“The best car I’ve ever had”
CREW FACTS
B.B.
- Not only is he a very competitive driver, he’s also one of the main figures behind the Century Racing project. As an engineer, Brian Baragwanath has spent years designing and building the best possible buggies for the Dakar and South-African cross-country series.
- He however first showed up at the Dakar on a far smaller vehicle: a quad. Despite failing to make it to the finish in 2015, the South African went on to win two stages and finished third overall a year later.
- Born in Polokwane, north of South Africa, the tall father of two switched to cars and it was only natural that he would be behind the steering wheel of one of his Century babies. Since his car debut in 2021, he has finished all the Dakar rallies he started even taking his CR6 to 14th spot in 2022.
- 2024 was a turning point for Baragwanath with the launch of the brand new CR7 T1+ four-wheel drive car. Quite a challenge for a brand that was specialized in two-wheel drive buggies. The South-African who used the Dakar as an extreme test-drive struggled with the expected reliability issues but still managed to finish second of a stage.
- Alongside co-driver Leonard Cremer, he returns with far bigger ambitions and will be part of the SRT structure with Frenchman Mathieu Serradori. Both will hope for great things in the CR7.
L.C.
- Leonard Cremer had a first taste of off-road rallying on South-African soil with his mate Brian Baragwanath.
- The founder of Troop Travel, a group travel logistics plateform, first discovered the Dakar in 2022 when he took over from Taye Perry in the right seat of Baragwanath’s CR6. Since then he has navigated his driver to the finish of all three of his Dakar rallies.
- After taking part in several rounds of the South-African cross-country series again this year, he will be on the start line of his fourth Dakar.
AMBITION 2025
B.B.: “It’s always an exciting time of the year. Building up towards the Dakar. We've had a really good year of development in the CR7. Last year we drove it for the first time in September, and then we managed to get it to the start line against all odds. Now we've had a good year of settling the car in and getting it to perfection. We've been working really hard and manufacturing enough cars this year to be able to race, so it's exciting to have a lot of new clients coming on board.
Really happy to be a part of the Century brand, not only for myself, but for the clients. So, it's always nice and busy from my side. For me personally, I'm really looking forward to being in the strongest position I've been in my past 6 Dakars. I think I've got the best car I've ever had, and I should have the best backup I've ever had.
So, although we're essentially almost privateers, not backed by a manufacturer, we are still a really strong team. Between me and Mathieu Serradori as the factory drivers for Century racing, as well as at least, ten other clients racing at the race, I think me and Mathieu should be able to hold up some great pace this year. And Laia Sanz being in the CR6 again, it’s always nice to have her as part of the family. Hopefully she can aim to win her class (2-wheel drive).
I've got a feeling it's going to be really good Dakar, I do believe we have the potential to be at the front. As you know, Dakar is Dakar. You can't pin down everything, but, you know, after six Dakars the team has really grown together from strength to strength.”
L.C.: “We had the CR7 for the first time at the Dakar in January so it was really a test year. It was our first real race with the car and we obviously had some issues with some parts which took us out of the race in terms of ambitions. But apart from that we’re happy with the car and how it performed in the Dakar. We learned. A lot of stuff around the car and what we could do to improve it. During the year we had a number of races in South-Africa. We made some improvements and did some more tests. For us this year at the Dakar will be a different story. We’re coming with a car that’s a lot more tested and we’re happy with the performance and the reliability. We’re excited to see what we can do. The team that we have together at SRT is a strong team with a lot of experience which we’re also happy about. Brain and I also now have a number of years of experience together in the car. Everything is coming together nicely and we’re hoping for a good result. We’ll push to see what we can do around the other top competitors.
