2025 South African Safari Rally Stage 2: Red Bull KTM’s Daniel Sanders, Luciano Benavides, and Edgar Canet take the stage wins as local favourite Ross Branch hits a bird causing mechanical trouble on his Hero 450 Rally.

2025 South African Safari Rally day 2 in a nutshell:

Stage two took the field on a lengthy 623 kilometre (356 km against the clock) journey from basecamp in Sun City to the Marathon Camp where tonight, accordance with marathon rules, the Camp is off limits to service crews and the riders sleep in tents.

The story of the day was two-fold: Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), retook the overall lead from Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) who struggled with mechanical issues following a collision with a big bird 14 kilometres into the stage.

As many are pointing out, a rider bred in Australia knows how to ride the bush trails and  Daniel Sanders looks comfortable on the South Africa tracks with victory today and the overall lead.

It proved a good day for Red Bull KTM as Luciano Benavides finished just +32″ behind on the special. The KTM duo now stands at the top of the general standings, with “Chucky” 1′11″ ahead of the Argentinian.

Monster Energy Honda HRC’s efforts took a blow today when Tosha Schareina was forced to retire following a hand injury sustained in a crash yesterday.

Adrien Van Beveren took over as lead rider in red and had the tricky task of opening the stage from early on as Branch’s mechanical issues were shortly after the start of the special. AVB said it was tough to lay down the first tracks but benefitted from a near two minute time credit thanks to finding more closed gates on the course (!) and finished +2′58″ adrift.

Ricky Brabec’s day was scuppered by a navigation error which cost him a much better results. After the refuelling point which put him the wrong side of a fence line, costing him minutes as he worked back on himself. He ended the day third fastest, but the setback dropped him to fourth overall, now 3″05′ behind the leader.

A huge 18 minutes further back after just two stages, Jose Nacho Cornejo completes the top five and is the leading rider for Hero MotoSports.

His teammate and overnight leader (and arguably the favourite this week), Ross Branch lost over an hour today following overheating problems from a broken oil cooler. The Botswanan did make it to the Marathon Camp but finishes the day over one hour 30 off the lead.

Rally 2 lead for Canet

Red Bull KTM’s Edgar Canet crossed the line sixth overall in the FIM category today, clinching victory in the Rally2 class. His sixth W2RC win ballooned his overall lead to an 11′51″ cushion over Tobias Ebster (Hero MotoSports).

Michael Docherty (BAS World KTM Racing), who was unwell yesterday and incurred a 13-minute penalty for being late to the road section, climbed back onto the Rally2 podium, where he now sits third, 16′32″ off the lead. He leapfrogged his teammate Konrad Dąbrowski, now fourth at 23′13″.

Stage 2 highlights: 

2025 South African Safari Rally Stage 2 results:

Provisional Standings After Stage 2

1          SANDERS Daniel          4          AUS     KTM Factory Racing Team      06:34:46

2          BENAVIDES Luciano    1          ARG     KTM Factory Racing Team      + 01:11

3          VAN BEVEREN Adrien 42        FRA      Monster Energy Honda HRC   + 02:58

4          BRABEC Ricky              9          USA     Monster Energy Honda HRC   + 03:05

5          CORNEJO José Ignacio 11        CHI      Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 18:20

6          CANET Edgar               73        SPA      KTM Factory Racing Team      + 19:35

7          HOWES Skyler             10        USA     Monster Energy Honda HRC   + 21:31

8          EBSTER Tobias             96        AUS     Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 31:26          

9          DOCHERTY Michael    22        RSA      BAS World KTM Team             + 36:07

10        COX Bradley                12        RSA      Sherco TVS Rally Team           + 38:17

Photo Credit: Edo Photo