Jan Habig Rallying

Jan Habig's Motorsport Career

Jannie Habig did not set out to become a rally driver - he had other plans. He was more interested in karting, but to be able to do that you needed a licence from Motorsport South Africa and had to be a member of a club, and he joined the Natal Motorcycle and Car Club.

"Everybody that I met at the club was into rallying and that changed my mind and I decided to rally. That was in 1980, but I first had to go and do my military service and therefore only started rallying seriously in 1983. My first rally car in which I won the Natal Regional Championship (twice) was a Datsun SSS. In 1990 I decided to concentrate on national rallies only and won my first four national rallies overall in 1990 and 1991 in a Nissan Skyline. That was also the start of a long-standing partnership with one of the country's top co-drivers, Douglas Judd.

"In 1992 I switched to Volkswagen and with them I won all six of my national championships with Douglas in the left-hand seat. We won our last rally together in 2008 - the Hitachi Tour Natal Rally, after which Douglas retired.

"Currently I have Robert Paisley as my co-driver who has a career going back more than 20 years and he previously navigated for Serge Damseaux until Serge retired. He won two co-drivers' championship titles with Serge."

>> Read about Jan Habig's career wins here

Regional Rally Championships

1988	Natal Champion Overall honours in all six events contested 3rd Overall in South African Championship
1989	Natal Champion and Transvaal Champion First driver in South African history to clinch two regional championship titles in one year Third overall in the South African Championship

South African National Rally Championships

1990	Third overall in South African Championship Decision to concentrate on National Championship Three overall wins in eight round contest
1991	Fourth overall in South African Championship Only contested 6 events
1992	Third overall in South African Championship Only driver to successfully finish all eight rounds of the championship
1993	Third overall in South African Championship 2nd Overall in the International Rally
1994	Third overall in South African Championship
1995	Third overall in South African Championship
1996	Second overall in South African Championship
1997	South African Rally Champion By far the most successful year in rallying Factory-assisted driver
1998	2nd overall in South African Championship Due to a protest of results after the conclusion of the season, pipped into second place by 1 point
1999	South African Rally Champion Dominant performance, winning six of the eight rounds of the championship
2000	2nd Overall in South African Championship Overall honours in six events, and finished second overall, losing the championship by 2 points
2001	South African Rally Champion Won five of the eight rounds, second in two, and the title was clinched with one event in hand
2002	South African Rally Champion This proved to be a most competitive year, and the title was only clinched in the last round
2004	2nd Overall in South African Championship With only six completed events, second overall was an excellent result
2005	South African Rally Champion Fifth national title Competed in the same car used in 2004 - a front-wheel-drive car - as the factory-prepared Formula S2000 cars only made their debut in the fourth event of the season.
2007	South African Rally Champion Sixth national title Competed in the BP Volkswagen Polo S2000
2008	5th Overall in South African Rally Championship
2009	3rd Overall in South African Rally Championship

FIA World Rally Championships

1994	8th Overall in RAC Rally (WRC event) 1st Privateer This was a lifetime dream and the privately-entered Ford Escort RS Cosworth was built and prepared by me in South Africa. I opted to take my SA navigator, Douglas Judd, and we achieved an excellent result taking eighth place overall, behind seven of the world's top rally drivers, six of them former world champions.
1996	15th Overall in Rally of Australia (WRC event) 1st Privateer Competed in the same car as the 1994 RAC Rally, but developments on works cars were phenomenal and our car was a little outdated.
1998	6th in Class in UK Network Q Rally (WRC event) Competed in a Volkswagen Kit Car for VW Germany

Special Awards

1995

Firestone/SA Guild of Motoring Journalists Motor Sportsman of the Year

Citation on this award: "The award goes to the team that surprised the world and probably themselves, when they finished eighth overall in the RAC World Rally Championship of Great Britain - the highest-ever placing by a SA crew. Their performance was all the more laudable in that they were competing in a World Rally Championship event for the first time, in conditions foreign to them and in an unfamiliar vehicle as one of 197 starters.

1996

National Colours

Awarded National Colours for Motorsport for outstanding performance in international motorsport.

Jan Habig's Career Wins

Jan Habig did not burst onto the rally scene when he started to compete in the SA National Rally Championship. At the time the national championship was the domain of Sarel van der Merwe, Serge Damseaux and to a lesser extent, Hannes Grobler.

Today Jannie is the most senior of the national championship competitors, and in a sense one can say he is a product of a period called the "Golden Age of SA Rallying".

Habig, something of an introvert, made his mark on the national championship in 1990 when he and his navigator of 17 years, Douglas Judd, won their first national rally, and from there they never looked back, winning 36 rallies to date with Habig winning six national drivers' championship titles, and Judd seven co-drivers' titles. Only Serge Damseaux and Sarel van der Merwe have won more National Rally Championship rallies than Habig. But make no mistake, he is not finished yet - not by a long shot.

Jan Habig's Career Wins To Date
1990	WesBank International Rally Toyota Dealers Rally Tour de Valvoline
1991	NGK 400 Rally
1993	Castrol International Rally
1997	Toyota Dealers Rally
1998	Total Autumn Trial Sasol Rally Mountain Trial Great North Rally VW Rally Rally of South Africa Gauteng Rally
2000	Tour Natal Gauteng Rally Rally of South Africa Sasol Rally Mountain Trial Toyota Dealers Rally Cape Great North Rally
2001	Total Rally South Africa Toyota Dealer Rally Cape Sasol Rally MotorPics Mountain Trial
2002	Total Rally South Africa MotorPics Mountain Trial
2003	Hitachi Power Tools Tour Natal
2004	Sasol Rally
2005	Subaru Rally Volkswagen Rally Osram Mountain Trial
2007	Total International Rally
2008	Hitachi Power Tools Tour Natal

Jan Habig's Co-Drivers

Volkswagen Rally teammates Jan Habig and Douglas Judd ended a successful 17-year association that has seen them rake in six national championship titles together. The pair have most recently contested the premier S2000 national rally class in a Volkswagen Polo and were the first rally team in the world to claim a national title in this category.

Jannie Habig said: "We've spoken about it many times over the last few seasons. Increasing work responsibilities and pressures have been chewing into Douglas' time and the workload which lies ahead for him has forced the decision. It was fantastic working with Douglas. I don't think he made even a handful of navigational errors in all the time we were together - and his 35 years of motorsport experience have proved invaluable to our success."

"When you talk about 100 percent effort and total dedication and professionalism, then you are talking about Douglas Judd."

Habig points to the 1994 RAC (Royal Automobile Club) Rally - the first time ever that he and Douglas were faced with pace notes - as a highlight.

"We had never worked with pace notes before and were in a different car, on a different continent and still finished eighth overall at that event," says Habig. "That was an exceptional job, and showcases what Douglas' skills really are."

With Judd's departure, Habig took Pretoria-based Ralph Pitchford to be his new navigator. In the past two years, Robert Paisley, has been Habig's regular co-driver. Paisley also has a distinguished record in rallying. He started out as navigator for Etienne Lourens and then later sat alongside Johnny Gemmell, with whom he won the African Rally Championship.

In 2006 he moved to Toyota where he navigated for Serge Damseaux, and with Damseaux he won two National Co-drivers' Championships. After Damseaux's retirement, Paisley was Mark Cronjé's co-driver until Cronjé left the Toyota rally team. At the beginning of 2011 Paisley joined forces with Jan Habig.