Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) targets fourth straight win as South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC) title fight reaches Vryheid
Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA) returns to domestic action this weekend at the VAPS HCV Vryheid 400, Round 4 and the penultimate event of the 2026 South African Rally-Raid Championship (SARRC).
The race takes place on 9 and 10 October from the Vryheid Airfield, in the historic Battlefields region of KwaZulu-Natal, where the team will aim to extend an unbeaten run that has delivered victory in all three rounds contested so far this season.
TGRSA will field two GR Hilux IMT EVOs in Vryheid, for Guy Botterill and Henry Köhne, and for Saood Variawa and Charan Moore. Both crews return to the national championship after competing in the Rally of Morocco, the fourth round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). The logistics of retrieving the team’s cars from Morocco in time for this weekend mean that Sa’aad Variawa does not have a car available for the event, and the young driver will sit out this round.
Botterill and Köhne arrive in KwaZulu-Natal as the crew to beat. Back-to-back victories at the GR Stella 1000 Marathon in July and the Outeniqua 400 in August have carried Botterill to the top of the overall drivers’ standings on 90 points, 18 clear of his nearest rival, while Köhne leads the navigators’ championship on 75 points. A third consecutive win would complete a hat-trick for the pair and strengthen their position considerably ahead of the season finale.
For Botterill, who hails from Durban, the race is also a chance to settle a score on home soil. He was on course for a podium finish in Vryheid last year when a rear differential failure in the closing kilometres of a rain-shortened race dropped him to seventh in the final classification.
Reigning SARRC champion Saood Variawa has equally good reason to look forward to the weekend. He and Moore opened the season with victory at the INGCO Parys 400 in June, but setbacks at Stella and Outeniqua have left them fourth in both the drivers’ and navigators’ standings on 54 points. Variawa finished second in Vryheid last year, just 53 seconds behind the winners, and a strong result this weekend would bring the pair back into contention with one round remaining.
“We have won all three rounds so far this season, but championships are decided in the final rounds, and Vryheid showed us last year just how quickly things can change,” said TGRSA Team Principal Shameer Variawa. “The team has had a very short turnaround since Morocco, and it is unfortunate that Sa’aad will not be on the start line this weekend. That said, Guy and Henry are in excellent form, and Saood and Charan have the pace to win. The GR Hilux IMT EVO has proven its durability and reliability all season, and our aim is to bring both cars home at the front of the field.”
The Vryheid route is known for its mix of forest roads, farmland tracks and mountain trails, and conditions in northern KwaZulu-Natal can change quickly, as last year’s storm-interrupted race proved.
The VAPS HCV Vryheid 400 gets under way on Friday, 9 October, with a 20-kilometre Qualifying Race at 09:30, which will set the starting order for the 70-kilometre Stage One at 13:00. Saturday’s action starts at 08:30 with the 180-kilometre Stage Two, followed by a compulsory 30-minute service at the Designated Service Point before crews tackle the third and final stage.
With the SARRC season concluding at Thabazimbi in November, TGRSA heads to Vryheid determined to keep its perfect 2026 record intact.
*Information provided by the publicist.
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