Henk Lategan


Henk Lategan is a South African off-road racing driver. He finished second overall in the 2025 Dakar Rally and won the South African Rally-Raid Championship four times. Lategan currently competes for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the World Rally-Raid Championship.

Career

Lategan started rallying in his native South Africa, competing in the national championship from 2011 onwards. He also raced in the European Rally Championship, making his debut at the 2013 Croatia Rally. After making a switch to Rally raid in 2017, Lategan became the youngest driver to win the South African Rally-Raid Championship in 2019. After that, Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings claimed back-to-back titles in 2020 and 2021. Lategan made his Dakar Rally debut in 2021. He placed on the podium in stages 3 and 4 before crashing during stage 5; Lategan broke his collar bone bone in the process.
He returned to the event in 2022. Though Lategan only finished 31st overall, he claimed his maiden Dakar stage win on day 5. Lategan also won the final stage.
Having fought for an overall podium during the first half of the 2023 edition, Lategan finished fifth overall.
After missing the 2024 Dakar Rally with a dislocated shoulder, Lategan recovered in time to win the SARRC for a fourth time. Lategan returned to the Dakar in 2025. After a close battle with Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Lategan came up short by less than four minutes. Lategan's main time lost came during the dune and sand-focused stage 11, where dune expert Al-Rajhi surged ahead of the leading Lategan. After withdrawing from the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Lategan contested the final three rounds of the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship. With a victory at his home event, second place in Portugal, and the points scored at Dakar, Lategan entered the final round in Morocco in a three-way title fight with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Lucas Moraes. However, Lategan suffered a rear differential failure during stage 2 at Morocco, ending his championship hopes. Nevertheless, Lategan came back by winning stage 3 and ended the season third in the overall points standings.

Rally results

Complete World Rally-Raid Championship results

YearTeamCarClass12345Points
2025Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota GR DKR Hilux EVO T1UUltimateDAK
255
ABU
WD
ZAF
139
PRT
237
MOR
1311
3rd142
2026Toyota Gazoo RacingToyota GR DKR Hilux EVO T1UUltimateDAK
2120
PRTDESMORABU11th*20*

*Season still in progress.