Wido Bartsch and navigator Raymond Fourie emerged victorious in the Rally Class at Leg 3 of the 2026 Namibian National Rally Championship, held at the Tsumeb Rally on Saturday.
Representing the Walvis Bay Motor Club (WBMC), the duo delivered a commanding performance across the 10 special stages to claim overall honours with a winning time of 1:05:11 in the S4 class.
Windhoek Motor Club’s Richard Himmel and co-driver Adolf Botes finished second overall in the S1 class, stopping the clock at 1:07:46, while Stefan Bartsch and Alexa Montagu-Fryer, also of WBMC, secured third place in 1:12:44.
Kai Pretorius and Oliver Pretorius (WMC) and the WBMC pairing of Pieter Greeff and JP Robinson shared identical overall times of 1:16:29, with Pretorius taking fourth place and Greeff fifth based on stage results. Jaco Coetzer and Koos Coetzer of Tsumeb Motor Club completed the classified finishers in sixth overall with a time of 1:18:20, despite receiving a 10-second penalty.
In the Super Rally category, Donovan Vermaak and Len Folscher (SMC) rejoined the event to finish with a total time of 1:21:01, also incurring a 10-second penalty.
The rally claimed one retirement in the Rally Class, with Zachary Martin and navigator Anique Schoeman (WBMC) forced to withdraw after completing only the opening special stage.
The Challenge Class competitors produced an exciting contest during Leg 3 of the 2026 Namibian National Rally Championship, held at the Tsumeb Rally on Saturday.
Marko Himmel and navigator Francois Schoonbee, representing Tsumeb Motor Club (TMC), claimed overall victory in the Challenge Class with a total time of 1:00:26, delivering a consistent performance across the day’s 10 special stages.
The Windhoek Motor Club pairing of Mathys Pretorius and Anja Pretorius finished second in 1:01:17, just 51 seconds behind the winners, while fellow WMC crew Ruaan Viviers and Cecil Koorts completed the podium in third with a time of 1:04:07.
Werner Bartsch and Christel Fourie (WBMC) secured fourth place in the CR2 category with 1:12:06, narrowly ahead of Stefan Labuschagne and Rene Botha (WMC), who finished fifth in 1:12:57.
In the CR1 class, SJ Schoeman and Chane Havenga crossed the line sixth overall in 1:14:53, followed by Ekko Eisenberg and Horazio Rietz in 1:15:23, while Rossouw Bezuidenhout and Michael Maritz rounded out the classified finishers with a time of 1:20:07.
Only one crew failed to complete the event, with Steven Marnewick and navigator Roche Louw retiring after the opening stages and being listed as the sole Did Not Finish (DNF) in the Challenge Class.
By Rudi Bowe
