2025 South African Safari Rally: Gaetan Martinez enjoys first Quad win

Gaëtan Martinez can finally call himself a World Rally-Raid Championship race winner after dominating the Quad overall at the South African Safari Rally.

Martinez returned the favor from Abu Dhabi, where his teammate Antanas Kanopkinas beat him for CFMOTO’s second W2RC victory by 26 minutes (Kanopkinas also notched the manufacturer’s maiden win at the 2024 Rallye du Maroc), by leading in South Africa from start to finish. The Frenchman struck first by winning the Prologue and Stage 1, the latter seeing him take advantage of Kanopkinas’ two damaged suspension arms. Kanopkinas still finished second in class for the first leg, but his troubles meant he trailed by nearly 27 minutes in the overall.

Falling into such a massive hole so early on meant Kanopkinas needed a few lucky swings in addition to being fast. Although he notched two stage wins of his own, Martinez finished second behind him in both to mitigate the blows. If anything, Kanopkinas was the one encountering vehicle trouble: during his Stage 2 win, he ran over barbed wire shortly after the start that forced him to stop and change the tire.

Regardless, the two had a good time battling it out despite riding in the dust from competitors in other classes. Stage 4 in particular saw Martinez make an error in a technical section that led to them fighting for position before reaching the finish together.

Martinez’s time was good for 18th among all riders regardless of class, while Kanopkinas was just 17 seconds shy of cracking the top 20 behind Rally2 rider Mathieu Jauffraud. The latter had a “small mistake” on the final day, though he added it “didn’t change much” in the bigger picture.

With Kanopkinas and Martinez trading 1–2 finishes in Abu Dhabi and South Africa, they are now tied atop the W2RC Quad standings with one race to go. While the other classes’ seasons end with the Rallye du Maroc in October, the Quads will do so with the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal the month prior. Unlike everyone else who awards a championship, Quads only run a three-race season since they are excluded from Dakar and Morocco.

“In the end, we reached the finish without any major damage,” Martinez stated after Stage 5. “The quads are in great shape, and so are we. I won today’s stage and the rally overall among quads, and once again we’ve proven that our whole team belongs in this world championship.”

South Africa native Carien Teessen joined the CFMOTOs on the overall podium with her Yamaha Raptor 700. She fell behind early when her engine expired on the Stage 1 liaison, but Marek Łój retired that same day due to a crash and injury. As the only other riders in the class, Teessen rejoined the race the next day and quietly reached the finish.

Łój’s retirement mathematically knocks him out of championship contention, though he’d likely be happy just to even make the next round in Portugal. His crash occurred 130 kilometers into Stage 1 when he hit a rock that was hidden in the grass. He was thrown off his Yamaha and landed on his left kidney, causing the organ to bruise and bleeding in his bladder. Łój was taken to the hospital for treatment, and avoided other injuries.

Although no longer able to contend for the title, Łój can still preserve third if he beats Marcin Wilkołek, who trails by three points.

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	18	174	Gaëtan Martinez	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	17:03:54	Leader
2	21	173	Antanas Kanopkinas	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	17:26:19	+ 22:25
3	37	178	Carien Teessen	Crazy Princess Racing	85:10:58	+ 68:07:04
DNF	DNF	172	Marek Łój	Poland National Team	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Rider	Time
Prologue	22	Gaëtan Martinez	8:33.6
Stage 1	15	Gaëtan Martinez	3:25:42
Stage 2	21	Antanas Kanopkinas	4:43:47
Stage 3	18	Gaëtan Martinez	3:55:01
Stage 4	17	Antanas Kanopkinas	2:55:38
Stage 5	18	Gaëtan Martinez	1:45:37