AN ENDURING CHALLENGE
The adventure began back in 1977, when Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. Saved from the sands in extremis, he returned to France still in thrall to this landscape and promising himself he would share his fascination with as many people as possible. He proceeded to come up with a route starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers and crossing Agadez before eventually finishing at Dakar. The founder coined a motto for his inspiration: "A challenge for those who go. A dream for those who stay behind." Courtesy of his great conviction and that modicum of madness peculiar to all great ideas, the plan quickly became a reality. Since then, the Paris-Dakar, a unique event sparked by the spirit of adventure, open to all riders and carrying a message of friendship between all men, has never failed to challenge, surprise and excite. Over the course of almost thirty years, it has generated innumerable sporting and human stories.
2025
Yazeed Al Rajhi went down in history, leveraging his home advantage to take his first Dakar trophy in the Ultimate class on his eleventh attempt. The Saudi, locked in a duel with fellow Toyota driver Henk Lategan, made the difference in the Empty Quarter. Mattias Ekström placed his Ford Raptor on the bottom step of the podium, edging out Nasser Al Attiyah, who came in fourth in the first appearance of the Dacia Sandrider in the rally. In the motorbike category, the Australian Daniel Sanders set a metronomic pace to defeat the Honda duo of Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren, win the trophy and net KTM their twentieth victory. A new generation also had its day in the sun, with Edgar Canet (19) taking the Rally2 class on his first try and Seth Quintero (22), Saood Variawa (19) and Juan Cruz Yacopini (25) proving that their earlier performances in the premier car class had been no fluke. Nicolás Cavigliasso and his wife, Valentina Pertegarini, steamrolled the competition with an impeccable showing in the Challenger class. Meanwhile, the impressive rookie Brock Heger kept Polaris at the top of the SSV pecking order, while "Chaleco" López fought hard until the end to claim second place. Martin Macík was in a league of his own in the truck category, bagging five stage wins, romping home with a comfortable lead over Mitchel van den Brink and Aleš Loprais and cementing his position as the top dog with a second title.
2024
The fifth edition in Saudi Arabia took the field from the ancient city of AlUla to the Empty Quarter and on to the shores of the Red Sea in Yanbu. Ross Branch and his Hero proved unable to stop Ricky Brabec from nabbing his second title, but the Motswana did go down in history as the first rider to place an Indian motorbike on the podium of the Dakar. Audi hit the bullseye in the car race, with Carlos Sainz outspeeding Guillaume de Mévius and Sébastien Loeb behind the wheel of his hybrid RS Q e-tron. A last-minute upset in the Challenger rally made Cristina Gutiérrez the first woman to claim victory in a Dakar class since 2001. Xavier de Soultrait, who had seen victory elude him time and again in the motorbike category, broke his duck with a triumph in the SSV class, seated in a Polaris from Sébastien Loeb Racing. The quad competition saw Manuel Andújar keep Alexandre Giroud at bay and end his streak of two consecutive successes. Finally, Martin Macík restored the Czech Republic to the summit of the truck category, 23 years after Karel Loprais had last stood on the top step of the podium.
2023
The 45th edition of the Dakar ended in Dammam with a flurry of surprises and new records. Nasser Al Attiyah vigorously defended his title in the car category and bagged his fifth triumph by the widest winning margin in two decades. Sébastien Loeb came in second, but he set a new record, with six stage wins on the trot. Kevin Benavides staged a coup in the motorbike category, snatching the lead on the last day and edging out Toby Price by 43 seconds, the narrowest final difference in the history of the Dakar! In the SSV race, the 18-year-old Eryk Goczał turned the tables on Rokas Baciuška at the last minute and climbed onto the top step of the podium. His father, Marek, joined him on the podium in another first in the history of the rally. Austin Jones secured the win in T3, while Janus van Kasteren claimed the crown in the truck category, becoming the first Dutchman to pull off such a feat since 2016.
2022
The 2022 season saw the launch of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), with the 44th edition of the Dakar as its inaugural event. Just over a decade after his maiden win, Nasser Al Attiyah emerged victorious from his duel with Sébastien Loeb to grab his fourth trophy. The local hero Yazeed Al Rajhi rounded out the podium. Sam Sunderland moved into the motorbike lead after stage 2 and never looked back, seeing off multiple challengers to tip the scales and bring GasGas their first-ever success. Among the lightweight prototypes, not even the wunderkind Seth Quintero's record-breaking twelve victories were enough to stop "Chaleco" López from topping the board. In the quad class, Alexandre Giroud tasted glory 25 years after his father had become the first entrant to ever cross the finish line of the Dakar on such a vehicle. Last but not least, Kamaz locked out the top 4 in the truck category with Dmitry Sotnikov, Eduard Nikolaev, Anton Shibalov and Andrey Karginov.
2021
Thirty years after his first Dakar victory on a motorbike, Stéphane Peterhansel added a fourteenth title to his collection —his eighth in a car— and became the only competitor to have won on three continents. Kevin Benavides also wrote himself into the history books as the first South American winner of the motorbike category, while fellow Argentinian Manuel Andújar was victorious in the quad race. As in 2019, the lightweight vehicle class was dominated by another Latino, the Chilean "Chaleco" López. The Russian Dmitry Sotnikov topped a 100% Kamaz-coloured podium in the truck race. 63 bikes, 11 quads, 49 cars, 41 lightweight vehicles and 29 trucks completed the 43rd edition, for a total of 193 vehicles out of 286 starters after twelve stages. Finally, the Dakar Classic category, a regularity race that featured 24 vehicles from the 20th century in its first edition, was won by Marc Douton and his Sunhill Buggy.
2020
The 42nd edition of the Dakar took competitors from the shores of the Red Sea in Jeddah, around the canyons and mountains of the western part of the country, over the dunes of the Empty Quarter and all the way to the Qiddiya Sports and Culture Complex near the capital, Riyadh. In the end, the American biker Ricky Brabec put an end to Honda's 31-year drought, Carlos Sainz took his third title as many different cars, Casey Currie gave America another reason to celebrate in the SSV race, the Chilean Ignacio Casale took back the throne in quads, and Andrey Karginov extended the victorious streak of the Kamaz trucks. 237 out of the 342 vehicles that started the rally in Jeddah (69.3%) appear in the final standings: 96 motorbikes, 12 quads, 58 cars, 31 SSVs and 40 trucks.
2019
Peru hosted the 41st edition of the Dakar, which came to a close in Lima after ten gruelling stages, with an impressive array of champions: Toby Price achieved a heroic feat in the motorbike category; Nasser Al Attiyah celebrated his third victory in the car category, displaying perfect strategic mastery; Nicolás Cavigliasso led the quads, dominating the race like no-one else in the history of the Dakar (nine stages out of ten!); Francisco "Chaleco" López made a successful comeback and reconversion after six months off the circuit in the SSV class; and Eduard Nikolaev notched up a fourth victory in the truck category. Besides the winners, 179 vehicles (75 motorbikes, 15 quads, 76 cars, including 20 SSVs, and 13 trucks) made it to Lima to enjoy the podium ceremony held at the end of the day on Magdalena beach… right where it had all begun.
2018
A total of 191 vehicles completed the 40th edition: 85 motorbikes, 32 quads, 49 cars (including 6 SSVs) and 25 trucks, amounting to 55% of the participants that had departed Lima. The 2018 Dakar returned to Peru with a very sandy programme. Mattias Walkner became the first Austrian winner of the motorbike rally and extended the streak of the Austrian marque KTM to seventeen victories in a row. Peugeot also held their own in their final start, this time with Carlos Sainz and his 3008 Maxi as their sole representative on the podium. Threatened up to the day before the finish by Federico Villagra, Eduard Nikolaev held on to win his third title in the cab of his Kamaz truck. In contrast, the Chilean quad rider Ignacio Casale dominated the overall from the first day to the last to win his second Dakar.
2017
97 motorbikes, 22 quads, 63 cars (including 5 SSVs) and 38 trucks —220 of the 318 vehicles that had left Asunción, Paraguay, on 2 January 2017— reached the final podium in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The 39th edition of the Dakar was marked by a long stay above 3,500 masl on the Bolivian Altiplano. Stéphane Peterhansel emerged victorious from his eleventh-hour duel with Sébastien Loeb, while Cyril Despres completed a Peugeot 1-2-3. Victory in the motorbike category went to a new champion. Sam Sunderland became the first British winner of the Dakar after beating the Austrian Matthias Walkner and the Spaniard Gerard Farrés. The Russian armada took the spoils in the quad class, with Sergey Karyakin, as well as the truck category, with the 2013 champion, Eduard Nikolaev, spearheading the Kamaz comeback.
2016
218 vehicles (84 motorbikes, 23 quads, 67 cars and 44 trucks) out of 347 starters in Buenos Aires reached the finish of the 2016 Dakar in Rosario. Victory in the car category went to Stéphane Peterhansel, driving a Peugeot 2008 DKR, who claimed his sixth title on four wheels to go with the six on two and brought his total to twelve. Nasser Al Attiyah (Mini) and Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Hilux) completed the podium. Toby Price dodged every trap in his second Dakar start to win the motorbike category and become the first Dakar champion from Australia. This edition was also a watershed moment for the category, with five rookies in the final top 10. Meanwhile, the quad race was a classic comeback story, with the two Patronelli Bros. running the show and Marcos at the forefront. The 2012 champion, Gerard de Rooy, claimed his second Dakar win in the truck category.
2015
216 vehicles (79 motorbikes, 18 quads, 68 cars and 51 trucks) out of the 406 that had started the rally crossed the finish line. Marc Coma relied on experience to take his fifth Dakar win. Joan Barreda was his main challenger… until he messed up in the Bolivian stages. He was then replaced by his teammate Paulo Gonçalves, who kept the pressure on all the way to the end. The Australian Toby Price was the breakthrough performer. The 27-year-old rider finished third on his first outing, while Laia Sanz completed the Dakar in ninth place overall! In the car category, Nasser Al Attiyah took command of the rally on day two and never looked back, taking five stage wins on his way to his second crown. The amazingly consistent Giniel de Villiers, the only one capable of causing even a mild inconvenience to Mini no. 301, finished 35 minutes adrift. Peugeot struggled on their rally-raid return. The lack of preparation of the 2008 DKRs was obvious from the results: Sainz (DNF), Peterhansel (11th) and Despres (34th). In the quad category, Rafał Sonik finally tasted glory in his sixth Dakar start. Kamaz swept the truck podium, led by the 28-year-old Ayrat Mardeev ahead of Eduard Nikolaev and Andrey Karginov.
2014
The toughest Dakar held in South America, with just 204 vehicles (78 motorbikes, 15 quads, 61 cars and 50 trucks, amounting to 47% of the field at the start) making it to the finish, was dyed in the red and yellow colours of Catalonia. With Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms taking the top two places in the motorbike category and Nani Roma winning the car race ten years to the day after prevailing on a motorbike, the Catalan contingent simply blew the competition away. Behind the two KTM riders, the Frenchman Olivier Pain withstood the late onslaught of his leader, Cyril Despres, to hold on to the bottom step of the podium. In the car category, Nani Roma topped the Mini 1-2-3 by a narrow margin of 5′38″ over Peterhansel, becoming the third competitor to win in a car after triumphing on a motorbike. The 26-year-old Ignacio Casale also put his name on the prestigious list of winners, as the young quad rider took a home win that earned him a thunderous ovation on the podium in Valparaíso. In the truck category, the Russian Andrey Karginov held on to his lead over Gerard de Rooy by a hair's breadth.
2013
124 motorbike riders, 26 quad riders, 89 car crews and 60 truck entries survived fourteen days of racing to celebrate their arrival in the capital of Chile, Santiago. 67% (299/449) of the vehicles on the start list in Lima made it to the finish. The defending champions overcame the twists and turns of the race to dominate the standings, with Cyril Despres making it five in the motorbike category and Stéphane Peterhansel taking his fifth victory in a car. Marcos Patronelli won for the second time in the quad class, picking up the baton from his brother Alejandro. Eduard Nikolaev, who took the truck title, was the only first-time champion
2012
The Frenchmen Cyril Despres and Stéphane Peterhansel took their fourth and tenth Dakar victories, respectively, across all categories. They were feted on the podium on Lima's Plaza de Armas by a one-million-strong crowd that came to celebrate both the competitors and the first finish of the Dakar in the Peruvian capital. Alejandro Patronelli (quads) and Gerard de Rooy (trucks) were also crowned in an exhilarating atmosphere. 97 motorbikes, 12 quads, 78 cars and 60 trucks made it to the finish line, amounting to 247 of the 443 vehicles that had started the rally in Mar del Plata.
2011
The route of the third South American edition of the Dakar again stuck to Argentina and Chile, but it also kissed the Bolivian and Peruvian borders. In fact, the rally spent the rest day in Arica, in far northern Chile. In the end, Marc Coma won his third Dakar to equal the number of wins of Cyril Despres. It was the Spaniard's third victory in the event. The Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah led another podium sweep for Volkswagen, which ended their Dakar adventure on a high note with a third consecutive win. Vladimir Chagin also wrapped up his career in Buenos Aires, taking a record-breaking seventh triumph and bringing his stage win haul to 63.
2010 - THE CONSECRATION FOR SAINZ
For the second South American edition of the Dakar, 88 bikes, 14 quads, 57 cars and 28 trucks managed to return to Buenos Aires after a 9,000-km journey. Cyril Despres picked up a third title in the bike race, whilst Argentinean Marcos Patronelli was victorious in the quad category. In the car race, Carlos Sainz triumphed at the end of a ferocious and uncompromising struggle with Nasser Al Attiyah. At the finishing line, the two drivers were separated by the smallest gap in the history of the rally: 2’12’’. The race was much more relaxed for Vladimir Chagin, who could not stop collecting records as the event went on: he is now tied with Karel Loprais on six titles in the truck category and pushed his total of stage victories up to 56!
2009 - CELEBRATED LIKE HEROES
The 31st edition of the Dakar, the first one in Latin-America, is now over and has seen the victories of Marc Coma in the bike category, Josef Machacek in the quad category, Giniel De Villiers in the car category and Firdaus Kabirov in the truck category. In total, 113 bikers, 13 quad riders, 91 car teams and 54 truck teams finished the rally-raid, that was notably marked by the exceptional enthusiasm the Dakar generated amongst the crowds in Argentina and in Chile.
2008 - SECURITY AS A PRIORITY
After the murder of four French citizens and three Mauritanian soldiers in the previous days before the start and answering the strong recommendation of the French Ministry for Foreign affairs not to go to Mauritania, the 2008 edition of the rally was cancelled. Terrorist acts identified by the French authorities threatened the rally directly. On the eve of the start, Etienne Lavigne was forced to announce the cancellation of the 2008 edition. The competitors gathered in Lisbon for scrutineering had to deal with the shock and saluted the responsible decision of the organisers. Three weeks later (Friday the 1st of February) a terror attack in the heart of Nouakchott confirmed the judiciousness of applying the precaution principle.
2007 - PETERHANSEL MAKES IT 9
231 bikers, 14 quads,181 teams in cars and 85 trucks lined up at the start in Lisbon. At the finish, the all-terrain action hero Stéphane Peterhansel took his total number of Dakar victories to nine. After six wins on a bike, he proceeded to show similar dominance on four wheels, outdoing not only his team-mate Luc Alphand but also his Volkswagen rivals, Carlos Sainz and Giniel De Villiers.
2005 - A BLUE BIKE AT THE SUMMIT
The motorcyclist Cyril Despres dedicated his victory to Richard Sainct, who had died a few weeks earlier during the Pharaohs Rally, and to Fabrizio Meoni. His two team-mates at KTM paid for their passion for the desert with their lives, as did Juan-Manuel Perez, the victim of a fatal fall.
2001 - KLEINSCHMIDT, "MISS DAKAR"
Jutta Kleinschmidt, first seen in the Dakar thirteen years earlier on a bike, had already become the first female stage winner in 1998 in a Schlesser buggy. This year, she became the first woman to win the overall event, this time at the wheel of a Mitsubishi.
2000 - A BLUE BUGGY IN CAIRO
To mark the new millennium, the Dakar opted for a route with an eternal flavour: the finish was at the foot of the Gizeh Pyramids, where the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt lie. Jean-Louis Schlesser, who remains the only person towin the Dakar on a buggy, retained his title, as did Richard Sainct in the bike category.
1995 : VIVA ESPANA
For the first time, the start did not take place in France, but at Grenada in Spain. Hubert Auriol became the boss of the Dakar on the ground, where he witnessed another fine performance from Stéphane Peterhansel in recording a third successive victory.
1992 - FROM NORTH TO SOUTH
For this special edition, a crossing of the African continent, from the north to the southernmost tip, was the task facing the competitors. The Paris - Cape rally comprised 22 stages and passed through 10 countries on a route stretching 12,427 km! Hubert Auriol won with navigator Philippe Monnet to become the first driver to claim victory in both the bike and car categories.
1991 - ACT ONE OF THE "PETER SHOW"
A young motorcyclist sporting a blue bandana, first seen on the rally three years earlier, rode his Yamaha to victory: the Stéphane Peterhansel era had begun. On four wheels, meanwhile, the Finn Ari Vatanen clocked up his fourth title in the category, a record that still stands today.
1988 - PEUGEOT PREVAILS AGAIN
Over 600 vehicles started out from Versailles. Peugeot, which had made a successful debut the previous year, set out to defend its title. But Ari Vatanen, having led the rally at Bamako, was at the centre of a shock when his 405 Turbo 16 was stolen and then found too late to continue. The lion brand triumphed nevertheless, courtesy of his compatriot Juha Kankunnen.
1986 - THE BLACK YEAR
Thierry Sabine, French singer Daniel Balavoine, journalist Nathaly Odent, pilot François Xavier-Bagnoud and radio technician Jean-Paul Le Fur all met their deaths in a helicopter accident. Thierry Sabine's ashes were scattered in the desert and his father Gilbert, aided by Patrick Verdoy, took over the helm. The race went on but no one's heart was really in it.
1983 - WELCOME TO THE TENERE
The first visit to the Tenere desert was as astounding as it was terrifying. The competitors found themselves plunged into an interminable sandstorm which caused no less than 40 drivers to lose their bearings. Those who strayed furthest had to spend as much as four days getting back on course. The legend of the Dakar was underway.
1981 - ORDINARY ADVENTURERS
The Paris-Dakar rapidly won over the public, fascinated by these ordinary adventurers defying the desert with limited resources. Yamahas and Hondas "cobbled together at the back of the garage" rubbed shoulders with Thierry de Montcorgé's Rolls-Royce and the Citroen CX of the F1 driver Jacky Ickx, accompanied by Claude Brasseur. Hubert Auriol, already nicknamed "the African", won his first Dakar.
1979 - ALL TOGETHER AT THE TROCADERO
Thierry Sabine's gamble took shape on 26 December 1978, as 182 vehicles turned up in the Place du Trocadéro for a 10,000-kilometre journey into the unknown, destination Dakar. The encounter between two worlds sought by the event's founder unfolded on the African continent. Among the 74 trail-blazers who made it to the Senegalese capital, Cyril Neveu, at the handlebars of a Yamaha 500 XT, wrote the opening entry on the honours list of the greatest rally in the world.