Everything you need to know about the 47th edition of the Dakar, scheduled from 3 to 17 January in Saudi Arabia. The route, the categories and the favourites
It is the event that opens the year of motorsport and with the advent of 2025 we are preparing to leave Dakar. As in the last five editions, this one, number 47 in total, will take place entirely in Saudi Arabia. Departure is scheduled for Friday January 3 with the prologue in Bisha, a western city, and then ending two weeks later, the January 17thin Shubaytah, on the east coast. All this after having covered almost 8 thousand kilometers in the desert, of which over 5 thousand were timed. There are five main categories of registered vehicles: moto, auto, Challenger (lightweight four-wheeled prototypes), Ssv (series light quadricycles) e truck. In addition, five vehicles with innovative technologies and the historic vehicles of the company are added Dakar Classica category that runs with regularity classification, for a total of over 500 crews. Let’s take a closer look at all the news and the main protagonists.
The news
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The 2025 edition will see an important distinction between the routes covered by motorbikes and those relating to other vehicles: over 45% of the special stages will be separated. This will allow the departures of the four-wheel vehicles to be brought forward, thus allowing the crews occupying the lower ranking positions to arrive at the bivouac at more favorable times. It also increases safety for motorcyclists. In fact, they will no longer have to worry about being reached by cars and trucks. On the other hand, navigation becomes even more important for cars because they will not have the tracks of the two wheels available. The remains confirmed 48 hour stopheld in a loop around Bisha on January 5 and 6, for a total of 967 km timed. The crews will stop overnight to resume the march the following day, in a difficult challenge that will mark the ranking from the start. A few days later, on January 8th, the Tappa Marathonwhich will not allow you to take advantage of external assistance, from Al-Henakiyah to Al-Ula and then further up to Ha’il, where the rest day will be held. The second week of the race will lead the caravan to descend towards the capital Riyadh and then further south, to reach the Empty Quarteran almost unexplored desert area, and the finish line of Shubaytah on the Persian Gulf.
Dakar motorbike: hunt in Brabec
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In recent editions, the two-wheel category at the Dakar has seen numerous protagonists share the victories. However, two multiple winners will be missing from this edition: Toby Price and Sam Sunderland, switched to cars where they will share a Toyota Hilux. Thus hunt for the reigning champion Ricky Brabec su Hondawho boasts two victories as does the Argentine Kevin Benavides su Ktm. Great attention must be paid to Hero Of Ross Branchwinner of the World Rally Raid Championship and second in the Dakar in 2024, and the Chilean José Ignacio Cornejo Florimoalways extremely fast even if unlucky several times. The Hondas, which they will have among their riders, are also competitive Pablo Quintanilla, Skyler Howes, Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren. On Ktm the riders will aim for the top positions Daniel Sanders, Michael Docherty e Luciano Benavides. Finally, there are nine Italians involved on two wheels: Paolo Lucci (Ktm), Tommaso Montanari (Fantic), Lorenzo Maestrami (Honda), Cesare Zacchetti (Kove), Andrea Winkler (Ktm), Manuel Lucchese (Husqvarna), Tiziano Internò (Honda), Iader Giraldi (Ktm) and Ottavio Missoni (Kove).
Dakar car: four-way challenge
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There are four manufacturers present officially (or almost) at the Dakar 2025 among the cars: Ford, Dacia, Toyota e Mini. The American company debuts the Raptor T1+developed in collaboration with M-Sport also taking advantage of the experience of the 2024 Dakar with the Ranger. To aim for victory he lines up four very interesting crews: the reigning champion Carlos Sainz62 years old and four successes, sailed by Lucas Cruz; Swedish Mattias Ekströmversatile driver with experience in the Dakar, on the track and in rallycross with Audi, co-piloted by Emil Bergkvist; Nani RomaSpanish expert winner of a Dakar on motorbike and one in a car, navigated by Alex Haro; the American Mitchell Guthriecoming from the light prototypes, sailed by Kellon Walch. The Romanian house Dacia he responds with three examples of his new prototype Sand ridersentrusted to expert and very fast pilots: Nasser Al-Attiyahwinner of five Dakars; Sébastien Loebnine-time world rally champion; Cristina Gutierrezchampion in Extreme E and in the Dakar 2024 among the light prototypes. Toyota confirms once again its commitment to the pick-up Hiluxthe most tested vehicle in the category, with six official examples entrusted to Lucas Moraes, Seth Quintero, Guy Botterill, Giniel De Villiers, Henk Lategan and Saood Variawato which are added the numerous specimens deployed by Overdrive Racing. Among these stand out Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Rokas Baciuska, Juan Yacopini and Toby Price. In the end, Mini X-Raid returns to deploy its Jcw Rally for Guerlain Chicherit, Denis Krotov, Guillaume De Mevius, Lionel Baud and Joao Ferreira. Added to these protagonists are the many two- and four-wheel drive buggies that can have notable speed peaks and fight for stage victories with drivers such as Mathieu Serradori and Brian Baragwanath. Two Italian crews at the start: Eugenio Amos-Paolo Ceci (MD) and Agostino Rizzardi-Francesca Gasperi (Century).
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The other classes
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The presence of the trucks is inevitable, which will see the Iveco Powerstar as vehicles to beat after winning the last edition with the Czech Martin Macikwho returns to defend the title. Of note is the presence, on the Iveco of MM Technology sponsored by Italtrans, of Danilo Petrucci: the driver from Terni will act as mechanic for the expert Claudio Bellina and the navigator Marco Arnoletti. Two other Italian crews are entered in the category: the Man of Paolo Calabria-Giuseppe Fortuna-Loris Calubini and the Iveco of Giulio Verzeletti-Antonio Cabini-Carlo Cabini. There was also a close battle in the two classes reserved for light vehicles, Challenger and Ssv. In the first there is only one Italian crew, Giampaolo Bedin-Alberto Marcon (Raitec), while in the second there are four: Enrico Gaspari-Fausto Mota (Polaris), Michele Cinotto-Alberto Bertoldi (Polaris), Pietro Cinotto-Martino Albertini (Polaris) and Stefano Marrini-Matteo Lardori (Brp). Instead, Rebecca Busi, who was supposed to take part in the SSV class paired with Sergio Lafuente, had to give up a few days before the start.
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