What we learned from the 2025 Dakar

The Dakar never fails to deliver, but what did this year's event tell us about the state of play in rally raid?

DAKAR 2025 – STAGE 7

This year’s Dakar Rally was always going to be something of a leap into the unknown. Newcomers Dacia Sandriders and M-Sport Ford were taking on the establishment figures of Toyota and Mini in the Ultimate class.

Quite how the debutants would fare on their first attempts on the Dakar was a question on the lips of many. On the basis of the final round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship campaign in Morocco back in October, Dacia’s raw speed was evident while Toyota appeared in difficulty amid a management restructuring.

Ultimately it was Toyota which came out on top via its quasi-privateer Overdrive Racing crew of Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, while Ford beat Dacia to the final step on the podium in third.

A lot of questions still remain, however. The Dakar is round one of the W2RC season and there is a world championship up for grabs among four extremely competitive brands.

So, what did the 2025 Dakar Rally tell us in the end?

Could this finally be Sébastien Loeb’s year?

DAKAR 2025 - STAGE 3

Ever since his first Dakar in 2016, Sébastien Loeb has been asked this question. Could he win the toughest, most demanding rally in the world? Subsequently, it would be why hadn’t he won the Dakar, or whether he was feeling the pressure to win the Dakar?

All questions the nine-time World Rally champion is no doubt sick of hearing by now, but hope was raised on the eve of his first outing on the Dakar with Dacia Sandriders. After all, the car had made an impressive winning debut in Morocco, the final round of the 2024 W2RC season with Loeb finishing second.

That hope disappeared after Loeb suffered electrical issues on the opening part of the 48-hour chrono and then rolled his car on stage three. He was forced to withdraw by the FIA on safety grounds following damage to his roll cage.

It’s no secret that Loeb wants to win the Dakar before he retires, desperately. Some have questioned Loeb’s legacy and whether consecutive failures to win the Dakar will tarnish that. But what could cement his legacy more than a Dakar win is becoming a 10-time world champion come season’s end.

Would Ford be able to get over reliability concerns?

DAKAR 2025 - STAGE 7

As soon as M-Sport announced its first factory assault on the Dakar with Ford Performance, it was clear that this was going to be a proper project. The Raptor T1+ covered well over 15,000km in a rigorous testing regime in the United Kingdom, France and Morocco. Its debut in the Rallye du Maroc showed promising speed but reliability concerns on Carlos Sainz’s car, which was withdrawn from stage two with engine related issues.

Come the Dakar itself, some of those reliability niggles continued as Nani Roma suffered a blown engine in the second week. Sainz’s rally didn’t last long enough to test the durability of the Raptor but, with Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie Jr, M-Sport not only reached the finish but with both in the top five.

That will give M-Sport Ford a lot of confidence. Ekström may have endured a couple of punctures here and there but the fact the team has completed a full trouble-free Dakar with two cars this early into its life is incredibly promising.

The speed is there too, as stage wins for Roma and Ekström proved. Amid the cross-country manufacturer boom, it’s all too easy to look past the mere presence of Ford and Dacia. To make the most out of the influx of brands on the Dakar, they need to be strong out of the box. The debuts of Ford and Dacia and the pace at which they have adapted is a very good sign for the rest of the year.

Were Toyota over the hill or the only realistic Dakar favorites?

DAKAR 2025 - STAGE 5

Should there ever have been any doubt over Toyota? It may not have the star names of the past, but the DKR Hilux Evo is the most developed car in the T1+ category and, as proven in the 2025 Dakar, the most reliable. During the opening week, rally leader Henk Lategan never once got out of his car in the stages and held a comfortable 10-minute advantage over another Hiliux of eventual winner Al-Rajhi.

The amount of organizational reshuffling within Toyota Motor Europe and its Gazoo Racing over the last few months indicated that things may not have been all that easy going for the three-time W2RC manufacturer champions. Coupled with a car that was nearing the end of its development curve, there had been concerns, but not within Toyota itself.

They were confident that the new management structure [with Christian Loriaux joining as racing manager and Andrea Carlucci coming in as team principal] would not impact the competitiveness of the tried-and-tested Hilux, and that proved to be true.

Out of the blocks, Toyota was on the money. They had more experience, more miles under their belts than Dacia and Ford combined and showed their prowess.

You don’t win three W2RC titles and four Dakars in seven years without having a solid basis.

Al-Rajhi is registered to score manufacturer points for Toyota in the W2RC and will contest the remainder of the season alongside Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero. They have set the bar high, and it is now up to the competition to catch them up.

Words:Stephen Brunsdon

Comments