Tobias Ebster might not have won outright in his debut as a Hero factory rider, but finishing second overall and scoring a stage win on the final day is a great way to cap it off.

Ebster’s chances of winning the South African Safari Rally were slim as he sat second behind Edgar Canet in the Rally2 ranking by over 20 minutes entering Saturday. Being so far ahead, Canet was able to take it easy.

Conversely, just because he wasn’t going to win the race didn’t mean Ebster could relax. After all, championship rival Michael Docherty was just seven minutes back.

Stage 5 ended up being a dogfight between Ebster, Docherty, and Ruy Barbosa. Ebster took the Rally2 stage lead in the second half, but a wire got caught in the rear tire at KM 92. He stopped and grabbed a side cutter to remove it before continuing, only to crash and get snagged at the checkpoint.

Despite the snags, he still cleared Barbosa by 38 seconds and Docherty by 57. Ebster described the win as “an emotional moment for me.” In addition to his first stage win with Hero, it’s the inaugural for the Indian manufacturer in Rally2.

“We got our first Rally2 stage win for Hero MotoSports today,” he continued. “We made steady progress all week, and I’m proud, not just for myself, but for the entire team.”

The last stage, which is often the shortest, is also prime opportunity for competitors to finally snag a stage win. Besides Ebster, Ricky Brabec and Enrico Gaspari won their respective classes after not doing so across the first four days.

Gaspari enjoyed his first outright stage win (including drivers not registered for the W2RC). It’s a solid conclusion to an otherwise frustrating rally as he finished at the bottom due to mechanical issues.

Brabec prevented RallyGP winner Daniel Sanders from scoring his fourth straight stage win by just 42 seconds. The former had been fending off his Honda teammates Skyler Howes and Adrien Van Beveren before Sanders caught up and briefly took the lead, only for Brabec to reclaim it. Despite running third for most of the day, Van Beveren finished eighth due to issues with his roadbook tablet that struck at KM 70. Ebster’s Hero colleague Ross Branch took the last spot on the stage podium instead.

“I had a red cross on the screen which showed there was an issue,” Van Beveren explained. “I didn’t know how to solve it and tried to continue looking for the tracks, but there was a lot of grass so I couldn’t see them. I stopped because I didn’t know where to go and then I finally got the tablet to work again and was able to continue. It was a big amount of time lost but it’s part of rally now, I guess. We’ll have to accept the situation and look forward to the next race.”

Dania Akeel was leading Challenger until she hit a rut and rolled in the final ten kilometers. After getting the Taurus back on all four wheels, she managed to bring it home fourth in class.

Stage 5 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	200	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Dacia Sandriders	1:08:49
Challenger	16	301	Nicolás Cavigliasso	BBR Motorsport	1:15:41
SSV	27	402	Enrico Gaspari	MMP Compétition	1:49:48

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	9	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda HRC	1:23:17
Rally2	9	96	Tobias Ebster	Hero MotoSports	1:30:33
Quad	18	174	Gaëtan Martinez	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	1:45:37

Overall winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	205	Henk Lategan	Toyota Gazoo Racing	12:10:42
Challenger	15	308	David Zille	BBR Motorsport	12:54:39
SSV	29	407	Mário Franco	Franco Sport	14:13:56

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	13:27:44
Rally2	7	73	Edgar Canet	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	14:17:00
Quad	18	174	Gaëtan Martinez	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	17:03:54

Featured image credit: Hero MotoSports