Summarize

The Swazi Cowboy, Jono van Wyk and Nico Swartz brought the curtain down on a cracking Dunlop-shod 2026 South African National Rally Championship with a commanding victory on the season-ending TRAC N4 Rally in Dullstroom over the weekend. Van Wyk and Swartz steered their NRC1 Mazda 2 through a high-attrition 12-stage Mpumalanga forest marathon to win by more than 20 minutes after overnight leaders and newly crowned 2026 National champions Benjamin Habig and Barry White retired on the final stage.

Already confirmed as back-to-back South African National Rally Champions at the penultimate Algoa round, Habig and White looked set to end their dominant campaign with another victory in their NRC1 Volkswagen Polo GTI. The champions won nine of the first eleven stages over Friday and Saturday to build a comfortable lead over van Wyk and Swartz, only for a broken exhaust on the 12th and final stage to bring their rally to an unexpected end within sight of the finish.

With Nico and Juandre Nienaber’s NRC1 Hyundai i20 excluded post-event for outside assistance after running third on the road, van Wyk and Swartz inherited a dominant overall and NRC1 victory after claiming the fifth, tenth, and twelfth stages.

Behind van Wyk and Swartz, the heavy attrition among the four-wheel-drive front-runners opened the door for a giant-killing performance from the two-wheel-drive brigade. George Smalberger and former champion Etienne Lourens drove a faultless rally in their Volkswagen Polo to claim a remarkable second overall alongside NRC3 and front-wheel-drive honours.

They finished two minutes clear of third-placed Lynton Swatton and Tommy Coetzee, who survived a bruising weekend to take NRC2 honours in their Volkswagen Polo. The NRC2 ranks were decimated through the weekend: circuit racing refugee Dawie van der Merwe and Matt Köhler’s Polo retired with mechanical maladies on Stage 6, before Stage 10 claimed both Johan Strauss and Caro Storm’s Subaru Impreza with engine failure and Bruce Swatton and Craig Reyneke’s Polo, which rolled out of contention with the crew unscathed.

Brothers Kent and Justin Rutherford brought their Volkswagen Polo home fourth overall and second in NRC3, holding off Anton and Isabel Raaths by just 46 seconds in their NRC3 Toyota Auris. Journalist Mark Jones and Kes Naidoo steered their Toyota GR Yaris to sixth overall and second in NRC2, ahead of Russell Stone and Jonty Brown’s NRC3 Polo.

One of the standout stories of the weekend belonged to lady driver Girlie Lukhele and co-driver Shaun Visser, who conquered the cruel forest stages in their Toyota RunX to claim a popular NRC4 victory and eighth overall. In a gruelling rally that sidelined strings of seasoned veterans including NRC4 rivals Hennie Mostert and Willem Morgan’s Nissan Sentra and Drian and Yvonne le Grange’s Volkswagen Golf Mk5, Lukhele kept a cool head to bring the car home as one of just eight classified National finishers and seal a memorable class triumph.

Anton and Isabel Raaths also enjoyed a busy weekend in their Toyota Auris, doubling up to claim both the five-stage Saturday Regional Rally and the four-stage Club Rally. In the Regional classification, the Raaths crew held off Johan Strauss Jnr and Kemaine Venter’s NR2 Subaru Impreza by 39.3 seconds, with Rinus Plomp and Hannes Pienaar’s NR1 Subaru Forester third ahead of Hennie Austin and Stefan de Bruin’s NR1 Subaru GT, and NR4 winners Hanró and Andre Ehlers’ Toyota Tazz. Raaths and Raaths also topped the Club Rally ahead of Strauss Jnr and Venter, with Johan de Bruin and Wallie du Bruyn third in their Nissan 350Z.

“What a weekend in the Dullstroom forests! Tough stages, plenty of challenges, and a final twist right at the finish,” Dunlop technical partner ATS Supplies’ Heinz Böse explains. “The tough terrain certainly took its toll, with several crews forced to retire throughout the weekend, including the overnight leaders on the final stage. Huge congratulations to Jono and Nico on a well-deserved win, to champions Benjamin and Barry, to lady driver Girlie Lukhele on a standout performance, and to all our crews who conquered a punishing weekend on Dunlop gravel rally tyres.”

The TRAC N4 Dullstroom Rally concludes a fiercely contested Dunlop-shod 2026 South African National Rally Championship, with teams and crews now preparing for an even bigger 2027 campaign.