Dakar Future Mission 1000 The year of the bikes

December 10 ^th 2025 - 16:54 [GMT + 3]

• The Dakar Future Mission 1000 challenge, created alongside the 2024 edition, offers all preparers and manufacturers wishing to experiment with innovative technologies in terms of alternative powertrains the opportunity to confront their vehicles with the Dakar terrain, a genuine open air laboratory.
• For its third edition, this competition, which values performance as much as autonomy and reliability, features seven bikes and one truck. They will be evaluated over 13 stages of about 100 kilometers, for a total of 1071 km of specials.

SEVEN MOTORBIKES ON THE START LINE

Long distances in off road conditions are the most delicate equation to solve when dealing with an electric vehicle. Especially when it is a two wheeler, for which battery weight becomes crucial. This is perhaps where progress will be watched closely during the run of the seven bikes expected in Yanbu. Benjamin Pascual, winner of last year’s challenge among bikes, has just celebrated his 21st birthday and remains the youngest Dakar rider, once again riding a Segway, the world leader in electric scooters. The Argentinian has some hopes regarding weight reduction: “I went to China to see the progress of the new Segway. The most important thing is that they reduced the weight of the battery by 40 kg, and the bike now weighs 200 kg. It still needs development, but we already have a list of points to improve for 2027.”

ESTHER MERINO, FROM VINTAGE TO THE FUTURE

Among the Mission 1000 entrants is the only female rider registered on two wheels this year. Esther Merino is no stranger to the Dakar, having taken part in the 2022 Dakar Classic as part of a big family adventure involving eight siblings across four cars. But this Madrid native is above all passionate about bikes, several times Spanish off road champion, and now looks in a new direction: “We are three experienced riders,” explains the fifty year old in her prime, “with great reliability in racing. Our goal is to win the category with one of our bikes. And for it to be an important challenge, constructive for the future.”
This ambition within the Sino Spanish Arctic Leopard structure is also carried by former fighter pilot Miguel Puertas, who participated in 12 Dakars between 2004 and 2022, and their compatriot Fran Gomez Pallas, who already looks even further ahead: “I dream of bringing in a top level rider to fight for the overall in a few years in electric bikes. We will need authorization to carry out a battery change with neutralization, so that we can compete with combustion bikes in the future.”

JUVANTENY AND CRIADO, EXPERIENCE IN FULL FORCE

For now, the prize for loyalty and trophy honors go to the Spanish truck of the KH7 Ecovergy team, which dominated the challenge during the first two editions thanks to a hydrogen HVO hybrid technology. Beyond this specific engine, the truck carries a crew with unrivaled experience, totaling 69 Dakar participations across its three seats. The driver Jordi Juvanteny holds 33 of them, while his navigator Jose Luis Criado is chasing the record among active competitors (34 starts to his name, compared to 35 for Stéphane Peterhansel and 36 for record holder Charly Gotlib), and engineer Xavi Ribas completes the trio after having already brought this technology to victory twice in the field.
The youngest of the group never runs out of ideas regarding energy transition: “This year, we are using a new electric hybrid system, which can help us better face the dunes, as well as provide a zero emission mode inside the bivouac. We truly hope to contribute to Dakar Future with an innovative solution that can be implemented in all assistance and race trucks. We stand behind hydrogen as a clean alternative for the future.”

HYSE IN ACTIVE BREAK MODE

The launch of the Mission 1000 challenge in the 2024 edition led to the creation of an unexpected consortium, bringing together five major Japanese automobile manufacturers to develop an SSV running on hydrogen. To give scope to the HySe project (Hydrogen Small mobility and Engine technology), Toyota, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha pooled their expertise and ran a first, then a second version of their vehicle on the Dakar tracks. To absorb with optimal efficiency all the collected data and draw every lesson from these first two experiences, HySe engineers decided to take a break in order to develop a more autonomous and better performing model. The next step is set for 2027.

MIKE HORN’S ENERGY FOR MISSION 1000

The adventurer Mike Horn has traveled the seas, polar expanses, equatorial forests and mountains of the world by all means, and recently took part twice in the Dakar alongside Cyril Despres (2020–21), the latter time with the ambition of developing a hydrogen powered vehicle. The outlines of his project have evolved, and the South African has now created through his company Inocel generators incorporating a hydrogen fuel cell. These will be used to ensure part of the electricity needs of the bivouac and to power Mission 1000 vehicles, a test that could help shape a more virtuous future for the Dakar.