and 10 October at the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 in KwaZulu-Natal, while for Botterill and Köhne, the Rally of Morocco marks an important step on the road to their next Dakar Rally assault.
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