Inside the Toyota GR Stella 1000 Rally
Rally racing is a wild sport, particularly for spectators. It’s one of the few petrol-fuelled displays of courage you can witness from just metres away, with rocks, dust and occasionally flames flying towards you. And no, you don’t need to fly to Finland or venture into the Saudi desert to experience it. We recently joined Toyota GR as it took on the GR Stella 1000 Marathon race.
En route to Stella, a small town in the North West province, a sense of childish giddiness filled the three occupants of the new Hilux. With the service area in sight, I caught my first glimpse of what the next few days in the bush had in store. A helicopter circled above the camp as we joined the convoy of what seemed like a sea of Land Cruisers squeezing their way through the entrance. There was a sense of shared excitement as dads and sons alike walked beside me, all frothing over the rally-raid cars in the distance.
What would typically be a docile, empty field on any other weekend was now buzzing with crews and trucks unloading and prepping for the race ahead. But this was no ordinary race. The GR Stella 1000 is a marathon rally, making it the longest event on the local racing calendar by a few hundred kilometres. What would normally be completed in a single day was stretched across three full days of racing. Toyota was itching to get started, but with that extra distance came added pressure.
As the engines fired to life, we set off for the bush. After all, a T1+ car is best viewed at 180km/h, kicking up a trail of dust that stretches for kilometres behind it.
This isn’t my first time seeing these machines barrel through the desert, but I was surrounded by a few rally newbies, and their expressions when Guy Botterill passed for the first time were priceless. Yes, it looks as spectacular as it does on TV, and yet what the cameras don’t capture is the dust, the noise and the pressure that builds in your chest as these cars come hurtling toward you.
It’s a raw spectator experience, with everyone in attendance admiring the first few cars before turning around and firing off questions that revealed their sudden and overwhelming interest in this weekend’s rally. It wasn’t long before the GR Hiluxes came charging through, and our introduction to the Stella Rally was complete.
The first day was just a taste of what’s to come. Although Botterill started the weekend with a flying display of gravel-chewing, running first on the road meant his work was cut out for him. Saood Variawa proved to be a fierce competitor after day one, but Botterill had managed to secure the lead early on. Ford driver Gareth Woolridge and youngster Jayden Els, behind the wheel of the Century Racing CR7, were both hot on their heels.
As day two kicked off, we hit the road in search of a viewpoint that offered everything: high speeds, jumps, and wild turns. Soon, we were off the main road and into the bush, where we parked the Hilux before running the 100 or so metres to the jump, where the GR drivers made a point of launching much harder than any other team, firing their Hiluxes off the ground and sending them roughly 20 metres through the North West sky before soaking up the landing and slamming on the brakes to come to a full stop in front of us. You need a heavy dose of caffeine to keep up with the chaos, because every two or so minutes, another bush monster comes screaming into view in the distance.
And then it was back into the cars, hurtling through the dust on a more direct route to the next spot than the racing cars could manage. The race cars had to cover four times the distance we did, and by the time we’d parked up again, Guy was already kicking up dust in the treeline. This time we got to experience T1+ cars arriving at full speed into a braking zone, fishtailing under hard braking. We were spectating just a few metres to the left, close enough to feel the tension as the Hilux fought for grip. It always amazes me just how much control these drivers have, even when the car looks wildly out of control.
And just like that, the lead cars came screaming past, with Saood closing in on Botterill. His dust cloud appeared in the distance, arrived moments later and then disappeared into the distance, barely a minute behind the leader. We dived back into the Hiluxes and headed for the next spot, which was a little more ominous.
This time, we stood on the side of the road, where the only telling sign that a race car was about to come through was the presence of two marshals standing in the grass.
We soon heard the unmistakable sound of a T1+ approaching fast, but we couldn’t see it. Then, in a matter of seconds, the nose of the GR poked through the bush before launching onto the main road and disappearing back into the long grass. In the space of roughly five seconds, spectators were treated to a burst of thrills and a jacket full of dust.
Jayden, behind the wheel of his Century rally car, was doing his best to close the gap to Botterill, but he knew Saood was hot on his tail. We piled back into the cars and raced to the service area, only to discover that the teams had already arrived and been serviced. The drivers, remarkably fresh after another gruelling day, soon made their way to the media area for a chat. It was here that I realised the future of rally-raid racing may not belong only to the established names. Young talent is already threatening the legends, and Saood was quick to point out that their combined ages are only a few years more than Botterill’s.
Nevertheless, the drivers were feeling good, and Botterill was especially confident heading into the final day with a strong lead after running at the front of the rally from the start. He still needed to be careful, though, with both Saood and Jayden only a few minutes behind and closing the gap.
The last day of the GR Stella Marathon is a make-or-break affair. This is where the cars’ durability is really tested, with the final results potentially coming down to reliability as much as outright pace. So off we headed, back into the sand-covered bush of Stella, but this time we were treated to even more airborne and sideways rally cars.
Our eyes were glued to the horizon when the familiar brap of the exhaust announced Botterill’s arrival as he barrelled through another of the thousands of turns along the route. I watched as he flung the car left, then right, before flat-tapping over a jump that sent him into a small quarry and spat him out the other side.
The time difference was getting tight again as Saood was trailing Botterill by a mere two minutes and catching fast. It was clear that the front-runners were leaving nothing on the table, and our final viewpoint was the perfect place to watch the battle unfold.
Let me paint a picture: seven or so Toyotas lined up behind an abandoned combine harvester, just two metres away from a farm road that looked like it hadn’t been driven on in years. A dust cloud appeared in the distance as our announcer warned us that the cars would be approaching at 180km/h, just metres from where we were standing. We all took a deep breath as the first car came through; the noise and wind ripped past our faces.
Almost instantly, the group turned around and put some distance between themselves and the original standing spot. It was ridiculous being so close to one of these cars travelling at full tilt through the farmland. Meanwhile, the drivers were already on their way to the final stage, with Saood and Botterill further pulling away from the pack.
Just before Botterill could cross the finish line, disaster struck for Saood: his car needed a 40-minute repair that ruined his chances of catching the leader. However, it offered Jayden and his Century a chance at the second tier of the podium and Gareth in the Ford in third.
Botterill had put on a serious display of skill and experience, winning the GR Stella marathon at Toyota’s home race with a time of 9 hours, 49 minutes, and 53 seconds behind the wheel of his Toyota GR Hilux IMT EVO. As he crossed the finish line, thorns tore up the paintwork and a tangle of branches lodged in his roll bars. The GR team was thrilled with the win, especially considering this was the first time Botterill had driven with his new co-driver, Henry Köhne.
Despite Saood’s unfortunate incident, he finished fifth, but he put in a serious effort throughout the weekend. A special mention must go to a fresh face in the GR tent: Saood’s younger brother, Sa’aad. Although it was his second outing behind the wheel of a T1+ car, he still cracked the top six, displaying a competent level of pace and consistency, and is another local name to keep a close eye on.
The GR Stella 1000 Marathon was a brutal affair and one in which team GR proved to be the stronger force. Botterill put in a monster drive to take the win. Saood kept him on his toes, and Sa’aad proved that he can keep up with the best of them.
