Rally Raid
Everything you need to know about the 2025 Dakar Rally
The Dakar Rally’s 47th edition will push its convoy to the absolute limit as the ultimate endurance race returns to the dunes for two weeks in January.
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The New Year begins with the 47th edition of the Dakar Rally. The biggest rally raid on the planet will take on the toughest route since the race moved to Saudi Arabia. The two-week desert odyssey takes an intrepid convoy of rally racers across dunes, mountains and riverbeds before concluding in the vast desert of Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter. Get into gear for this unique racing adventure with our guide to the 2025 Dakar Rally.
01
What is the Dakar Rally?
The Dakar Rally is an endurance rally going cross-country in all-terrain vehicles. Part adventure, part long-distance race, the Dakar works by competitors driving on public roads to the start of each day’s timed special stage. Once on the stage they must then follow an off-road course through waypoints to the finish line. The competitors have to be quick, versatile and super-fit. They drive their vehicles distances of up to 1,000 kilometres per day over punishingly rough ground where punctures and breakdowns are extremely common. Solid mechanical knowledge is a big advantage at the Dakar and a tool kit is essential.
The racers must be able to scan the track in front of them for obstacles while travelling at speeds of up to 170kph. The rally takes the convoy across a variety of terrains, from sand dunes to rocky valleys, mountains and even marshes. Plus, competitors must navigate from checkpoint to checkpoint using a GPS and their roadbook or else risk losing time and facing penalties. However, maybe getting lost is all part of the fun!
Toby Price shreds dunes
© Eric Vargiolu/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
02
When does the 2025 Dakar Rally take place?
The 2025 Dakar Rally starts with a Prologue Stage on Friday, January 3, and finishes after 14 days of racing on Friday, January 17.
03
Where is the 2025 Dakar Rally held?
The 2025 Dakar Rally is hosted by Saudi Arabia. The starting pistol will fire in Bisha, sending the convoy off on a journey of thousands of kilometres over punishing terrain. The chequered flag will finally fly in Shubaytah, in the heart of the Empty Quarter desert.
Getting lost is all part of the adventure
© Eric Vargiolu/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
04
What is the route of the 2025 Dakar Rally?
There’s no other challenge in motorsport quite like the Dakar Rally, and the 7,700km route for the 47th edition of the world famous desert race has got it all. Massive sand dunes, a 48-hour Chrono Stage measuring over 1,000km, plus a full fortnight of further twists and turns.
It all starts with a high-speed 29km Prologue Stage in Bisha. Then it’s straight into the thick of the action with both the 48-hour Chrono Stage and the Marathon Stage coming in the first week of the rally as the route moves north to the canyons of AlUla. Competitors who make it past all of these obstacles will get a well-earned Rest Day in Hail on January 10.
All roads then lead to the Empty Quarter desert during the 2025 Dakar Rally’s second week. After stops in Al Duwadimi, Riyadh and Haradh it will be among Saudi Arabia’s most formidable sand dunes that this latest edition of the rally will ultimately be won and lost. However, anyone who reaches the finish line of this latest Dakar route can consider themselves a true champion of the desert.
05
Who is competing in the 2025 Dakar Rally?
The Dakar attracts the best off-road talent, and the sixth edition of the rally hosted by Saudi Arabia is no exception. Dakar Rally royalty Carlos Sainz and Nasser Al-Attiyah return to fight it out on the dunes. Adding extra unpredictability to their always intriguing battle will be the debuts of Sainz’s Ford Raptor T1+ and Al-Attiyah’s Dacia Sandrider.
That finish line feeling
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Elsewhere in the convoy, there’s a fresh generation of racers chasing a first-ever Dakar win, led by 22-year-old Seth Quintero. We also have competitors switching categories, such as multiple bike race champions Toby Price and Sam Sunderland teaming up to race in a Toyota Hilux. Elsewhere, Cristina Gutiérrez now has the chance to become the first female to win the Dakar twice! Plus, keep an eye on the latest intake of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team racing their first-ever Dakar Rally.
Find out more about the convoy here: The key competitors and vehicles chasing glory at the 2025 Dakar Rally
06
What’s new at the 2025 Dakar Rally?
At the 2025 Dakar Rally the two and four wheel competitors will find themselves on a completely course during at least five of the rally’s 12 stages. A further tweak to the route will see truckers get their own separate course for one of the stages held in the Empty Quarter. All competitors will take on the 48h chrono, but this time, it’s a massive 950km long and will take place in the first week of the rally. A big change for this next Dakar is the location of the finish line, right in the heart of the Empty Quarter desert. Finishing the rally with three days of racing on sand dunes measuring up to 250 metres high guarantees that no result will be decided until the very last metre of this Dakar! There will be no Quad race at the 2025 Dakar.
There's a lot more sand blasting on the way at the Dakar Rally 2025
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
07
How did the Dakar Rally start?
It’s all sand dunes at the Dakar Rally
© Florent Gooden/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool
The Dakar Rally began as the Paris-Dakar Rally, which was first formally run in 1979 and featured competitors racing from Paris, France, through Spain to Morocco and deep into the Sahara desert before finishing in Dakar, Senegal. It was the vision of legendary adventurer Thierry Sabine, who took part in a race from Abidjan on the Cote d’Ivoire to Nice in France. While lost in the Sahara, he hit on the idea of how a long-distance off-road race could be the ultimate test of speed, endurance, determination and navigational skill.
What it takes to finish the legendary rally
08
What are the rules of the Dakar Rally?
The Dakar Rally is governed by the rules of the FIA Word Rally-Raid Championship. Competitors drive for thousands of kilometres on public roads to reach the start line of each off-road special stage. Each competitor’s starting position is usually determined by their result on the previous day’s special. Failure to reach the start on time incurs a time penalty.
The specific course is kept secret until the start of each stage, when the roadbook is handed out to the competitors. While the competitors have GPS, the roadbook is the only source for specific waypoints and hazards along the route. It’s off-road racing against the clock to complete the stages in the quickest time possible – navigating unfamiliar and treacherous terrain to reach the waypoints without getting lost. Once the stage is finished, the convoy travels by public roads to the next bivouac – a huge mobile service park with mechanics, catering, hot showers and motorhomes near a host city. During the two-day marathon stages, competitors camp out in the desert, without any support vehicles or mechanics. Under marathon stage rules, only competitors can work on the vehicles.
09
How do competitors navigate the Dakar Rally?
The roadbook is a lifeline
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Competitors must follow a roadbook that sets out the route, the waypoints, and the distances, with illustrations of obstacles along the way and possible hazards. Competitors use GPS and can follow in the wheel treads of their rivals unless they find themselves ‘opening the road’. Experienced competitors make their own meticulous notes on the roadbook and follow it through every twist and turn of each stage.
10
What different vehicles categories race the Dakar Rally?
Over 800 competitors will battle it out at the 2025 Dakar Rally in seven categories: Bike, Car, Challenger, SSV, Truck, M1000 and Classic. The first Dakar Rally in 1979 – originally the Paris-Dakar – involved cars, motorbikes and trucks, with other categories being added later. The Challenger (T3) and SSV (T4) category vehicles are UTVs or buggies designed for off-road racing and were added in 2017. The M1000 category is for prototype vehicles using innovative technology such as hydrogen power. The Classics were added in 2021 and feature vintage vehicles from previous editions of the Dakar, such as Porsche 924s, Toyota Land Cruisers, Nissan Pathfinders and Mitsubishi Pajeros.
11
What are the most memorable moments in Dakar Rally history?
In the '80s and '90s, the Dakar Rally was ruled by established motorsport stars like Didier Auriol, Ari Vätanen and René Metge, with famous faces like Le Mans winner Jacky Ickx taking part. Vatanen and Juha Kankkunen’s dramatic victories for Peugeot in the late 80s captured the imagination of the public and established the Dakar as a major competition. In the same era, Jan De Rooy’s turbo-powered Daf trucks were quicker than most cars, proving that innovation and eccentricity go hand-in-hand at Dakar.
Kicking up dust
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
Stéphane Peterhansel had earned himself the nickname Monsieur Dakar long before taking his 14th victory at the rally. The Frenchman made his Dakar debut in 1988, claiming six victories on a motorbike, switching to cars, and winning eight more times. He’s the record holder for overall wins as well as total wins in both the Bike and Car categories.
In 2001, Jutta Kleinschmidt became the first woman to win the rally. Thirteen years later, Cristina Gutiérrez became the second female to take victory at the Dakar thanks to her faultless drive in the Challenger class. In 2009, Giniel De Villiers became the first African driver to win the rally, and he was followed in 2011 by the first winner from the Middle East, Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah. In 2022, 20-year-old Seth Quintero broke the record for the most stage wins at a single Dakar with an astonishing 12 victories. In 2024 Carlos Sainz won the Ultimate class in an Audi RS Q e-tron featuring an electric-powered drivetrain.
12
Can the Dakar Rally be dominated?
Nothing is ever certain at the Dakar, but for an amazing 18 consecutive editions of the Dakar it proved impossible to stop KTM winning the bike race. This winning streak started in 2001 with Italian biker Fabrizio Meoni winning on his KTM LC4 660R. Then came 17 more KTM wins featuring five Dakar trophies each for Marc Coma and Cyril Despres. During Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s period of domination, they won the bike race in all 11 South American editions of the Dakar.
13
How has the Dakar Rally changed over time?
The brainchild of French adventurer Thierry Sabine, the Dakar Rally began life as the Paris-Dakar in 1979, running through France to Africa and ending in Dakar, Senegal. It has since become a fixture on the international motorsports calendar as the first major event of the year before the Monte Carlo Rally.
The route changes each year with the Dakar going all over Africa, including to Cairo and even to Cape Town. In 2009, the event moved all the way to South America where the racing continued in Argentina, Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Bolivia as the convoy drove up the Andes and through the Atacama Desert. In 2020, the Dakar switched to Saudi Arabia, where it found yet more epic terrain to explore.
Cyril Despres at the 2020 Rally Dakar
© Marcelo Maragni/Red Bull Content Pool
14
What is the future of the Dakar Rally?
After adventures in Europe, Africa and South America, Saudi Arabia is the new home of the Dakar Rally. The Dakar was built on crossing borders, and there are longer-term ambitions to take the Dakar into other nations in the Middle East. The event itself has expanded to include new categories, notably the Challenger races, which are more affordable for smaller teams to race in, opening up the competition for the next generation of drivers. With the aim of being carbon neutral by 2030, the Dakar continues to be a hotbed of racing technology in the M1000 category and beyond.
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