- Stage 3 took the field on a 518 km journey (including 246 km against the clock) back to Sun City, the race HQ, which the competitors had departed yesterday morning for two long stages under marathon rules.
- The car race saw Dacia retaliate against Toyota with a one-two punch of their own, as Nasser Al Attiyah bagged the stage and Sébastien Loeb took the overall lead.
- David Zille (BBR Motorsport) picked up his second win in Challenger ahead of his teammate Nicolás Cavigliasso, who lost some ground in the standings. Mário Franco (Francosport) also scored a brace in the SSV, adding to his lead in the process.
- Unfazed by the challenge of opening the road, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) secured the stage win and increased his buffer in RallyGP, as did his teammate Edgar Canet in Rally2.
- CFMoto Thunder Racing delivered another double whammy in the quad race, with Gaëtan Martinez ahead of Antanas Kanopkinas in both the stage and the overall.
- The South African expedition goes on! Stage 4 will be the longest of the week at a total of 694 km, including 224 km against the clock. The stage will start at 8:30 am. Follow it live on the Race Center HERE.
FIA: Loeb rules the roost
Stage 3 of the South African Safari Rally will go down in history. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) looked set to extend the South African hegemony in the rally, but he ran out of oomph near the finish and ended up behind Nasser Al Attiyah and Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport). The Qatari became the first non-domestic driver to win a Ultimate special here. Even a 2-minute penalty for speeding failed to topple Al Attiyah from the top spot, as he clung on to victory by 5 seconds over "El Matador" and brought his W2RC career tally to 44. It was also the seventh for Dacia and his sixth with the Sandrider since its triumphant debut at the 2024 Rallye du Maroc. A 1-minute speeding penalty stripped Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) of the overall lead to the benefit of Sébastien Loeb. The Frenchman now rules the roost, which means Dacia grabbed the stage win and the overall lead (by 23 seconds over Sainz) in one fell swoop! Lategan sits third at 30 seconds. Half a minute separates the top 3 overall, with Dacia, Ford and Toyota all vying for victory. Moraes, fourth at 56 seconds, remains a serious threat too.
CHALLENGER: Zille gets some breathing room
The stage came down to a duel between David Zille and Nicolás Cavigliasso, who had both nabbed a special since the race got under way in Sun City. A razor-thin margin of 5 seconds separated the two Argentinians in the standings going into the stage. Zille tipped the scales —for now, at least— with a win by 2′51″, bringing his lead to 2′56″. Adam Kuś (Akpol Recykling) holds the third position overall, 11′02″ off the pace.
SSV: Franco takes two
Yesterday's stage winner, Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally), seemed to have another one in the bag, but in a repeat of the stage 1 scenario, a twist of fate handed Mário Franco his second triumph of the week among the W2RC, after the one that he had picked up on Tuesday. Adding to the sense of déjà vu, Michele Cinotto (CST Xtreme Plus Polaris) again finished behind the Portuguese driver. Franco holds the overall lead ahead of Cinotto at 28′41″ and Claude Fournier (MMP) over two hours down.
FIM: Sanders strikes gold
Riders who can win a stage from the front are few and far between. One of them, Daniel Sanders, rammed the point home today with what could turn out to be a decisive victory. His teammate Luciano Benavides offered stiff resistance but ended up losing by 1′37″. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) also put up a decent fight, only to finish 2′39″ back. "Chucky" became the new sole record holder for the most RallyGP victories (18) and took a quantum leap forward in the overall, where the winner of the Dakar and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge now holds a 2′48″ margin over Benavides. Honda's Ricky Brabec and Adrien Van Beveren, locked in a struggle for the podium, are third and fourth at 8′19″ and 9′24″ back, respectively.
RALLY 2: Canet in a league of his own
One, two, one-two-three! Edgar Canet scooped up another win and doubled down on his pursuit of the rally title. The Hero factory rider Tobias Ebster remains his closest pursuer at 18′16″, while Michael Docherty (BAS World KTM) slipped down to 20′08″ back. Ruy Barbosa (Xraids Experience), a rising star from Chile, surged to fourth place, 54′45″ off the pace, with Konrad Dąbrowski (BAS World KTM) a further 6 seconds down. The Frenchman Florian Bancilhon, seventh astride the only Yamaha in the field, continues to dominate the class for riders without service crews (malles moto).
QUADS: Martinez picks up where his teammate left off
Antanas Kanopkinas may have won the previous stage, but today he had to bow before his CFMoto teammate, Gaëtan Martinez. The Frenchman took his third victory of the week by 2′09″ over the Lithuanian, extending his overall lead to 24′11″.
SCHEDULE:
- 23 May: stage 4 — Sun City–Sun City (road section: 470 km / special: 224 km / total: 694 km).
- 24 May: stage 5 — Sun City–Sun City (road section: 88 km / special: 118 km / total: 206 km).
