“Every athlete wants to win the Dakar, and we are no exception!”
En resumen
D.K.
- Denis Krotov is gearing up for his eighth consecutive Dakar in the Ultimate class. The 47-year-old finished as the top rookie on his 2019 debut (15th) and claimed his best result to date in 2024 (11th).
- For Dakar 2026, Denis and regular navigator Konstantin Zhiltsov have joined the M-Sport Rally Raid team, driving a Ford Raptor T1+ with support from the M-Sport factory mechanics.
- Denis grew up watching the Dakar on television and has described it as the 'Olympics' of rally-raid. He began his motorsport career in an X-raid BMW X3 before doing his first Dakar in an X-raid Mini JCW Buggy. Since 2018, he has become a familiar face on the FIA cross-country circuit, taking part in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) and the World Baja Cup.
- For the 2024 season, he switched to an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, but ahead of Dakar 2025 he returned to X-raid to get behind the wheel of their new petrol-powered Mini JCW Rally 3.0i. He even landed the car's first overall victory at the Qatar International Baja.
- Among his other career highlights are an overall win at the Silk Way Rally 2022. He and Oleg Uperenko also won the Hungarian Baja 2025.
K.Z.
- Konstantin Zhiltsov is a hugely experienced navigator who made his first Dakar appearance in 2006. He came as high as third with Leonid Novitskiy in 2013, then claimed Top 6 finishes with Krzysztof Holowczyc, Vladimir Vasilyev and Yazeed Al Rajhi before teaming up with Denis Krotov for Dakar 2021. Unfortunately, he missed that edition after testing positive for Covid-19.
- Now 60, he began his offroad career as a driver in 1998 and spent a decade racing in Russia, winning multiple championships. It was French star Jean-Louis Schlesser who convinced him to switch seats and become a co-driver, and they competed successfully together for many years.
- Konstantin has picked up all manner of wins during his career, including the Africa Eco Race and the Silk Way Rally. In 2014, he and Vasilyev won the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, which later merged with the FIM World Championship to become the W2RC.
- He jokes that in rally-raid, “The driver wins the race, the co-driver loses the race, and the mechanics make all the mistakes!”
Ambición
D.K.: “Last year, during the 48h Chrono stage, we unfortunately received a large penalty for driving a long distance from the bivouac to warm up our tyres and brakes. We spent the rest of the 2025 season primarily working with our Mini. We were improving and developing our own skills in training, while maintaining our competitive results, including a win at the Hungarian Baja. Then we received an offer from M-Sport to join them for Dakar 2026 and we were happy to accept it. We've done some testing in Morocco and at the team's training base in England. The Dakar is the most important rally-raid event and the biggest race in the World Rally-Raid Championship. Every athlete wants to win the Dakar, and we are no exception!”
K.Z.: “Like all professional Dakar competitors, I want to win, especially as I've already been on the Dakar podium. But of course, it's difficult, because Ultimate is the fastest and most advanced class, featuring the most serious professional competitors. It's quite difficult to compare the Mini, the foundations of which were laid in 2010, to the super-modern Ford Raptor, which uses all the latest technologies. The secret to a successful Dakar is the ability to use your professional skills with a cool head, to manage your efforts, and to protect your vehicle.”
