First victory for a South African driver in world races.
First victory for a South African driver in world races. After a fantastic 2nd place in this year's Dakar, Henk Lategan celebrated at home by winning the South African Safari Rally, an FIA W2RC event. But despite his tasty victory in the Toyota GR Hilux Evo, Lategan had to fight off an ever-competitive Sébastien Loeb, who sold his 2nd place finish dearly in the Dacia Sandrider, finishing just 1m39 behind. The South African podium was completed by 3rd place for Brazilian Lucas Moraes in a Toyota, just 2m55 behind Lategan.
Other big names were in the spotlight, with Carlos Sainz (Ford Raptor) taking 5th place behind Gareth Woolridge (NWM Evo), another very competitive South African. Nani Roma (Ford Raptor) was 7th behind Seth Quintero ((Toyota), while W2RC leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) finished the South African race in 10th position. Nasser now leads the W2RC with 114 points, followed by Lategan with 94 and Brazilian Lucas Moraes with 89 points.
Regarding the Portuguese participation in this world event, the João Ferreira/Filipe Palmeiro duo in a Mini JCW had to abandon during the 3rd special due to differential problems in the Mini, but other Portuguese participations ended up with a very interesting outcome. The duo of Mário Franco/João Miranda in a Can Am Maverick triumphed in the SSV category, while Alexandre Pinto/Bernardo Oliveira remain world leaders in the SSV category, having finished the race behind another Portuguese team, José Nogueira/Arcelio Couto, all in Can Am.
The next event in the W2RC World Championship is scheduled for Portugal between 22 and 28 September, the Rally Raid Portugal, organised by the ACP.