Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi made history by becoming the first Saudi Arabian driver to win the Dakar Rally. 

The Toyota Hilux driver only won one stage but he led after the ninth day for the first time and then moved ahead on the penultimate stage to clinch a narrow 3min 57sec victory and the early lead in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC). 

Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings led from the second stage to the eighth and then hit the front again after the 10th stage. But the South African could not prevent Al-Rajhi earning the biggest win of his career and the Saudi’s co-driver Timo Gottschalk from securing a second victory after a 14-year wait following his success with Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah in South America in 2011.

Lategan led the race for a total of eight days but just fell short after a superb drive. A delighted Overdrive Racing’s team principal Jean-Marc Fortin said: “What to say? Two and three years ago, one and three, last year second, and this year, one and two. I am so happy. It’s a dream of life that you are winning Dakar. But this one was another test and Overdrive has won the Dakar. It is unbelievable. We are leading the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ Championships. It’s a beautiful day.”

The Japanese manufacturer controlled the race from the start. The team won the Prologue and eight of the 12 stages to seal a fourth Dakar success after previous wins in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

The Ford M-Sport Team picked up a podium finish and two stage wins after a successful two weeks for the new Ford Raptor. The Swedish pairing of Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist topped the times on stage 11 on their way to third place, while team-mates Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch finished fifth. Joan Roma won a stage in the third Raptor but was out of contention after a first-week engine block stage and ongoing delays, while the defending champion Carlos Sainz retired before the rest day with accident damage to his car.

Sandwiched between the two Fords in fourth place was the five-time winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Edouard Boulanger on the first Dakar appearance of the new Dacia Sandrider. The Qatari was in contention for a top result throughout the two weeks but a costly navigational error and niggling little delays proved expensive and he missed out on a podium finish.

Dacia team-mate Sébastien Loeb was disqualified during the first week after a crash had damaged the roll cage and Cristina Gutiérrez played a supporting role to the Qatari in the third car after her own delays and subsequent time penalties during the first week. 

The French pairing of Mattieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier achieved a career-best sixth-place finish in their Century CR7 and were well clear of Juan Cruz Yacopini and Dani Oliveras, who guided the second of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas to seventh. 

A spirited second-week performance from the current FIA World and European Baja Cup champions, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, lifted the Portuguese duo from 11th to eighth in the lead diesel-engined X-raid Mini JCW Rally, despite punctures. Their cause was helped by niggling delays and time lost in the sand for the ninth-placed Toyota Gazoo Racing duo of Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz. The 22-year-old American led the event after stage one and picked up a second stage win before the rest day.

Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer topped a successful two weeks for the Century Racing Factory Team by rounding off the top 10, but they were not registered for the W2RC. The Czech Ford F-150 crew of Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka fended off a challenge from Overdrive Racing’s Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Mena to grab 11th.

The second week was a disappointing one for Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón. They had been in contention for the podium until they lost over two and a half hours with technical issues on stage six and were also penalised an hour for a ‘mobile phone infringement. Moraes finished 15th but had the consolation of winning stages seven and 12. 

Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq started the second half of the event from 10th in their petrol-engined X-Raid MINI JCW Rally, but the Frenchman rolled after just 16km of the sixth stage, complained of neck pain and opted to be airlifted back to Ha’il for medical checks. His 14th Dakar ended with a fifth withdrawal. 

Guillaume de Mévius and last year’s winning navigator Mattieu Baumel suffered transmission woes and several minor time delays and finished 22nd, one place behind their X-Raid team-mates, Lionel and Lucie Baud. 

Toyota’s Saood Variawa dropped out of contention after hefty time losses but entered the history books, at just 19-years-old, for becoming the youngest ever winner of a stage (SS3) in the Ultimate category.

Cavigliasso and Pertegarini romp to Challenger category victory

Argentina’s Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini held a lead of just under 30 minutes after the first week and held on to secure a memorable victory in the Challenger category in their Taurus T3 Max. 

The husband and wife won three stages during the first week but managed to finish 1hr 11min 38sec ahead of Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro and Brazil’s Cadu Sachs after several of their rivals hit trouble during the course of a demanding second week of racing in southern Saudi Arabia. Cavigliasso had won the quad category back in 2019.

Young Spaniard Pau Navarro became embroiled in a fascinating tussle with Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari during the second week and he and co-driver Lisandro Herrera took full advantage of late technical problems for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA by BFG’s Corbin Leaverton and Dutchman Paul Spierings (engine) to finish third overall and claim a stage win. Al-Kuwari and his brother Nasser secured fourth, despite a 30-minute time penalty, with Poland’s Adam Kus and his navigator Dmytro Tsyro rounding off an all-Taurus top five. 

Last year’s W2RC SSV champion Yasir Seaidan suffered hefty time losses early in the event after steering issues but had the consolation of three stage wins, while Dania Akeel also fell out of contention with a broken suspension wishbone and a fistful of time penalties on stage six but became the first Saudi woman to win a stage on the Dakar in her Taurus T3 Max. David Zille and Leaverton also won a stage apiece. 

Behind Kus, Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Mario Franco, Puck Klaassen, Leaverton, Seaidan and Akeel rounded off the W2RC entrants.

America’s Heger/Eddy win the SSV section: Portugal’s Pinto/Oliveira finish as top W2RC-registered crew in third

The Sebastien Loeb Racing-RXR Factory Racing duo of Brock Heger and Max Eddy dominated the SSV category from the fourth stage to the finish to secure a comfortable win by the margin of 2hr 06min 04sec.

Once their team-mates and early rally leaders, Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet, had incurred a one-hour time penalty and suffered front-end assembly and resultant transmission problems, debutant Heger was able to cruise to the finish to earn the win in a Polaris RZR Pro R Sports to follow up De Soultrait’s success for the brand in 2024.

Heger, 25, won the Prologue and stage two. The American said: “Today’s my birthday, so I figured I needed to treat myself to a good birthday present. We’re the Dakar champions and it’s pretty crazy to think about it. It hasn’t sunk in yet. It’s a pretty cool accomplishment after a crazy two weeks. We were pretty much near the podium every day. It is something I will never forget.” 

The Can-Am Factory Team’s Francisco Lopez and Juan Pablo Latrach were the quickest crew for large parts of the race in the new Maverick R but lost a lot of time during the early stages. The Chilean won five of the 12 specials and climbed to second place after De Soultrait’s issues.

The Portuguese pairing of Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira were the leading W2RC-registered crew on the bottom step of the podium in their Old Friends Rally Team Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR. MMP’s Jérôme de Sadeleer and Diego Gil finished fourth. 

Enrico Gaspari and Fausto Mota were fifth and picked up W2RC points for being the second registered crew to finish with the Dutch duo of Roger Grouwels and Rudolf Meijer coming home third in W2RC.

After a disappointing start, the Can-Am Factory Team delivered some impressive stage performances. Jeremias Ferioli won the seventh and eighth stages and Sara Price prevailed on the fourth and 11th and 12th days to give the Canadian manufacturer 10 successive stage wins.

The South Racing Can-Am Team’s Fernando Alvarez was forced to retire with sciatica before the restart after the rest day in Ha’il.

Behind, Grouwels, Claude Fournier, Michele Cinotto, Price and Manuel Andujar were W2RC-registered drivers at the finish in Shubaytah.