In June 2023, Max Smart had never rallied anything. Ever.
Yet today, the 24-year-old South African has made history by becoming the first African driver, ever, to win a European rally title.
In a little over three years, and after just 23 competitive starts, Smart has risen from literally nothing to being the face of 1200 billboards back home. It’s a remarkable story.
“Yeah it’s absolutely incredible and it means the world,” he tells DirtFish.
“This was obviously my first year out of [FIA] Rally Star, being a privateer and finding all the sponsors and everything myself.
“Me and my mom, we worked really hard at the start of the year to just reach out to absolutely everybody to keep the dream alive, because if I didn’t get it right and took say a year’s break in rallying, finding sponsors without competing and getting some results would be almost impossible, you know?
“I just said to myself: ‘Max, you’ve got one shot at this, and that shot is now. And I’m just going to give absolutely everything, even if I look like I’m crazy to many people’.
“When they learned how much I needed to raise, a lot of my friends thought ‘Man, that’s not possible. You’re dreaming’. And even though I was like, ‘Yeah, maybe I am crazy, but I’m just going to give it my all'”.
Winner of FIA Rally Star’s African selection back in 2022, Smart – a former motocross rider – hasn’t had a typical journey in rallying.
Unlike fellow continental winners Romet Jürgenson and Taylor Gill, Smart didn’t have any actual rallying experience to draw on. All of his learning was done within the Rally Star program, behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta Rally3.
It therefore took him some time to adapt, but his raw potential was clear. On just the ninth start of his entire career, he stood on a Junior WRC podium (in Sardinia) and has kept building from there.
But with the Rally Star program and funding ending in 2025, Smart was on his own for 2026. He didn’t quite have the budget, or results, behind him to secure WRC2 programs like Jürgenson and Gill, but that wasn’t going to deter him.
“Eventually I found a few small partners,” he says. “And then one of my small partners linked me up to an individual that actually helped cover the first rally. And then I was able to work around finding more brands to come on board for this rally. Then I used that budget for the next rally. It was a bit of a miracle in some ways.”
Smart had to work incredibly hard to secure his Spanish program
Smart decided to contest the Spanish Gravel Championship this year, for a few reasons: the season afforded a dropped score so he could start in May and therefore buy himself more time to secure the required budget, it was entirely on gravel which Smart felt gave him the best chance of impressing, and he’s always enjoyed the Spanish vibe and culture.
“So I booked a one-way ticket to Spain before the first round, and just said: ‘I’m going to make it work’,” Smart recalls. “I’m going to try and find a team to work as a mechanic for, and I’m gonna see where it goes, you know?
“After the first rally I built a really good relationship with the team, PCR Sport. They were so happy with my pace and they basically took me under their wing. They offered me to live with them and work as a mechanic with them every day and I literally lived in the house of my team principal and his wife.
“Every day I was mechanicing and learning and working on rally cars as well as race cars and road cars. It was the dream, really.”
One thing many look for in a driver is determination, desire and hunger to succeed. You can’t deny Smart any of that.
But what ultimately pays is pace, and the South African was able to show that too.
Starting the season in an original Škoda Fabia R5, Smart and co-driver Alejandro López recorded a seventh overall finish on Smart’s R5/Rally2 debut, but from there his year skyrocketed.
Smart switched to a Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the final three rounds, and was never off the podium
Victory at Rallye Reino de León made Smart the first African winner of a European rally for half a century, but perhaps more importantly, it underlined his championship credentials.
A switch to a far younger Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the final three rounds proved a strong choice, as Smart was never off the podium – winning again at Rallye de Cáceres before sealing the title with third place at the season finale in Granada.
“Every rally I’ve felt really good progression,” Smart reflects, “and we’ve also been super, super clean in all five events. I also have put in a lot of work after each rally to know what I did right, what I did wrong, all of that. And that’s where I’ve been finding the progression.
“I’ve been like watching back all my onboards a lot and saying, ‘Ah, I could have done this in this gear. I could have done that flat’, you know, and I must say Alejandro also, I’ve got to give my co-driver lots of credit for all of his input this year. He’s been able to sit with many, many drivers. He’s done like over 370 rallies so he’s got boatloads of experience and has spent much time in a Rally2 car.
“And he was also just showing me the potential of the car. He really trusted me and pushed me so he’s a big part of the progression. I’m really keen to work with him again next year.”
A crack team: Max and Alejandro
Next year, Smart hopes to compete in the Spanish Superchampionship so that he can improve his Tarmac skills, and then mimic what old Rally Star team-mate Gill did this season by selecting three WRC2 events to impress the world on – likely brand-new events such as Rally Scotland, a country where Smart has spent plenty of time with mentor Brian Cameron.
“Once I was given this Rally Star opportunity, I have just been obsessed. Rally is the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, the last thing I think about when I go to sleep – like, anywhere I drive or go, I’m thinking, ‘Ah, how can this relate to rally?'” Smart smiles.
“For every rally this year, I pretty much wrote a book about it, just studying the road, studying the past years. It’s the same sort of level as what I was doing in the WRC, and the level of work ethic that I know the top boys are doing.
“I just wanted to just absolutely submerge myself and give everything. And that’s how I’ve done it.”
Back home, Smart’s achievements have made waves. His nation is rightfully proud of what he’s managed to do.
Smart has been blown away by how popular his achievement has been back home
“I’ve been a bit blown away with how well it’s been received,” Smart admits, who has now returned home to South Africa.
“I posted a reel after winning the championship, and that thing actually went really, really viral. It went on many, many South African stories the next day, and still today. We were on like 1,200 billboards, which was crazy.
“My auntie was driving to work, and she looked up… and I didn’t know about this at the stage. She said she saw my face and she nearly crashed! I’ve been on many different news articles, many influencers in South Africa are sharing cool things. It makes me proud because I’ve always been flying the South African flag. I’m really, really happy.”
One title success won’t unlock a successful career on its own, but what Smart has proved this year is how badly he wants it. He’s removed the word impossible from his vocabulary, knuckled down and made history.
“I think the biggest recurring thing that I have proved is the belief that people have had in me is for a reason, you know?” he says. “Rally Star believed in me, and we were able to get some podiums in the world championship with no experience – some solid results and stage wins.
Sinking in: people believe in Smart
“And then now coming into this year, I’ve had to introduce a whole bunch of new faces to my sponsorship side of things, you know, to Team Max Smart Rally. And they believed in me with what I was telling them at the start of the season. And we went and we did it, you know?
“I think that’s the biggest recurring thing that I can see in my whole journey. Even thinking back to my coach, Brian Cameron from Scotland, he believed in me right back at the start. I had Thrustmaster come on as a sponsor before I even got in a rally car.
“And this belief is something that’s… man, it’s really special to show that it’s there for a reason, you know?”
From rally rookie to national champion in three years isn’t half bad. What could the next three years possibly hold for this emerging talent?
