Few drivers in motorsport are truly worthy of the term ‘versatile’, but eight-time World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson most certainly fits that description.
The Swede has a proven track record of success in both off-road racing and circuit competition and is considered one of the best all-rounders in the business.
But even Kristoffersson is under no illusions as to the challenge ahead of him in January, as he embarks on his rally-raid debut in the 2026 Dakar Rally.
“It feels like I am jumping out of an airplane without a parachute if I am being honest,” he confesses.
“I’m used to doing something that I have a lot of experience in like rallycross which I have done for about 10 seasons in a row, and basically, I feel like I know all of the tracks, all the cars, the competitors and the teams and have a pretty good idea of how a race weekend looks like there.
“And now I am jumping straight into the Dakar, which is an event I have been looking towards for a couple of years now but for one reason or another it didn’t come together at that time.
Kristoffersson knows everything in rallycross, but nothing in rally-raid
“Now with World Rallycross coming to an end [it is moving to European status for 2026], I think it’s a good time to start looking more at off-road racing. It’s been a short turnaround since Turkey [the final World RX round of the season] and I got in contact with some of my old friends at Sébastien Loeb Racing and we managed to put something together.”
Kristoffersson will make his Dakar Rally bow in the SSV class at the wheel of a Polaris RZR R Sport, in the same team that took victory in the 2025 edition with American Brock Heger. In the passenger seat alongside Kristoffersson will be experienced rally and rally-raid navigator Ola Fløene.
Even for an experienced off-roader and multiple world champion such as Kristoffersson, having a plug-in and play navigator with Fløene’s expertise in the discipline was a must-have.
“I really have no idea about Dakar basically, but fortunately enough I have a co-driver who has a lot of experience in Ola,” says Kristoffersson.
“He has done a couple of Dakars and some other off-road racing before which is really helpful for me. Also, the team has a few years’ experience too and they won the Dakar last year, so they for sure know what they are doing, and it is up to me to learn as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
“I know some of the guys in the team from my time in the World Touring Car Cup [WTCR] in 2019, and my team-mates are quite experienced too, so I am looking to learn from them as well.”
Kristoffersson’s approach of ‘not knowing what you don’t know’ is surprisingly refreshing for a driver of his calibre. History will show that Kristoffersson has tried his hand at several racing disciplines and enjoyed success in almost everything.
Prior to the first of his eight World RX titles, he gained local recognition for his versatility as far back as 2012, when he won the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia and Superstars Series (all in vastly different cars) in the same season.
Since then, he’s won another STCC title in 2018, two races in WTCR the following year as well as a class victory in the Nürburgring 24 Hours alongside a pair of Extreme E crowns.
Expectations, therefore, are sure to be high for Kristoffersson’s first assault on the Dakar Rally. And it begs the question: what does success look like in year one?
“Just learning as much as possible and reaching the finish would be a success in my view,” replies Kristoffersson.
“We need to cover as many kilometers and have as few issues as possible, that is the goal for us, it’s basically building towards the future and seeing what it is all about.
Spending so many hours behind the wheel at once will be a new experience
“I have no real expectations going into Dakar; I have done some off-road racing in the past in Extreme E but that is without a navigator so there isn’t really so much crossover to be honest.
“I’ll give it a go, see how I enjoy it and take it from there. The main focus right now is preparing as much as I can for Dakar and see how it goes.”
Kristoffersson will have to put his adaptability and versatility to the ultimate test ahead of the Saudi Arabia-based event as he will have just a couple of tests in the Polaris in Mexico before setting off.
Even just getting his head around the enormity of a single Dakar stage, let alone the 15-day marathon, is taking its toll on Kristoffersson.
“A single stage of the Dakar is a season of rallycross, back in the day when World RX had like 10, 12 events, so that will all be covered in one day,” says Kristoffersson.
“So, I will try to prepare as best I can, but like I say, it’s difficult to know what to prepare for! Mentally and physically, I can train, and I have been speaking with some friends who do the Dakar, like Mattias Ekström who only speaks positively about the event, but it’s hard.
“I won’t be able to drive the car much before; I will go to Mexico and do a test in the more standard version of the Polaris, and then I will try to do another test back at home in Sweden with the standard RZR and then we will see.
The Polaris is a machine new to the Swede
“I’ve never visited the Dakar before, maybe I have covered a maximum of two hours on the TV so there is plenty of homework to do before I go there.”
Homework will come naturally to Kristoffersson, who is renowned as being one of the most analytical drivers in the rallycross paddock.
When it comes to effecting running repairs mid-stage, though, Kristoffersson and Fløene will have to be on their game and ready to react on the fly; something that the former may spend some time getting used to.
“The only thing we can prepare for is the unexpected, which is always difficult. In rallycross, you can run through all the different scenarios for the start, but they almost never play out that way; you spend thousands of hours analyzing things but the more you analyze, the more things you find to analyze.
“And the same thing applies to the Dakar; you can picture all of these things in your head beforehand, but it becomes totally unnecessary when the reality is not at all what you pictured.
“So, it’s only until I get there, that I will really get an idea of what I am dealing with.”
One thing that Kristoffersson may feel at home with is the marathon stage bivouacs where crews set up camp in a remote service stop overnight, with basic food rations before resuming the stage the following day.
A nature lover and outdoors enthusiast, Kristoffersson is looking forward to this aspect of the Dakar experience.
“I like that! I actually spend quite a lot of time in nature in Sweden, every opportunity I get to spend time outside in the forests with the family, I make the most of it.
“Eating food outside, camping away from home, I feel quite at home with that anyway, so I am looking forward to getting that experience hopefully on the Dakar.”
Whether this latest venture marks the first step in Kristoffersson’s long-term future plans of moving more permanently towards rally-raid is unclear, but he’s keen to explore the possibility. With age on his side, he feels now is the right time to test himself in a brand-new environment.
“It could be,” he responds when asked by DirtFish if rally-raid could be his longer career plan. “From what I have heard and seen, it’s something that rewards experience year after year and it takes time to get used to the navigation and all of the different challenges that you face.
“If you look at Dakar, you see that the drivers who are the most successful are the ones with a lot of experience, they have done it a few times and are let’s say, gentleman drivers in terms of age!
“It takes experience to be successful on the Dakar, so I think it’s the right time to try it; I started very late in motorsport, but I have done every kind of racing except for single seaters, so it feels like the next logical step for me.”
