It’s a practice firstly of yearly that the world’s finest and most bold adventurers on two and 4 wheels trek to the Saudi Arabian desert. The venue is the famous Dakar Rally, essentially the most gruelling off-road endurance race on the calendar. Whereas now not a contest beginning in Paris and ending in Dakar, it stays the final word take a look at of man and machine. Final yr’s winners, Audi, are now not operating, however new challengers have entered the Automobiles class: Dacia & Ford! This yr proved to be a really shut combat, with first and second place general ending inside lower than 4 minutes of one another! Right here’s all it’s good to know in regards to the 2025 version of the Dakar Rally.
The 2025 version of the Dakar rally consisted of 14 days of competitors, with a 48-hour “Chrono” marathon stage as the final word problem. The riders needed to navigate a complete of greater than 8,000 kilometres, of which 5,000 have been within the type of specials, throughout essentially the most treacherous terrain, beginning in Bisha and crossing rock-riddled paths, infinite towering dunes, the notorious Empty Quarter and ultimately ending in Shubaytah. A complete of 778 opponents have entered, operating 434 autos in complete. For the second time operating, the Mission 1000 class is open to autos with different zero-emission or hybrid powertrains. The Quad class is now not a part of the occasion, because it was affected by declining curiosity from opponents, however there are some Quad-bike entries within the Bikes class.
The rally’s organizers determined to maneuver the Marathon stage to the primary week of the Dakar, but in addition to make it a fair greater problem. Every competitor was tasked with masking 963 timed kilometres over a 48-hour interval, with an in a single day cease that doesn’t permit for any exterior help for upkeep and repairs. What’s additionally new is one stage with a mass beginning process, the place a number of groups in a single class line up on the beginning. In 5 levels the vehicles (and vehicles) will observe a special route than the bikes. Total, the organizers of the Dakar Rally have actually dialled up the problem this yr, which was partly upon the request of opponents, to check man and machine to absolutely the restrict.
Daniel “chucky” Sanders, the quickest on 2 wheels
The solo adventurers on two wheels are all the time an absolute spotlight for Dakar. It have to be extraordinarily formidable to pilot your bike throughout 1000’s of miles at excessive speeds, the place even the smallest mistake could be the tip of your race or worse. At least 134 riders lined up firstly on January third, with 89 of them making it to the end line. To me, this stays one of the baffling lessons of competitors within the Dakar. Being in complete isolation, operating for miles on finish with out anybody however the occasional fellow madman or -woman to cross your paths is simply astounding. Being a biker myself, it have to be the journey of a lifetime for positive, however one I’ll most likely by no means expertise myself!
From stage 1, Daniel Sanders, racing on a KTM 450 Rally Manufacturing unit, had his sight set on the general victory, successful the Prologue but in addition the primary two levels. He edged out a commanding lead fairly shortly, which was by no means below any actual menace. After all, Sanders needed to put within the work to remain forward, however successful 5 levels in complete and his worst ending place being seventeenth he proved consistency is essential within the Dakar. His complete time on the bike was 53 hours, 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Second place was for Tosha Schareina on a Honda CRF450 Rally, ending 8 minutes and 50 seconds behind Sanders, with Adrien van Beveren on one other Honda CRF450 Rally rounding off the rostrum with a niche of 14 minutes and 46 seconds. Final yr’s winner and motocross ace Ricky Brabec managed a fifth place general however I’m sure he’ll be again in competition subsequent yr!
Native hero Al-Rajhi wins for toyota
The Automobiles class is the playpen of big-money manufacturing unit groups. Normally, that’s, as this yr Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi upset the institution of the highest groups by successful in a shopper Toyota. The native man entered the Dakar with a Toyota Hilux Overdrive, with Timo Gottschalk as his navigator. You’d assume that with Audi pulling the plug on their Dakar efforts final yr, the door was vast open for Toyota’s manufacturing unit group to clinch victory, regardless of new entries from Ford and Dacia. With famous person Sebastien Loeb heading the Dacia group, and Carlos Sainz being the highest driver for Ford, expectations have been excessive. Sadly, Loeb suffered a catastrophic roll in stage 3, with the roll cage of his Dacia being irreparably broken. Sainz, the winner for Audi in 2024, ended up on its roof within the first a part of the 48h chrono stage, which bent the rollbar of his Ford M-Sport Raport, forcing them to retire.
Mitch Guthrie and his stricken Ford M-Sport Raptor.
Nasser Al-Attiyah within the Dacia Sandrider.
Al-Rajhi’s center a part of the rally, masking levels 3 by way of 9 was notably spectacular. He scored his first (and solely) stage win within the fourth stage however would string collectively a collection of top-ten finishes that stored him in shut competition for the general win. South African driver Henk Lategan, piloting one other Toyota Hilux however competing for the manufacturing unit group, was within the lead for a lot of the Dakar however misplaced lots of time in levels 9, 10 and 11. Finally, he needed to succumb to Al-Rajhzi’s tempo and completed slightly below 4 minutes behind him. Mattias Ekström stepped as much as be the lead driver for Ford after Sainz’s withdrawal, and completed third, with a niche of 20 minutes and 21 seconds. Dakar veteran Nasser Al-Attiyah got here near a podium however needed to accept fourth general.
Czech-Dutch Dominance within the vehicles
Ever because the Eighties, the Dutch have put their mark on the Vans class within the Dakar Rally. I can vividly remember Jan de Rooy overtaking Peugeot driver Arie Vatanen in his monstrously powerful DAF 95 Turbotwin X1 at speeds in excess of 200kph. Anyway, that’s previously so let’s have a look at this yr’s Vans class. Martin Macik, driving an Iveco Powerstart for his personal MM Expertise group, was on fireplace for just about the complete rally. Macik received at least 5 levels and by no means completed decrease than fourth, so it’s no shock that such this excessive stage of consistency landed him the general win! The skilled Czech driver can also be the one one, alongside along with his navigator Frantisek Tomasek and mechanic David Svanda, to complete in below 60 hours!
Coming in second, and placing in an virtually equally constant string of finishes, was Dutchman Mitchel van den Brink. With wins within the prologue and stage 1, he appeared set for a cracking end and second is much from something to be ashamed of. However understanding the aggressive teen he’s, it will need to have been very irritating to see Macik pull out a demanding hole on him over the course of the rally. Van den Brink by no means completed exterior of the highest 6, however it wasn’t sufficient to cease the Czech masterclass of Macik. Third place was for Ales Loprais, who was scorching on the tail of Van den Brink, ending solely 5 minutes behind him. A powerful truth within the Vans class is that out of the 30 women and men within the high 10 (every truck has a crew of three), 8 are of Czech nationality and at least 16 are Dutch! Speak about dominance! Oh, and do you know just one group within the high 10 didn’t drive an Iveco Powerstar? The group of Tomáš Vrátný, Bartlomiej Boba and Jaromir Marinec got here in ninth in a Tatra FF7.
Challenger & SSV
The Challenger and SSV classes are amongst the latest within the Dakar Rally and are comparatively compact off-road buggies. The distinction between the 2 is that one is predicated on extra prototype-like buggies (the Challenger class) and the opposite on production-type buggies (the SSV class). The classes shortly gained recognition over the previous couple of years as they’re a bit extra accessible for opponents by way of funding and laws. It’s additionally a category the place kids usually get their first style of the Dakar Rally, earlier than transferring to motorbikes, vehicles or vehicles.
Argentinian driver Nicolás Cavigliasso and co-driver Valentina Pertegarini took the lead within the Challenger T3 class from the very first stage and by no means left the highest spot general. A really sturdy begin noticed the duo ink out a lead sturdy sufficient to be topped the winner father the twelfth and closing stage, regardless of slipping leads to the later levels. They’d a lead of greater than an hour over second-place finishers Gonçalo Guerreiro and Cadu Sachs, with Pau Navarro and Lisandro Ezequiel Sisterna Herrera coming in third.
Within the SSV class, the American duo of Brock Heger and Max Eddy received of their Polaris RZR Professional R Sport, ending in a time of 59 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds. And if you happen to thought the hole between first and second within the Challenger class was spectacular; Heger and Eddy received with a bonus of two hours, 6 minutes and three seconds over Francisco López Contardo and Juan Pablo Latrach in second, and three hours, 37 minutes and 11 seconds over Alexandro Pino and Bernardo Oliveira in third! And simply as we’ve seen in different classes this yr, the duo’s consistency from early on within the rally proved the best way to victory! Heger and Eddy by no means completed decrease than 4 in levels 1 by way of 11!
Mission 1000
New for this yr is the Mission 1000 class, spearheaded to be the best way ahead for the Dakar Rally. It’s reserved for autos with different zero-emission (so EV or hydrogen, mainly) and hybrid drivetrains. Because it’s the latest class, it’s additionally the smallest, with simply 5 competing groups. Three of them entered on a motorbike, one with a automotive and the ultimate one with a truck. The Mission 1000 class can also be a point-based class with the emphasis being on driver effectivity, thus leveling the enjoying discipline between the very completely different machines. Every equipe will likely be given a reference time for a stage, with factors added or subtracted primarily based on efficiency. The winner was the Truck group of Jordi Juvanteny, Hose Luis Criado and Xavier Ribas, with 249 factors.
Classics
For a few years now, there was an official class for traditional Dakar autos. Launched in 2021, the category is eligible for vehicles and vehicles constructed earlier than 2000 or at the least constructed to pre-2000 specs. For the 2025 version of the Dakar Rally, that cut-off yr moved to 2005, mainly opening up the sphere to all the things that competed between 2000 and 2005. The Classics run the Dakar alongside all the opposite lessons, however observe a really completely different route and compete on a points-scoring foundation. The class fields all the things from an Audi Quattro S1 to Toyota Landcruisers, and from Porsche 959s to a Citroën 2CV.
This yr it was the duo of Carlos Santaolalla Milla and Jan Rosa I Viñas in a Toyota HDJ 80 Landcruiser that scored the least quantity of factors (the best way to win). Second place was for Lorenzo Triaglo and Rudy Briani in a Nissan Terrano pick-up, forward of third-place finishers Karolis Raisys and Ignas Daunoravicius in a Collection III Land Rover. And that Citroën 2CV, you ask? Two groups entered with the plucky little Citroën, with Barbora Holicka and Lucie Engova coming in 66th in school, and Floris de Raadt and David Kann ending in 71st place in school. Not unhealthy!
For extra particulars on the 2024 version of the Dakar Rally, and to seek out out extra about all of the groups and drivers who competed within the big selection of classes, please go to Dakar.com.
Editorial Notice: The pictures used on this article are sourced by, and used with permission by the official Dakar Rally organisation and the Amaury Sport Organisation until said in any other case
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