The Dutch Quattro Legends seem to be the Dakar Classic’s version of a supergroup. You take a group of Dakar Rally winners and alumni, put them in the legendary Audi Quattro, and let them rip every once in a while. They’re not a full-fledged team that races every weekend and have only done Dakar once, but they like showing up to rallies in the most unexpected of locations.

Their most recent stop took them to Limpopo for the final round of the 2026 South African Rally-Raid Championship.

The Northam Zondereinde Bushveld 400 was the crew’s second race since the 2025 Dakar Classic.

After Erik van Loon won the H4 class at Dakar, the Quattros appeared at non-competition events like the Crazy Cross Bergeijk and Goodwood Festival of Speed. In June, they went to Spain to race the Baja Lorca – Ciudad del Sol in an actual speed-based rally rather than the regularity format of the Classic.

Like Lorca, Bushveld is also where the fastest driver wins. Unlike Lorca, they had other opposition in their class as the Challenger category also included Henk Klaassen’s Taurus and Schalk Burger’s Ford Ranger.

Van Loon, Peter van den Bosch, and Marcel van Vliet remained from the Baja Lorca lineup, while the fourth car (with blue-and-yellow stripes) was filled by van Vliet’s ex-navigator Marcel Pronk. He was previously the co-driver on van Vliet’s MAN TGS at the Dakar Rally from 2013 to 2015 and Pieter Versluis in 2016 and 2017, then reunited with the former for Baja Lorca.

Pronk is the sixth different member of the Quattro Legends. Hans Stacey drove the blue/yellow car at Dakar and Lorca, while Frits van Eerd raced Dakar in the red–gray–black Audi before landing in legal trouble and was replaced by van Vliet. Van Loon and van den Bosch respectively stayed in the black-and-blue and green–gray–red machines.

“Hitting the road again with the car I won my class in the Dakar Classic with two years ago is, of course, always amazing,” said van Loon before the Bushveld 400. “The goal is to be the fastest of the Audis, but above all, we really want to enjoy it.”

Unfortunately, the barbershop quartet spent as much time underneath a tent at the rally headquarters in Koedoeskop as they did on course.

Van Loon got the ball rolling as the fastest qualifier of the four, placing 19th overall with a 22:36; van Vliet followed in 21st at 22:58 then van den Bosch in 22nd (23:53), while Pronk had to sit out qualifying for vehicle problems. Mechanical issues would plague the four the rest of the way.

A gearbox failure sidelined van Loon for Stage 1 while Pronk was out too. Van Vliet and van den Bosch took the start, but only the former finished as he placed 20th and last with a time of 2:37:51. After receiving approval to switch a different vehicle and having to start at the rear, Van den Bosch was the only Audi on course for Stage 2; he posted a time of 2:01:53, which put him 16th for the leg.

All four were able to get their gremlins contained for the third and final stage. Van Loon was the quickest of them with a time of 2:38:23—19th overall on the SS—followed by van den Bosch (20th, 2:46:02), Pronk (22nd, 3:05:02), and van Vliet (23rd and last, 7:48:05).

Because they didn’t complete all three stages, they were classified as DNFs. Still, just to be back in the Quattro in a new environment made it worthwhile.

“This was really beautiful. What a beautiful country, lovely people, and an awesome rally. We really enjoyed it,” van Loon commented afterward. “The Audi is simply a magnificent car, and we showed that it has plenty of speed. The gearbox broke down on Friday, which meant we couldn’t drive the first stage. Today, however, we drove the whole stage and it went just fine.

“Everything was perfectly arranged, and we felt incredibly welcome. What pleasant and kind people, and it’s a stunning country too. I hope we can do this again in the future.”

While the Audis were having their fun, everyone else was gunning for SARRC titles. Saood Variawa initially topped Stage 1 with a 1:50:39 before fastest qualifier Guy Botterill got time back due to an on-course obstruction having blocked his path. Variawa held of his Toyota Gazoo teammate for the overall win by 1:42, though Botterill still took the overall and class championships with the help of three consecutive race wins.

Results

FIA Ultimate T1+

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
1	1	200	Saood Variawa	Charan Moore	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	Toyota Hilux IMT Evo	5:30:06
2	2	202	Guy Botterill	Henry Carl Köhne	Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa	Toyota Hilux IMT Evo	5:31:48
3	3	224	Daniel Schröder	Juan Mohr	PS Laser Racing	WCT Volkswagen Amarok	5:34:12
4	4	217	Marcos Baumgart	Alberto Andreotti	Neil Woolridge Motorsport	NWM Evo Plus	5:35:24
5	5	277	Gareth Woolridge	Boyd Dreyer	Neil Woolridge Motorsport	NWM Evo Plus	5:41:17
6	6	245	Danie Ludick	Adriaan Roets	Neil Woolridge Motorsport	NWM Evo Plus	5:44:39
7	10	222	Michael Lawlor	Luke Lawlor	Neil Woolridge Motorsport	NWM Evo Plus	6:30:40
DNF	DNF	212	Puck Klaassen	Daniel Stassen	#TeamHilux Rally-Raid	Toyota DKR Hilux	DNF
DNF	DNF	223	Pim Klaassen	Sasha Siripanyavuthi	DaklaPack Rallysport	Red-Lined GT-R	DNF
DNF	DNF	241	Wilro Dippenaar	Carolyn Swan	Neil Woolridge Motorsport	NWM Evo Plus	DNF

SA Ultimate T1+

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
1	7	310	Johan van Staden	Sean van Staden	Johan van Staden	Red-Lined Revo T1+	5:45:46
2	8	343	Abrie Olivier	CA Olivier	VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Team	Red-Lined Revo T1+	6:08:09
3	15	305	Dave Klaassen	Tessa Klaassen	DaklaPack Rallysport	DKR Evo Ultimate	8:50:28
DNF	DNF	324	Jürgen Schröder	Rikus Fourie	PS Laser Racing	WCT Volkswagen Amarok	DNF
DNF	DNF	333	Philip Botha	Andries Mynhardt	Philip Botha	Red-Lined Revo T1+	DNF

Adventurer

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
1	9	424	Peet Victor	Van Zyl Jonck	VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Team	Red-Lined VK50	6:28:37
2	11	495	Nielsen Marx	Rikus Hattingh	Rikus Hattingh	Red-Lined VK50	6:34:14
3	13	417	Ruan Burger	Jodé Mostert	Ruan Burger	Ford Ranger	6:42:05
DNF	DNF	434	Tyler Botha	Kyler Lotter	VAPS HCV Rally-Raid Team	Red-Lined VK50	DNF

Challenger

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
1	12	601	Henk Klaassen	Gerhard Schutte	DaklaPack Rallysport	Taurus T3 Max	6:40:46
DNF	DNF	604	Peter van den Bosch	Hans Brand	Dutch Quattro Legends	Audi Quattro	DNF
DNF	DNF	605	Marcel van Vliet	Jon Kok	Dutch Quattro Legends	Audi Quattro	DNF
DNF	DNF	671	Schalk Burger	Armand du Toit	King Price Xtreme	Ford Ranger Raptor	DNF
DNF	DNF	603	Erik van Loon	Hein Verschurren	Dutch Quattro Legends	Audi Quattro	DNF
DNF	DNF	606	Marcel Pronk	Bob Coerse	Dutch Quattro Legends	Audi Quattro	DNF

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Vehicle	Total Time
1	14	701	Eric de Wet	Emil Euler	Drew Plant Hire	Can-Am Maverick R	7:08:05
DNF	DNF	700	Geoff Minnitt	Leander Pienaar	Hydro Power Equipment	Can-Am Maverick R	DNF
DNF	DNF	702	Naldo Cornelius Pieterse	Ruan van Deventer	Ruan van Deventer		DNF

Featured image credit: Izaac Beytell