Toyota Wins The 2025 Dakar Rally

It’s a convention initially of yearly that the world’s greatest and most bold adventurers on two and 4 wheels trek to the Saudi Arabian desert. The venue is the well-known Dakar Rally, probably 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 last word take a look at of man and machine. Final 12 months’s winners, Audi, are now not working, however new challengers have entered the Automobiles class: Dacia & Ford! This 12 months proved to be a really shut struggle, with first and second place total ending inside lower than 4 minutes of one another! Right here’s all you have 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 last word problem. The riders needed to navigate a complete of greater than 8,000 kilometres, of which 5,000 had been within the type of specials, throughout probably the most treacherous terrain, beginning in Bisha and crossing rock-riddled paths, countless towering dunes, the notorious Empty Quarter and finally ending in Shubaytah. A complete of 778 rivals have entered, working 434 autos in whole. For the second time working, the Mission 1000 class is open to autos with various zero-emission or hybrid powertrains. The Quad class is now not a part of the occasion, because it was affected by declining curiosity from rivals, 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 good larger problem. Every competitor was tasked with overlaying 963 timed kilometres over a 48-hour interval, with an in a single day cease that doesn’t enable for any outdoors assist 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 unique route than the bikes. General, the organizers of the Dakar Rally have actually dialled up the issue this 12 months, which was partly upon the request of rivals, 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 hundreds of miles at excessive speeds, the place even the smallest mistake may be the tip of your race or worse. At least 134 riders lined up initially on January third, with 89 of them making it to the end line. To me, this stays one of the baffling courses of competitors within the Dakar. Being in whole isolation, working 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 certain, however one I’ll most likely by no means expertise myself!

From stage 1, Daniel Sanders, racing on a KTM 450 Rally Manufacturing facility, had his sight set on the general victory, profitable the Prologue but in addition the primary two levels. He edged out a commanding lead fairly rapidly, which was by no means below any actual risk. In fact, Sanders needed to put within the work to remain forward, however profitable 5 levels in whole and his worst ending place being seventeenth he proved consistency is vital within the Dakar. His whole 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 12 months’s winner and motocross ace Ricky Brabec managed a fifth place total however I’m sure he’ll be again in competition subsequent 12 months!

Native hero Al-Rajhi wins for toyota

The Automobiles class is the playpen of big-money manufacturing facility groups. Normally, that’s, as this 12 months Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi upset the institution of the highest groups by profitable in a consumer Toyota. The native man entered the Dakar with a Toyota Hilux Overdrive, with Timo Gottschalk as his navigator. You’d suppose that with Audi pulling the plug on their Dakar efforts final 12 months, the door was extensive open for Toyota’s manufacturing facility workforce to clinch victory, regardless of new entries from Ford and Dacia. With famous person Sebastien Loeb heading the Dacia workforce, and Carlos Sainz being the highest driver for Ford, expectations had 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, overlaying levels 3 via 9 was significantly 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 facility workforce, was within the lead for a lot of the Dakar however misplaced a variety 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 total.

Czech-Dutch Dominance within the vehicles

Ever because the Nineteen Eighties, the Dutch have put their mark on the Vans class within the Dakar Rally. I can vividly keep in mind Jan de Rooy overtaking Peugeot driver Arie Vatanen in his monstrously highly effective DAF 95 Turbotwin X1 at speeds in extra of 200kph. Anyway, that’s previously so let’s have a look at this 12 months’s Vans class. Martin Macik, driving an Iveco Powerstart for his personal MM Know-how workforce, was on fireplace for just about your entire rally. Macik gained at least 5 levels and by no means completed decrease than fourth, so it’s no shock that such this excessive degree 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 nearly 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 figuring out the aggressive teenager he’s, it should 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 outdoors 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 formidable reality within the Vans class is that out of the 30 women and men within the prime 10 (every truck has a crew of three), 8 are of Czech nationality and at least 16 are Dutch! Discuss dominance! Oh, and do you know just one workforce within the prime 10 didn’t drive an Iveco Powerstar? The workforce 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 most recent within the Dakar Rally and are comparatively compact off-road buggies. The distinction between the 2 is that one relies on extra prototype-like buggies (the Challenger class) and the opposite on production-type buggies (the SSV class). The classes rapidly gained recognition over the previous couple of years as they’re a bit extra accessible for rivals when it comes to funding and laws. It’s additionally a category the place kids usually get their first style of the Dakar Rally, earlier than shifting 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 total. A really sturdy begin noticed the duo ink out a lead sturdy sufficient to be topped the winner father the twelfth and remaining stage, regardless of slipping ends in the later levels. That they had 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 gained of their Polaris RZR Professional R Sport, ending in a time of 59 hours, 13 minutes and 11 seconds. And in case you thought the hole between first and second within the Challenger class was spectacular; Heger and Eddy gained 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 12 months, 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 via 11!

Mission 1000

New for this 12 months is the Mission 1000 class, spearheaded to be the best way ahead for the Dakar Rally. It’s reserved for autos with various zero-emission (so EV or hydrogen, mainly) and hybrid drivetrains. Because it’s the most recent class, it’s additionally the smallest, with simply 5 competing groups. Three of them entered on a motorcycle, 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 taking part in subject between the very completely different machines. Every equipe will probably be given a reference time for a stage, with factors added or subtracted primarily based on efficiency. The winner was the Truck workforce 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 a minimum of constructed to pre-2000 specs. For the 2025 version of the Dakar Rally, that cut-off 12 months moved to 2005, mainly opening up the sphere to every part that competed between 2000 and 2005. The Classics run the Dakar alongside all the opposite courses, however observe a really completely different route and compete on a points-scoring foundation. The class fields every part from an Audi Quattro S1 to Toyota Landcruisers, and from Porsche 959s to a Citroën 2CV.

This 12 months 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 at school, and Floris de Raadt and David Kann ending in 71st place at school. Not unhealthy!

For extra particulars on the 2024 version of the Dakar Rally, and to search out out extra about all of the groups and drivers who competed within the big selection of classes, please go to Dakar.com.

Editorial Word: 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