Key highlights
• Entries for Season 4 closed on 13 December. 50 FIA autos signed up —24 Final vehicles, 16 Challenger autos and 10 SSVs.
• Dacia and Ford M-Sport are becoming a member of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Overdrive Racing and X-Raid and shaking up the stability of energy within the automotive competitors. The Challenger and SSV titles are up for grabs after the 2 reigning champions determined to maneuver up a rung on the ladder.
• Progressive laws updates will inject an additional dose of suspense into the championship, which is ready to start a fortnight from now with the forty seventh version of the Dakar.
Discover the complete 2025 Dakar entry listing right here.
Dacia and Ford take the battle to Toyota and X-raid
The Dacia Sandriders burst onto the stage with a three-pronged assault on the championship finale final October, with Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb securing a one-two end and firing a shot throughout the bows of their rivals forward of the 2025 season. The three-time world champion and his runner-up from 2022 are good to go. Cristina Gutiérrez will likely be racing at their sides.
Ford M-Sport are fielding 4 drivers within the W2RC. Carlos Sainz, who began the season together with his fourth Dakar triumph and went on to complete within the high 5, will depend on the assist of fellow Spaniard Nani Roma, a Dakar winner on two (2004) and 4 wheels (2014). Backing up these two rally-raid legends within the American squad are Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie Jr., a newcomer from the Challenger class. X-raid have additionally mustered 4 drivers for his or her petrol-powered Mini 3.0i JCWs . Guillaume de Mévius was the breakthrough performer of the 2024 season, clinching second place total in his first Dakar within the Final class —competing for Overdrive Racing— and taking third on the Rallye du Maroc, the place the Belgian acquired a really feel for the Mini and acquired to know his new co-driver, the two-time world champion (2022 and 2023) Mathieu Baumel. The Purple Satan goes to boost hell alongside Denis Krotov, Lionel Baud and the 2024 World Baja Cup champion, João Ferreira.
Toyota are decided to make an affect too, with seven Hilux drivers on the entry listing. Three will compete for Overdrive Racing, together with the two-time W2RC silver medallist (2023 and 2024) Yazeed Al Rajhi. Jean-Marc Fortin renewed the contract of Juan Cruz Yacopini, third in 2023, and recruited the precocious Rokas Baciuška, whose meteoric rise has taken him to the heights of the SSV (2022 and 2023) and Challenger (2024) courses. 4 Toyota Gazoo Racing manufacturing unit drivers make up the remainder of the contingent. Lucas Moraes, who completed on the general W2RC podium for the primary time in 2024 after standing on the rostrum of the 2023 Dakar, will share the identical roof with Seth Quintero once more. Saood Variawa is coming into his second W2RC season alongside fellow South African Henk Lategan.
Six employed arms could have outsider standing in 2025: Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Manufacturing unit Group), Martin Prokop (Orlen Jipocar Group), Jean-Luc Ceccaldi (JLC Racing), Dave Klaassen (Daklapack Rallysport), Guoyu Zhang (Mintimes Yunxiang Rally Group) and the W2RC rookie Daniel Schröder (PS Laser Racing).
Toyota, the three-time producers’ champion, face a gruelling title defence match now that Dacia and Ford have stepped into the ring.
In the meantime, within the Challenger class, 5 structured groups and a handful of lone rangers will jostle to fill the facility vacuum left by Rokas Baciuška’s promotion to Final.
Yasir Seaidan hopes to comply with up his current SSV triumph with the Challenger title in 2025. The Saudi has jumped ship to Group BBR, becoming a member of Nicolás Cavigliasso, the runner-up to Baciuška, and his navigator, the 2024 champion Valentina Pertegarini. One other Saudi, Dania Akeel, who completed the 2024 season within the high 5, will likely be racing at his aspect. The younger Pau Navarro rounds out the French squad, which can area 5 Taurus T3 Max vehicles.
Mission achieved for Purple Bull Off-Highway Junior Group USA by BFG: Quintero, Gutiérrez and Guthrie will all be manufacturing unit drivers within the Final class in 2025, whereas Guillaume de Mévius, who additionally was once a part of their construction, can also be taking part in within the large leagues. A brand new technology of rally-raid expertise is rising within the form of two 23-year-old drivers. The American Corbin Leaverton is a worthy successor to Quintero and Guthrie. The Californian has already picked up a number of titles within the World Off Highway Championship Sequence (WORCS) and Greatest within the Desert (BITD) occasions on the opposite aspect of the pond. Gonçalo Guerreiro, the 2022 Portuguese nationwide cross-country champion, a three-time winner of Baja Portalegre in his class, will fly the flag for Europe.
The Argentinian David Zille will likely be driving a Taurus (Daklapack Rallysport), similar to Group BBR and Purple Bull Off-Highway Junior Group USA by BFG.
Nasser Al Attiyah is making waves with the debut of his personal workforce. Nasser Racing, which has the backing of the Qatar Motor and Bike Federation (QMMF), will likely be fielding three crews: Khalifa Al Attiyah, the opposite Al Attiyah brother, who made his first worldwide look on the 2021 Andalucía Rally; Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, the title holder within the Center East Rally Championship (MERC), which Nasser Al Attiyah received nineteen instances; and the Spaniard Eduard Pons, who claimed the World Baja Cup within the Challenger class (third total) this season.
G Rally Group and Franco Sport stay by the maxim “if it ain’t broke, do not repair it”. The workforce based by Guillaume de Mévius will proceed to put its belief in Rui Carneiro and the opposite feminine driver within the class, Puck Klaassen. In the meantime, the Portuguese outfit with Yamaha autos has entered Mario Franco and Pedro Gonçalves. The Emirati Khalid Aljafla (Aljafla Racing), who completed on the rostrum of the 2024 World Baja Cup within the Challenger class (fifth total), and the Pole Adam Kuś (Akpol Recykling) are becoming a member of the caravan too.
Within the SSV class, Seaidan’s transfer as much as Challenger is fuelling an American dream! Sara Worth, second total on the forty sixth Dakar in her newest worldwide look, is bursting with ambition after turning into a Can-Am Manufacturing unit driver. Scott Abraham’s South Racing workforce is banking on the brand new Can-Am Maverick R and specializing in the SSV class with an Argentinian triumvirate: the World Baja Cup champion in SSV (second total), Fernando Álvarez, the quad World Cup champion Manuel Andújar, and Diego Martínez. Italy is pinning its hopes on amount and expertise. Two Italians within the high 10 in 2024 are coming again for extra: Enrico Gaspari (TH Vans) and Michele Antonio Cinotto (CST XtremePlus Polaris Group) in a Polaris. The German Roger Grouwels (Raceart), the Portuguese Alexandre Pinto (who received the Highway to Dakar Problem on the Rallye du Maroc) and the Spaniard Carlos Vento (Previous Pals Rally Group) are all set for his or her debuts. Claude Fournier (MMP), the grandfather of the W2RC home, has no intention of lacking a single championship spherical!
Rules adjustments
Rule adjustments for the 2025 season will award extra factors to focus on varied elements of a competitor’s talent set:
– Starter and Finisher Factors: the highest 15 riders in a rally format spherical will proceed to earn 30, 25, 20, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and a couple of factors, respectively, with a further 2 factors now awarded from sixteenth place onwards to all categorized rivals, together with 1 level for unclassified rivals. For Marathon occasions (greater than 5 phases) such because the Dakar, the precise factors scale (50, 40, 30, 26, 23, 20, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5 and 4) doubles these further factors: 4 factors for categorized rivals from sixteenth place onwards and a couple of factors for unclassified rivals.
– Energy Selective Part: held on the very finish of the rally, this closing dash, stretching for five to 30 kilometres, will reward the three quickest crews in every class with 3, 2 and 1 factors, respectively. The Energy Selective Part will likely be a advice for organisers in 2025 and necessary in 2026.
– Producer stage factors: following the mannequin of stage factors awarded for particular person performances (driver and co-driver) on each stage of the rally, the 5 quickest vehicles nominated by producers to symbolize them will earn between 5 and 1 factors.
2025 calendar
