Welcome to our daily Dakar Rally 2025 coverage, where the world’s most daring drivers and riders take on Saudi Arabia’s breathtaking and unforgiving landscapes. From shifting sands to rocky trails, witness unparalleled endurance, strategy, and determination as competitors tackle each stage. Here is all you need to know:
- Click HERE for more Dakar news from Dakar.com.
- Free Editorial Content from the race HERE
- Discover all the key players of the 2025 Dakar Rally, that you need to know HERE
- Follow Carlos Sainz Snr, Mitch Guthrie, Nani Roma and Mathias Ekström on their journey to the world’s toughest off-road race, the Dakar Rally with the film Journey to Dakar HERE
- Watch Australian dirt legend Toby Price’s challenging journey to four wheels with his sights set on the world’s hardest rally, Dakar 2025, in Price to Dakar HERE
DAY 2: Stage 1 – January 4, 2025
Route: Bisha > Bisha – Liaison 86km | Special 413km
– The 2025 Dakar Rally properly kicked-off with a massive 500km to complete on Stage 1. It was in at the deep end for the racers.
– In the Ultimate class, Brazilian Lucas Moraes led the 413km special stage for the majority of the day, but decided to hit the brakes before the finish line to ensure a favourable starting position for tomorrow’s 48-hour Chrono Stage.
– While Moraes finished the stage with the eighth fastest time, it was his Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Seth Quintero who took the win. Quintero’s stage win puts the 22-year-old in the outright lead of the Ultimate class. “It’s always good to get the first one done. We got past quite a few cars, then we saw Laia Sanz had a big crash, so we stopped there and did what we could to help,” said the American.
– Joining Quintero and Moraes in the top 10 on Stage 1 were the Dacia Sandrider of Cristina Gutiérrez, the Ford Raptor T1+ of defending champion Carlos Sainz and the Toyota Hilux driven by former bikes champion Toby Price.
– “The stage was quite tough. In many places it was difficult to see the line. Many places were also very narrow and the car got quite damaged,” reported 62-year-old Sainz after the stage.
– As night fell, it was unclear if Laia Sanz would be able to finish the stage. The finisher of 14 consecutive editions of the Dakar was involved in a crash 330km into the stage and had to wait for assistance to try and get her Century CR6 moving again.
– In the Bike class, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders made it two wins from two. The Australian followed up Prologue victory with a clear win on the tough and technical Stage 1. He now leads closest rival Ricky Brabec by 2m 22s heading into the 48-hour Chrono.
– “There was a lot of dust, so it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to start at the back. In the end, everyone caught up with each other, so you had to stand your ground and stay strong,” said the 30-year-old.
– Fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Luciano Benavides sits just outside the overall top five after a strong ride, while his older brother Kevin is also still in the mix, along with 19-year-old rookie Edger Canet.
– Unfortunately, this year’s Dakar Rally has ended early for India’s Hairth Noah, who suffered a fractured wrist during yesterday’s Prologue.
– There was a second consecutive runner-up finish for Gonçalo Guerreiro of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team in the Challenger class. The Portuguese driver followed up his impressive Prologue drive with another good display in his Taurus T3 Max and is just four seconds behind early leader Nicolas Cavigliasso. “That’s the first stage of the Dakar done. The navigation was tricky but my co-driver Cadu did a very good job and the car is perfect,”
– Guerreiro is joined in the Top 5 of the Challenger class by fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Corbin Leaverton who finished the stage in fifth.
– In the SSV race, Dakar veteran Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López sits second overall. The Chilean driver is less than eight minutes behind SSV leader Xavier De Soultrait with 11 stages remaining and looking strong.
– The demanding start to the 2025 Dakar Rally continues with the early arrival of the 48-hour Chrono Stage. Racing over 1,000km across two days, the convoy will enter the stage tomorrow morning and when the clock strikes 5pm, competitors must stop at the next of six rest areas they arrive at. Then, on the morning of January 6 the remainder of the enormous timed stage must be completed.
2025 Dakar Rally selected overall standings after Stage 1
Ultimate
1. Seth Quintero (USA) 4h 35m 8s
5. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) 4h 37m 21s
7. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 4h 38m 26s
8. Carlos Sainz (ESP) 4h 38m 35s
9. Guillaume de Mevius (BEL) 4h 40m 45s
11. Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA) 4h 41m 5s
12. Toby Price (AUS) 4h 41m 6s
15. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 4h 43m 10s
17. Nani Roma (ESP) 4h 44m 36s
18. Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) 4h 45m 34s
19. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) 4h 48m 41s
23. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 4h 49m 24s
58. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) 6h 55m 33s
60. Laia Sanz (ESP) 7h 6m 54s
Bike
1. Daniel Sanders (AUS) 4h 58m 18s
6. Luciano Benavides (ARG) 5h 9m 0s
14. Edgar Canet (ESP) 5h 30m 42s
17. Kevin Benavides (ARG) 5h 34m 19s
50. Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) 6h 10m 58s
Challenger
2. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR) 4h 47m 16s
5. Corbin Leaverton (USA) 5h 2m 37s
8. Dania Akeel (SAU) 5h 7m 11s
SSV
2. Francisco López (CHI) 54 0m 18s
DAY 1: Prologue – January 3, 2025
Route: Bisha > Bisha – Liaison 50km | Special 29km
– The 2025 Dakar Rally roared into life at Friday’s high-speed Prologue Stage with 29 kilometres against the clock around the Start Camp in Bisha seeing the Red Bull Desert Wings racers putting themselves in pole position for a favourable starting position on Saturday’s Stage One.
– The Ultimate Class proved to be fruitful for the V8-powered Ford Raptor T1+ of Mattias Ekström with the Swede finishing just one second off the Toyota Hilux of Prologue winner Henk Lategan. The 46-year-old, who is now 19 seconds ahead of five-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, said: “I grew up with V8s in the DTM, so I have a lot of experience with these engines. I think the sound of a V8 beats everything.”
– Ultimate category debutant Rokas Baciuška can also be pleased with his day’s work on the back of claiming World Rally-Raid Championship titles in both the SSV and Challenger categories. The 25-year-old from Lithuania finished fourth and revealed: “It’s great to finally get this Dakar started. Today was just 29km, but tomorrow looks like a really tough stage.”
– Over in the Challenger class, the newest recruits of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team started brilliantly with rookie Corbin Leaverton excelling behind the wheel of his Taurus T3 Max to lead fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Gonçalo Guerreiro by four seconds. The 23-year-old American admitted: “I’m a little bit surprised by the result, but pleasantly surprised. It’s just one very small task in the scheme of a huge 12-stage race, but it’s good to know that we have the pace.”
– In a stacked bike field for the 47th edition, Australian Daniel Sanders put down his marker early by becoming the only rider to cover the day’s 29km in less than 17 minutes on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bike. With Spanish teammate Edgar Canet in third, the 30-year-old said: “It was a pretty smooth run today. Hopefully it’s good enough to give me a good position for tomorrow. This is just the beginning of a long race.”
– The SSV class sees the return of Dakar favourite Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López, who banked fifth place on Friday in the category he won in 2019 while the rally was still hosted in his native South America. The Chilean is 39 seconds behind American leader Brock Heger heading into Stage One.
– Saturday’s Stage One takes the convoy on a timed 413-kilometre loop around the Bisha Start Camp with plenty of navigation puzzles to solve along the way over extreme and unforgiving terrain.
COMMENTS