The 2025 Dakar prologue was the start of the 47th edition of the famous rally raid. The prologue is, typically, a short loop that is held to determine the starting order of the race proper, which takes place tomorrow. Read our ‘Dakar 101‘ article here if you are still learning about the race. The 29 km timed run took place around Bisha.

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The first proper day of racing is Stage 1 on Saturday. Nevertheless, teams are keen to set a good time and to measure themselves against the competition. More importantly, the starting positions on stage 1 will be dictated by today’s performances. The top 10 get to choose their starting slot for stage one, which could make a massive difference in the dusty, rocky desert.

2025 Toyota Dakar Rally advert

Narrow Margin

All eyes at the 2025 Dakar prologue were on the famous names in new machines. The leading Ford Raptor is driven by reigning champ Carlos Sainz, with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb challenging with the all-new Dacia Sandriders. However, it was South African Henk Lategan (Toyota Hilux) who made a great return to the race after missing last year’s event. He took the prologue by just 1 second over Mattias Ekstrom (Ford Raptor).

Said Lategan: “It wasn’t a perfect drive, we made a few mistakes here and there, but it was a good stage. We had a good rhythm quite early on. It was really short. Usually, I struggle to get going on the short stages. I need about twenty kilometres to warm up, but we knew this was quite important for the road position on the first stage, so we pushed a little bit. The terrain was really tricky. The pace is so high, it’s such high speeds and there were a lot of really narrow spots where if you get it right you can go through really quickly but if you get it wrong it can go really wrong. It can take a wheel off or get a puncture or something. It’s a fine balance, you can either be quick or you can be nowhere”.

Fast Pace

Al-Attiyah was third ahead of debutant Rokas Baciuska in a customer Toyota. Fifth place went to another South African, Brian Baragwanath. Saood Variawa added another SA flag to the standings by finishing inside the top ten. You can see the top ten below. Timings were correct at the time of publication, full stage results can be found here.

Times after 2025 Dakar Prologue

  1. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 15 min 28 sec
  2. Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +01 sec
  3. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider) +20 sec
  4. Rokas Baciuska (Overdrive Racing) +21 sec
  5. Brian Baragwanath (CRT) +30 sec
  6. Sébastien Loeb (Dacia Sandrider) +33 sec
  7. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +35 sec
  8. Nani Roma (Ford M-Sport) +35 sec
  9. Saood Variawa ((Toyota Gazoo Racing) +41 sec
  10. Guerlain Chicherit  (X-Raid Mini) +42 sec