Car race : Debutante ball

December 31 ^st 2025 - 19:39 [GMT + 3]

• Change is a foot among the 63 Ultimate cars lined up for the 47^th edition, with a particular focus on the crews tipped to battle it out for glory over the 5,115 kilometres of specials mapped out between Bisha and Shubaytah.
• Three cutting-edge machines are set to make their Dakar debut with world-class drivers behind the wheel: Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb in Dacia Sandriders, Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma in Ford Raptors and Guillaume de Mévius and Guerlain Chicherit in revamped petrol-fuelled Minis.
• All eyes will be on the debutantes, but the Toyota Hilux armada remain hot favourites, with drivers of the calibre of Yazeed Al Rajhi, Lucas Moraes and Giniel de Villiers, not to mention wild cards such as the Price-Sunderland duo and the Lithuanian Rokas Baciuška.

Where are the Big Five now? The Big Five are the winners of the last seventeen editions, eight of which went to Stéphane Peterhansel, who is spending his first January away from the dunes of the Dakar since 1994. The rest are all lining up for the start in Bisha, although under different circumstances: Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia), Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma (Ford) are taking new machines out on their first Dakar outing, while Giniel de Villiers is staying true to his colours, embarking on his fourteenth Dakar out of twenty-two in the tried-and-true Toyota Hilux. No-one has managed to take a machine fresh out of the oven to victory since Ari Vatanen, who triumphed with the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 in 1987 and then with the 405 —its technical heir— in 1989, followed by the Citroën ZX in 1991.

However, given the promise shown by the 2025 debutantes, one could be tempted to fancy their chances. At the sharp end of the recent Rallye du Maroc standings, two Dacia Sandriders, piloted by two maestros of the desert dance, towered over the opposition. The three-time W2RC champion, Nasser Al Attiyah, now partnered with Édouard Boulanger, seems to have a thoroughbred on his hands that could carry him back to winning ways. His teammate Sébastien Loeb could use his ninth dance to finally clinch it… If the overheating issues observed in Morocco do not spoil this young filly's Saudi Arabian debut. Should that happen, Cristina Gutiérrez stands ready to play the role of luxury saviour, just as she did in the final round of the W2RC. Over at Ford M-Sport, their hopeful young debutante, the Raptor, enjoys the attentions of the reigning champion, Carlos Sainz, along with Nani Roma, Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie— all legitimate contenders if the machine can show the same turn of speed it displayed in Morocco (where it ran unclassified in the "Experimental" category). While Mini have six entries on the honour roll of the rally, X-raid has cooked up an entirely fresh version this year, with a petrol engine that also proved a revelation last October, when Guerlain Chicherit clinched the prologue in the first unit to roll out of the German workshop. The same machine will be entrusted to Guillaume de Mévius (second in the last Dakar and third in Morocco), not to mention promising 24-year-old Portuguese hotshot João Ferreira.

The Toyota camp, under both Gazoo Racing and Overdrive Racing banners, is playing multiple hands to regain control of the Dakar. Beyond De Villiers, there are several sure bets in the Hilux contingent. Yazeed Al Rajhi, second in the W2RC, has yet to win the Dakar on home soil (third in 2022), but he has all the talent and mechanical firepower needed to achieve it. Victory is also the target for the Brazilian Lucas Moraes, who dazzled with a podium finish in his Dakar debut in 2023 and finished the 2024 W2RC season in third place. Jean-Marc Fortin is also fond of a gamble and has played a strong hand this year. The man in charge at the Belgian operation has signed a pair of two-time winners in the motorbike category, Toby Price and Sam Sunderland, who could spell double trouble for the competition despite their inexperience. He has also placed a chip or two on the Lithuanian ace Rokas Baciuška, a three-time W2RC champion (in SSV and Challenger) who is moving up to the big leagues in a bid to shine in Ultimate too. The South African school also has a few virtuosos: Henk Lategan (fifth in 2023), Guy Botterill (sixth in 2024) and the young Saood Variawa (seventeenth in 2024) continue to draw inspiration from De Villiers behind the wheel of Hilux beasts. The same goes for Seth Quintero, who will be looking to steer clear of mishaps at the Dakar.

A cut below the title contenders, there are 40 or so cars that have what it takes to fight for the top 10. Chief among them is Mathieu Serradori, who has cracked the top 10 before (eighth in 2020 and seventh in 2022) and is eyeing an even higher finish in his Century CR7 T1+ 4×4, which he intends to use as a battering ram on the gates of the top 5. The Czech Martin Prokop already came in fifth last year. The three-time winner in the two-wheel drive class has cleared the way for the MD Rallye and Optimus cars of Christian Lavieille, Simon Vitse and Eugenio Amos to shine… unless Laia Sanz and her Century CR6 crash the Norman squad's party.