Fouché Blignaut has punched his ticket to the 2026 (or 2027) Dakar Rally after winning the Road to Dakar at the South African Safari Rally. He finished 15th in Ultimate ahead of six other Dakar aspirants. As the RtD victor, his registration fee for either of the next two Dakars is waived.

Like those he was competing against, Blignaut is a regular in the South African Rally-Raid Championship with his brother Bertus as navigator; he finished fifth in the 2024 standings. Their Toyota Hilux was the quickest of the Road to Dakar entrants across all five stages, and the #239 was the only RtD car to finish in the top 20 for all FIA teams.

Ironically, the race started on a disastrous note for Blignaut as he failed to finish the Prologue, relegating him to dead last in the results. Johan de Bruyn set the fastest time for the leg.

While not the start he wanted, the Prologue does not count for the overall in FIA and Blignaut rejoined the race the next day. This time, with his Hilux properly tuned, he got to work. He beat Rients Hofstra in Stage 1 by just 37 seconds, which was the closest opposition he faced throughout the race.

Stage 2 saw Blignaut top RtD by five minutes on Danie Ludick followed by 15 minutes over Gerhardt Heinlein, nine on Hofstra, and six on Ludick. Ludick settled for second and was nearly an hour behind Blignaut.

De Bruyn retired after the first stage due to water damaging the electronics just 26 kilometers from the finish, leaving the Road to Dakar to be an army of Red-Lined cars unsuccessfully chasing down Blignaut’s Hilux. Philip Botha also bowed out.

Although every World Rally-Raid Championship race is on the Road to Dakar, the South African Safari Rally is unique in that the free registration is given to the Ultimate class rather than SSV or bikes. This is a continuation of what the TGRSA Safari 1000, which was not part of the W2RC, did prior to 2025.

Results

Finish	Overall	Class	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	17	15	239	Fouché Blignaut	Bertus Blignaut	#TeamHilux Rally-Raid	12:59:19	Leader
2	27	20	232	Danie Ludick	Denzil Williamson	Red-Lined Motorsport	13:52:40	+ 53:21
3	30	22	233	Gerhardt Heinlein	Rudi Heinlein	Red-Lined Motorsport	14:15:40	+ 1:16:21
4	31	23	234	Nickus Heinlein	Jaco Kriel	Red-Lined Motorsport	14:17:08	+ 1:17:49
5	45	27	223	Rients Hofstra	Wade Harris	Red-Lined Motorsport	35:41:58	+ 22:42:39
DNF	DNF	DNF	231	Philip Botha	Roelof Janse van Vuren	Red-Lined Motorsport	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	DNF	269	Johan de Bruyn	Adriaan Roets	Johan de Bruyn Racing	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Class	Driver	Time
Prologue	22	18	Johan de Bruyn	7:14.6
Stage 1	29	$23	Fouché Blignaut	2:47:32
Stage 2	27	20	Fouché Blignaut	3:41:44
Stage 3	12	12	Fouché Blignaut	3:01:32
Stage 4	14	14	Fouché Blignaut	2:16:26
Stage 5	8	8	Fouché Blignaut	1:12:05

Featured image credit: #TeamHilux Rally-Raid