“The goal is the top seven overall”
CREW FACTS
G.Z.
- One of the most talented Chinese drivers on the rally-raid circuit, Guoyu Zhang returns for his fourth Dakar in 2025 with hopes of cracking the Top 10 in the highly competitive Ultimate class. The 40-year-old entrepreneur has been fond of cars since childhood and was drawn to cross-country around 20 years ago.
- His achievements include victory at the Silk Way Rally in 2015 and the Asian Baja in 2019. In 2023 he also took podiums at the Qatar International Baja and Taklimakan Rally.
- Guoyu made a dream Dakar debut with the BAIC team in 2021, when he and co-driver He Sha finished as the best rookies in 14th overall.
- After mechanical issues in 2022, he made the Top 15 again at Dakar 2023 alongside the hugely experienced Jean-Pierre Garcin. He also worked with Oriol Mena throughout the rest of that season but missed out on Dakar 2024.
- For Dakar 2025, Guoyu has a new team - Mintimes YunXiang Rally Team - and will be driving a Toyota Hilux prepared by Overdrive.
- He had a chance to test the "fantastic" car at the recent Rallye du Maroc, where he opened the piste on Stage 1 after choosing to start first in the FIA ceremony.
Y.W.
- This will be a second Dakar for co-driver Yicheng Wang, who was already part of the YunXiang team at the 2024 edition.
- He and driver Feilong Liu were forced to abandon in week two after crashing their Prodrive Hunter on Stage 7. It was the same car Sebastien Loeb had guided to second overall at Dakar 2023.
- Yicheng has been a fan of cars since he was a boy. Growing up on the fringes of the Gobi Desert, he took part in his first rally - a local desert challenge - in 2012.
- He first heard about the Dakar in high school, watching on CCTV-5, and said that "a seed was planted in his heart" with the desire to participate in the event.
- Yicheng also won the Asian Baja in 2017, and picked up experience at international events like the Silk Way Rally.
2025 AMBITIONS
G.Z.: “I couldn't participate in the Dakar last year, but I followed every stage of the event closely. I'm very happy to see more and more Chinese teams joining the race. My best memories of the Dakar are the marathon stages; living in tents with everyone and repairing the cars together. I'm a professional driver, so it's normal to compete in different teams. Mintimes is the largest motorsport event management company in China, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Geely Automobile Group. I tested the new car at the Rallye du Maroc. It's fantastic and gives me great confidence that we can achieve a good position. This year I started working with co-driver Yicheng Wang, we did four rallies, and I think that we will work together long term. My past achievements on the Dakar are history - this time the goal is the top seven overall.”
Y.W.: “Last year I fulfilled a childhood dream by doing my first Dakar. Everything was new for me! I've taken part in some international rallies, like Baja Portalegre and the Silk Way Rally, but Dakar is Dakar. Last year we had to quit the race because of a mistake, we flipped our car over on Stage 7, which was a great shame. I've learned that on the Dakar, you can't relax or let your mind wander for a moment, anytime or anywhere. This year the team's plans changed, so we chose to do the Dakar in a Toyota Hilux. We were actually familiar with this car before we discovered the Prodrive Hunter. The first thing at Dakar 2025 is to finish the rally safely, and to show everyone as much as possible the strong performance of our Chinese team. I hope we can achieve a good result.”
