WATCH: The Citizen gets green light to go rallying with Toyota Gazoo Racing

The South African National Rally Championship (NRC)is the country’s original rally series and it has been a part of local motorsport history since way back in 1960. A time when every major motor manufacturer was involved. And big-name-old-school race drivers like Sarel van der Merwe and Serge Damseaux started their careers and honed their skills.

From dusty gravel roads to twisting mountain passes and fast-flowing forest trails, the championship currently showcases the best off-road drivers and co-drivers from around the country. While also offering classes that cater for anything from the latest in rally machinery, to the enthusiast with an iconic rally car from yesteryear. Joining them this year will be none other thanThe Citizen Motoring‘s very own tamed racing car driver, Mark Jones.

In an announcement made last week at Toyota’s annual State of the Motoring Industry (SOMI) address, Jones will be given a drive in a rally prepared Toyota GR Yaris for the 2026 season. Having competed in the inaugural Toyota GR Cup that was hosted back in 2022 in a GR Yaris, and then again in 2023 in a GR 86, Jones is not unfamiliar with the inner workings of a GR race car. But he makes no bones about the enormity of the task ahead when he swaps tar for dirt.

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“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment by what lies ahead for me. Pedaling a 200kW hot hatch around a nice smooth racetrack is one thing. But doing the same on narrow little dirt roads through a forest while my poor petrified co-driver shouts instructions at me, is something I have never done,” says Jones.

“One just has to look at WRC to see that things happen really fast in a rally car. The surface is always changing, and the car is forever moving around under you. I have no doubt it will be the steepest learning curve of my amateur race career so far.

“My first goal is to have some fun and revel in the privilege of what has been offered to me. And then to bring my Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Yaris home in one pieceeach race weekend,” concludes Jones.

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