The 2025 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event that took place in Saudi Arabia. It is the 47th edition of the Dakar Rally, organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and the 6th time Saudi Arabia has hosted the event. The event took place from 3 to 17 January 2025. For the fourth year running, the event will also be the first round of the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship.
Background The grand presentation and the outline of the race route took place on 18 May 2024 in Les Comes, targeting French and Spanish audience. The promo tour continued to South Africa, Italy, Mexico / USA, Argentina, Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
This year the route started at Bisha, it crosses the Empty Quarter and will finish in Shubaytah. Race format consists of 14 days of racing, divided into 12 stages. There will be a 48-hour "chrono" marathon stage, covering 950km. Five stages will feature separate routes for cars and bikes. There will be one mass start stage. The organizers promised more navigation. New is a Mission 1000 category for vehicles with alternative zero-emission or hybrid drives.
This year, the Quad category was removed due to declining participation. Quads had been a part of the Dakar Rally since 2009.
Timeline 18 May 2024: Route unveiled 18 May – 20 October 2024: Registrations 28–30 November 2024: Scrutineering and vehicle loading in Barcelona 30 December 2024: Vehicle offloading in Jeddah 1–2 January 2025: Final scrutineering in Bisha 3 January 2025: Starting podium and the Prologue Stage 17 January 2025: Race finish and finish podium
Entry list In November 2024 ASO announced the list of competitors. Quads were dropped from this years edition due to declining manufacturer support.
Number of entries
StageBikesCarsChallenger (T3)SSV (T4)TrucksTotalClassic CarsClassic TrucksTotal Dakar ClassicEntry list13667545145353761995At start line13467525144335761995Rest day11459453343294691988Finished8950363118224631780
Vehicles and Categories Sources:
The 2025 event had changes to for the Classic vehicles. The averages changed from 15% and 30% to 5% and 10%, and the periods saw Period B changing from 1986–1996 to 1986–1998 and Period C from 1996 onwards to 1999–2005. Group H2.C also allowed all qualifying vehicles instead of restricting vehicles with leaf springs. BikesCars Challenger SSV Trucks Classic Cars Classic Trucks Class Description Class Description Class Description Class Description Class Description Description Class Description Class RallyGP FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, Moto Rally T1.+ Ultimate Prototype Cross-Country Cars 4x4 T3.U “Ultimate” lightweight Prototype Cross-Country Vehicles SSV1 Cross-Country Side-by-Side (SSV) Vehicles turbo up to 1050cc and atmo from 1050cc to 2000cc T5.U “Ultimate” prototype Cross-Country Trucks −86 Low Average H1.A −86 Low Average H1t.A Rally2 FIM World Rally-Raid Cup, Moto Rally (up to 450cc) T1.1 Ultimate Prototype Cross-Country Cars 4x4 T3.1 Lightweight Prototype Cross-Country Vehicles SSV2 Cross-Country Side-by-Side (SSV) Vehicles atmo up to 1050cc T5.1 Prototype and Production Cross-Country Trucks −86 Moderate Average H2.A −86 Moderate Average H2t.A T1.2 Ultimate Prototype Cross-Country Cars 4x2 T4 Modified Production Cross-Country Side-by-Side T5.2 Race Service Trucks −86 Intermediate Average H3.A 86–98 Low Average H1t.B STK Stock Series Production Cross-Country Cars 86–98 Low Average H1.B 86–98 Moderate Average H2t.B T2.1 Stock Production Cross-Country Cars 86–98 Moderate Average H2.B 99-05 Low Average H1t.C T2.2 Stock Production Cross-Country Vehicles with expired certification 86–98 Intermediate Average H3.B 99-05 Moderate AverageH2t.C 86–98 High Average H4.B 99-05 Moderate Average H2.C 99-05 Intermediate Average H3.C 99-05 High Average H4.C
Competitor list
Note – "Dakar Legends": competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – "Rookies": competitors who will participate for the first time. – Competitors that were not able to start the race. – "Original by Motul" — Competitors participating in the "Original by Motul", previously known as "Malle Moto", a marathon class with limited assistance.VJW – Subclasses for Veteran, Junior, Women.