Beginning with a Prologue stage close to Bisha on January third, opponents will sort out 12 gruelling desert levels that incorporate 5,145 aggressive kilometres in a punishing route of seven,753km.
Toyota Gazoo Racing are the defending W2RC Producers’ champions however face the may of Dacia and the Ford M-Sport groups on this event with X-raid Mini concentrating on the Drivers’ Championship. BBR Motorsport (Taurus), the G Rally Staff and X-Raid will battle it out for honours within the Challenger class and the Can-Am Manufacturing facility Staff faces competitors from Polaris within the SSV class.
Three Dacia Sandriders, 4 Ford Raptors and X-Raid Minis and 7 Toyota Hiluxes prime the checklist of 24 entrants eligible for the Final W2RC class with MD Optimus and Century Racing additionally within the combine.
Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah is a five-time winner of the occasion and the defending W2RC champion. He and co-driver Edouard Boulanger made the change to the brand new Dacia Sandrider in direction of the top of 2024 and the Qatari clinched a 3rd successive title – and a primary with Boulanger – with victory on the Rally of Morocco on the automobile’s debut.
9-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb has but to fulfil his ambition of profitable the occasion and drives a second automobile with Cristina Gutiérrez driving the third automobile. Loeb and navigator Fabian Lurquin completed second to Al-Attiyah in Morocco final October.
Defending the W2RC Producers’ title for a fourth time could possibly be much more difficult for Toyota Gazoo Racing on this event. Yazeed Al-Rajhi completed because the runner-up to Al-Attiyah in 2023 and 2024 and is joined by Brazilian Lucas Moraes and American former Challenger champion Seth Quintero to spearhead the Japanese producer’s problem with the most recent model of the Toyota Hilux. The trio proceed to staff up with their common navigators, Timo Gottschalk, Armand Monleón and Dennis Zenz.
High-quality tuning and ongoing work has been carried out with the Toyota’s suspension in current weeks and Al-Rajhi clinched an emphatic win in Jeddah shortly earlier than Christmas within the remaining shakedown of the automobile earlier than Dakar. Overdrive Racing’s Juan Cruz Yacopini and Rokas Baciuška are additionally registered for the Drivers’ Championship. The latter triumphed within the SSV class in 2022 and 2023 and stepped up for extra success in Challenger final 12 months.
Toyota Gazoo Racing additionally fields a DKR Hilux for Henk Lategan and a Hilux IMT Evo for Saood Variawa. Veteran South African Giniel de Villiers gained the occasion outright with Volkswagen in 2009 and can also be entered in an IMT Evo, however shouldn’t be registered for the W2RC.
The X-Raid Mini JCW Staff loved a profitable 2024 marketing campaign throughout a variety of Bajas and has a powerful line-up to problem for honours in 2025. Staff principal Sven Quandt was a serious a part of Staff Audi Sport’s Dakar success in 2024 and has labored on the event of a petroleum engine for the Mini JCW Rally this 12 months.
Guillaume de Mévius (second general in 2024) and Denis Krotov will drive the 2 petrol-engined Minis, whereas the FIA World and European Baja Cup champion João Ferreira and Frenchman Lionel Baud will persevere with the diesel engine. Guerlain Chicherit might nicely problem for general honours in a 3rd petrol machine however shouldn’t be personally registered for the W2RC.
The Ford M-Sport Staff have developed the Ranger after which the Raptor away from the highlight of the W2RC for a lot of 2023 and 2024. However the staff has registered for the 2025 W2RC and might be difficult for each the Producers’ and Drivers’ Championships.
Carlos Sainz is a four-time occasion winner and the defending champion after his memorable success final January with Staff Audi Sport. He once more groups up with Lucas Cruz and might be joined by former Audi team-mates Mattias Ekström/Emil Bergkvist and Mitch Guthrie/Dennis Zenz within the three vehicles registered for Producers’ factors. Guthrie makes the step up from the Challenger class.
Joan ‘Nani’ Roma has gained the Dakar on two wheels and in a automobile and crews the fourth Raptor with fellow Spaniard Alex Haro. He carried out a lot of the take a look at and improvement work over current months and tackled choose occasions final 12 months, together with topping the instances on the Hungarian Baja in August.
Different W2RC registered drivers prone to push for the highest 10 embody Mathieu Serradori (Century CR-7) and Martin Prokop (Ford Raptor).
Overdrive Racing can also be operating a Toyota for former Dakar motorbike winners Toby Worth and Sam Sunderland. Australian Worth will drive with Briton Sunderland navigating on their first actual style of four-wheel competitors, however they don’t seem to be registered for the W2RC.
To make the competitors as honest as attainable within the flagship Final class, a collection of proposals have been authorised within the FIA Cross-Nation Rally Sporting Laws to finalise the deployment of the FIA torque meter for the primary time in 2025.
This would be the major system for monitoring and controlling powertrain efficiency in Final group vehicles. Sporting penalties of 10 seconds per infringement might be imposed for as much as 5, 30 seconds for six to 10 or a set penalty of 10 minutes per stage for greater than 10 infringements.
The Cross-Nation Rally Fee carried out an evaluation in 2024 and has restructured the points-scoring system. For the Dakar, the factors scale of fifty, 40, 30, 26, 23, 20, 17, 13, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5 and 4 is in situ and the occasion can even see 4 factors awarded for categorized opponents from sixteenth place onwards and two factors awarded to unclassified opponents.
Staff BBR, the G Rally Staff and X-Raid set for Challenger battle
With Can-Am switching its consideration to the SSV class from the beginning of 2025, Staff BBR, the G Rally Staff and X-raid-built Yamaha YXZs begin because the favourites to tussle for honours within the Challenger class.
Sixteen crews have registered for the W2RC and the defending SSV champion Yasir Seaidan of Saudi Arabia switches to Staff BBR and leads the way in which together with his French navigator Michael Metge within the first of a dozen Taurus T3 Max machines registered for the category.
Argentina’s Nicolas Cavigliasso, the current FIA Center East Baja Cup winner Dania Akeel and the gifted Spaniard Pau Navarro might be aiming for the highest spot on the rostrum. Cavigliasso once more groups up with the defending Challenger champion navigator Valentina Pertegarini.
Nasser Racing fields a Taurus for the FIA World Baja Cup’s Challenger champion Edouard Pons, whereas Qatar’s QMMF Staff has entered a few T3s for Al-Attiyah’s brother Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah and the 2024 FIA Center East rally champion Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari.
Argentina’s David Zille, final 12 months’s Jordan Baja winner Khalid Al-Jafla, Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro, American Corbin Leaverton and Pole Adam Kus full the line-up of registered Taurus drivers. Each Guerreiro and Leaverton might be hoping to observe within the footsteps of the likes of Quintero and Guthrie, as they symbolize the Purple Bull Off-Highway Junior Staff USA by BFG.
Puck Klaassen and Rui Carneiro fly the flag for the G Rally Staff of their OT3s and Mario Franco and Pedro Gonçalves might be aiming for honours of their X-Raid-developed YXZ 1000Rs.
Can-Am Manufacturing facility Staff seems to be for SSV success in new Maverick R
Eight of the ten registered SSV crews will drive Can-Ams and the Canadian producer can even give a aggressive debut to its new Maverick R. The machines have been permitted to run in an Experimental class in direction of the top of 2024 however weren’t eligible for FIA Championships.
The Can-Am Manufacturing facility Staff and the South Racing Can-Am Staff might be hoping to proceed their exceptional run of success on the Dakar. The American duo of Sara Worth and Sean Berriman begin because the favourites to assert most W2RC factors within the new machine, whereas Fernando Alvarez (final 12 months’s winner of the FIA World Baja Cup’s SSV class) and Manuel Andújar will drive new Mavericks beneath the South Racing banner.
Registered competitors comes from a pair of Polaris RXRs within the arms of the Italian duo of Enrico Gaspari and Michele Cinotto, a South Racing Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR for Diego Martinez and personal Can-Am entries for Claude Fournier, Alexandre Pinto, Carlos Vento and Roger Grouwels. Pinto gained the Highway to Dakar Problem on the Rally of Morocco again in October.
It’s fairly probably that the outright winner of the SSV part might be a driver who shouldn’t be registered for the W2RC. A number of Dakar champion Fernando Lopez and American team-mate Hunter Miller wheel out a pair of manufacturing unit Maverick Rs, whereas former French biker Xavier de Soultrait has entered in a Polaris and the gifted Gerard Farrés and Sebastian Guayasamin drive a pair of Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RRs.
The route
The route for the forty seventh operating of the world’s most well-known off-road occasion is foreboding, difficult and options tons of of kilometres of sandy tracks and dune crossings.
The occasion relies out of a begin camp in Bisha within the southwest of the Kingdom for the primary time and finishes within the distant city of Shubaytah, deep within the Empty Quarter of Saudi’s Jap Province near the frontier with the UAE.
A 29km Prologue, close to Bisha, will decide the beginning order for the opening 412km Bisha loop stage on January 4th.
The primary a part of the race options the 48hr-chrono stage of 965km on January fifth and sixth and this leads in direction of a Marathon stage with out service help between Al-Henakiya and Al-Ula, en path to the remaining day in Ha’il.
After the remaining day on January tenth, motion resumes with the sixth stage of 606km between Ha’il and Advert-Duwadimi and one other punishing 481km loop by the deserts round Advert-Duwadimi on January twelfth.
The Dakar caravan then heads to the Saudi capital of Riyadh and on to Haradh for an additional two specials of 487km and 357km earlier than arriving in Shubaytah on January fifteenth after a brief run of 119km by the demanding dunes.
A remaining sting within the tail would be the eleventh stage of 280km round Shubaytah on January sixteenth earlier than the ultimate Energy Selective Part varieties a part of the final stage of 134km that brings the survivors to the end celebrations in distant Shubaytah. Factors might be awarded for the quickest three crews in every class on the brand new Energy Selective Part.
2025 Dakar Rally – main entries (W2RC registered solely):
Final
200. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider
201. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
203. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux
204. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Toyota GR DKR Hilux
207. Jean-Luc Ceccaldi (FRA)/Delphine Delfino (FRA) MD Optimus
209. Mathieu Serradori (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Century CR7
210. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
211. Henk Lategan (ZAF)/Brett Cummings (ZAF) Toyota GR DKR Hilux
212. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP) Dacia Sandrider
215. Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Yicheng Wang (CHN) Toyota Hilux
216. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
217. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (ANA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i
218. Saood Variawa (ZAF)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo
219. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider
221. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor RS
222. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i
224. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D
225. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Lucas Cruz (ESP) Ford Raptor
226. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor
227. Joan ‘Nani’ Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Ford Raptor
228. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) Ford Raptor
240. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D
242. Daniel Schröder (DEU)/Henry Köhne (DEU) Volkswagen WCT Amarok
262. Dave Klaassen (NLD)/Tessa Klaassen (NLD) Purple-Lined Revo T1+
Choose others (not W2RC registered)
202. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA)/Alex Winocq (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i
206. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo
213. Christian Lavieille (FRA)/Valentin Sarreaud (FRA) MD Optimus
231. Toby Worth (AUS)/Sam Sunderland GBR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive
Challenger
300. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Michael Metge (FRA) Taurus T3 Max
301. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3 Max
302. Puck Klaassen (NLD)/Charan Moore (ZAF) G Rally Staff OT3
304. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Lisandro Herrera (ARG) Taurus T3 Max
305. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max
307. Mario Franco (PRT)/Rui Franco (PRT) X-Raid YXZ 1000R
308. David Zille (ARG)/Sebastien Cesana (ARG) Taurus T3 Max
309. Eduardo Pons (ESP)/Jaume Betriu (ESP) Taurus T3 Max
313. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Andrei Rutnitski (ANA) Taurus T3 Max
318. Pedro Gonçalves (PRT)/Hugo Maghalães (PRT) X-Raid YXZ 1000R
319. Gonçalo Guerreiro (PRT)/Cadu Sachs (BRA) Taurus T3 Max
321. Rui Carneiro (PRT)/Ola Floene (NOR) G Rally Staff OT3
325. Corbin Leaverton (USA)/Taye Perry (DEU) Taurus T3 Max
326. Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Bruno Jacomy (BRA) Taurus T3 Max
334. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Taurus T3 Max
349. Adam Kus (POL)/Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) Taurus T3 Max
SSV
405. Sara Worth (USA)/Sean Berriman (USA) Can-Am Maverick R
406. Enrico Gaspari (ITA)/Fausto Mota (PRT) Polaris RZR Professional R Sport
408. Diego Martinez (ARG)/Sergio Lafuente (URY) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
409. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R
410. Claude Fournier (FRA)/Gregory Revest-Arnoux (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
412. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernardo Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
413. Manuel Andújar (ARG)/Bernardo Graue (ARG) Can-Am Maverick R
414. Michele Cinotto (ITA)/Alberto Bertoldi (ITA) Polaris RZR XP Professional
426. Carlos Vento (ESP)/Jorge Brandao (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
430. Roger Grouwels (NLD)/Rudolf Meijer (NLD) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
Choose others (not W2RC registered)
400. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA)/Martin Bonnet (FRA) Polaris RZR Professional R Sport
401. Sebastian Guayasamin (ECU)/Fernando Acosta (ARG) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
402. Gerard Farrés (ESP)/Tony Vingut (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
404. Francisco Lopez (CHL)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) Can-Am Maverick R
420. Hunter Miller (USA)/Andrew Brief (USA) Can-Am Maverick R
Timetable of occasions
Wednesday, January 1
Accreditation and administration, Begin camp, Bisha 07.00hrs-21.00hrs
Thursday, January 2
Accreditation and administration, Begin camp, Bisha 07.00hrs-21.00hrs
Re-scrutineering checks, Begin camp, Bisha 10.00hrs-16.00hrs
High driver press convention, Begin camp, Bisha 17.00hrs-18.00hrs
Opponents’ parade 19.00hrs onwards
Friday, January 3
Bisha (Prologue) 29km
Saturday, January 4
Bisha-Bisha (Stage 1) 412km
Sunday, January 5
Bisha-Bisha (Stage 2 – half 1)
Monday, January 6
Bisha-Bisha (Stage 2 – half 2) 965km mixed
Tuesday, January 7
Bisha-Al-Henakiya (Stage 3) 496km
Wednesday, January 8
Al-Henakiya-Al-Ula (Stage 4 – Marathon) 415km
Thursday, January 9
Al-Ula-Ha’il (Stage 5) 428km
Friday, January 10
Ha’il relaxation day
Saturday, January 11
Ha’il-Advert-Duwadimi (Stage 6) 606km
Sunday, January 12
Advert-Duwadimi- Advert-Duwadimi (Stage 7) 481km
Monday, January 13
Advert-Duwadimi-Riyadh (Stage 8) 487km
Tuesday, January 14
Riyadh-Haradh (Stage 9) 357km
Wednesday, January 15
Haradh-Shubaytah (Stage 10) 119km
Thursday, January 16
Shubaytah-Shubaytah (Stage 11) 280km
Friday, January 19
Shubaytah – Energy Selective Part (Stage 12) 134km
Podium and prize giving, Shubaytah, 20.00hrs
