The 2025 Dakar Rally is currently taking place in Saudi Arabia. The Dakar Rally is considered the most challenging race in all of motorsport. Competitors are faced with varied terrain, including sand dunes, mountains, and rugged off-road sections. Interestingly, complete rookies can compete in this event alongside professionals and seasoned campaigners. However, you can’t just pitch up with your regular off-roader or gravel bike. Specialised equipment aside there is the small matter of how much it costs. We delve into the ins and outs of a Dakar entry cost.

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Various Factors

If you are even considering the Dakar entry cost, you must already be a competitor somewhere in the world. You have a race machine and have competed in a race series. We’ll also guess that you have done plenty of testing, as to pitch up without would certainly spell an early retirement. So, for the purposes of this article we will ignore everything that comes before, which can run into the millions.

A Dakar entry cost can vary depending on a number of factors. First and foremost is the type of vehicle being raced. Additionally, there is the level of support required and the specific needs of the team. Here is an overview of the entry cost per category. It is important to note that the Dakar rally includes transportation to and from Europe, fuel used during the race, along with safety and navigation equipment as well as food and medical for all competitors.

  1. Ultimate/Stock/Challenger/SSV

    The are essentially all the ‘regular’ four wheelers, the ‘car’ division, if we can call it that. A base entry fee in these classes is €32 000 (approximately R615 000). There are slight discounts available, for example anyone with more than ten race entries gets €1 500 off, rookies also get €3 000 off. 157 cars were passed during scrutineering at the pre-event check.

    Click here to see all our Dakar Rally articles.

  2. Motorcycles

    From 2025 race organisers have done away with the quad category to concentrate on two-wheelers. 134 motorcycles took the start this year. The race entry for motorcycles is €2o 000 (~R385 000). Rookies get the largest discount at €1 000 each. For the first time the Dakar entry cost includes automatic entry into the W2RC, which is the FIA-sanctioned off-road series. Rookies get the biggest saving at €3 000.

    Click here to read about W2RC’s first-ever visit to South Africa, which will take place in May.

  3. Trucks

    As the size of the race machinery increases, so too does the entry fee. The truck entries costs €45 000 (~R865 000). That’s a… err, truckload of money, but it does include fuel for the entire event, which could be quite a lot. We have no idea what the fuel consumption of a race truck is but we imagine its a LOT so a large part of the fee is the fuel cost. 44 trucks are racing this year.

  4. Dakar Classic

    Since 2021 the Dakar Rally has been opened to include older vehicles that competed in rally raid events pre-2000. Read more here. Cars competing in this category pay €18 000 while truck entries are charged an additional €5 000. 76 cars and 19 trucks started in this category.

Click here to read about Dakar Rally legend Giniel de Villiers’ most memorable motoring moment.

Additional Charges

The list above is only your Dakar Rally entry cost. There are, of course, additional charges that teams incur. For example, the organising body, the ASO, deems it necessary to have at least two support staff per vehicle. The price for taking staff to the race ranges between €10 500 (~R192 000) and €16 000 (~R307 000, depending on when you confirm payment.

Support vehicles also tend to cost quite a bit. Cars cost between €3 800 (~R73 000) and €4 560 (~R88 000). Vans will cost between €6 000 (~R115 000) and €7 200 (~R138 000). Trucks are, once again, the most expensive with prices ranging between €6 500 (~R125 000) and €9 000 (~R173 000), with prices dependent on size and when you confirm.

Taking along ‘comfort vehicles’ ie camper vans ranges between €9 500 (~R183 000) and €25 200 (~R484 000) each. Trailers, too, have a cost to haul around at the event. Take these along and expect to pay between €6 500 (~R125 000) and €19 800 (~R380 000).

So, as you can see, you would need a LOT of cash that you no longer wish to keep or a very generous sponsor to even contemplate participating in the Dakar Rally. And, of course, there is still the not-so-small matter of getting yourself and all the crew over to Saudi Arabia as well as housing and feeding them. Oh, and the prices quoted above were for the 2025 race, so expect even higher prices for the 2026 race.