Variawa shatters records as youngest champion in history

WITH everything to play for and only the narrowest of margins separating the two top competitors in the 2025 SA Rally-Raid Championship before the final round at the Northam Zondereinde Bushveld 400, it turned out to be a memorable weekend for Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa (TGRSA).

- WILLEM VAN DE PUTTE

It’s not often that one team takes all three podium places and in the process, clinches the title.

Saood Variawa and his French navigator, Francois Cazalet, took both the Overall and Ultimate FIA T1+ Championships after a dramatic and fiercely contested final round, making the 20-year-old the youngest race winner in the history of the SARRC and also the youngest champion - a record previously also held by former teammate Henk Lategan.

Tough track

The season decider unfolded across Limpopo’s rugged bushveld, with dry riverbeds, tight game-farm tracks, steep climbs and muddy patches after recent rain shaping a punishing route.

With only three points separating Variawa/ Cazalet from their main rivals, Gareth Woolridge and Boyd Dreyer (Ford) at the start of the weekend, the title remained undecided until the final kilometres of racing.

Lockout