The 2025 motorsport season will kick off in just a few weeks with traditional season opener, the Dakar Rally. We take a closer look at what fans can expect from the most popular ‘car’ category in our 2025 Dakar Rally Preview.

Formula One, WRC, WEC, Nascar, Indy and so many other racing series have all ended for the 2024 season. Most teams are taking a well-earned break, while some are already starting preparations for the new year. However, thing are in full swing for the hard-working men and women who compete in the tough world of rally raiding. In fact, crews will forego the festive break with family and friends as they prepare to race. The very first event of the W2RC off-road world championship starts on 2 January 2025.

The 47th Dakar Rally will be held completely within the borders of Saudi Arabia. Competitors will race over 5 000 km in 14 special stages on some of the harshest terrain of the Saudi desert. The event starts with a 29 km prologue that is used to determine the starting order. The longest single day of racing is just over 600 km. Over 800 competitors will battle it out at the 2025 Dakar Rally in seven categories. We keep our focus on the, loosely named, car division.

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Defending Champ

Ford and Toyota duke it out on the SA sales charts (and around braai fires) monthly. Now the pair will face off in one of motorsport’s toughest arenas. Ford has thrown down the gauntlet with its latest challenger, the V8-powered Raptor T1+. The UK-based outfit has enlisted defending champion Carlos Sainz to lead the charge. Sainz will be joined by four-time Dakar-winning co-driver Lucas Cruz. Sainz’s teammate from 2024, Mattias Ekstrom, has also made the switch from the now defunct Audi team to the Blue Oval. Former Dakar winner Nani Roma and Mitch Guthrie round off the formidable quartet that will be aiming to win the 2025 race.

Toyota Gazoo Racing will attack the event with four cars entered from the Kyalami-based outfit. The most experience driver of the local contingent is 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers. The Capetonian announced that this will be his last Dakar Rally with TGR. He will be backed up by Henk Lategan, Guy Botterill and Saood Variwa. There are several more GR DKR T1+ Evo machines entered. These include the the likes of Seth Quintero and Lucas Moraes. Former Dakar bike race winner Toby Price, Rokas Baciuška, Benedikt Vanagas, Juan Yacopini and Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi who will also be driving SA-built machines at the event.

Click here to watch our video of the lightweight Dallara Stradale sportscar.

Another Newcomer

Dacia is another outfit bringing an all-new racecar to the desert. The Sandrider machine will be raced by five-time race winner Nasser Al-Attiyah. His teammates will be Cristina Gutierrez and nine-time WRC champ Sebastien Loeb. An overall Dakar Rally win eludes the Frenchman, something he’ll be aiming to achieve this year. It’s worth noting that the Dacia Sandrider won on its debut outing at the Rallye du Maroc, which is a good sign for the team. “We couldn’t ask for better than victory in our first race with Dacia,” Al-Attiyah commented. “We will continue the development of the Sandrider to arrive at the Dakar in top shape.”

You can see the very same machines race on South African soil as the W2RC championship hosts its first event near Sun City, click this link to learn more.

Others to Watch

Guillaume De Mévius, who raced a Hilux last year, has switched over to the Mini JCW Rally team. He finished third overall at the Rallye du Maroc. The Mini JCW Rally team run by X-Raid are regulars on the rally-raiding scene, although not a factory-backed effort. Other teams worth watching are those that produce their racecars right here in SA. In fact, about half the 60+ vehicles entered in the T1+ (ie leading car category) are produced in South Africa.

Among these are the Revo T1+ machines built by Red-lined International. The team is fielding six machines in total, five in the T1+ class and another in the T1 division. Another Gauteng-based outfit, Century Racing, has no fewer than ten vehicles entered in the 2025 race. These will be competing in slightly different classes as not all the cars are of the same specification. The headliners for the team include Mathieu Serradori and Brian Baragwanath, both entered in the T1+ class. There is the lone Amarok, also locally built, of Daniel Schroder flying the VW flag at this year’s event.