the second week will be “strong” according to Daniel Elena

Saturday 11th January 2025 06:55 AM

Because the difficulties will be different, in this second week of the 2025 Dakar Rally. After the stones, it’s time for sand and even more advanced navigation. Daniel Elena, Dakar consultant for Chaîne l’Equipe and former co-driver of Sébastien Loeb in the WRC and the Dakar, expects complex stages. He explained it to us in an interview:

“It’s going to start off with something quite tough from the start. There will be stones from the start, then sand and navigation. Then, it will be a little bit cooler before finishing with three days in the Empty quarter (desert with an area close to that of France, editor’s note), therefore 100% dune. The stages will be shorter in distance but very difficult.”

“These will be short but s*** stages, with hidden waypoints, navigation stuff. And go ahead, go this way, come back that way, go around this 300-meter dune. think my friend [David] Castera (Dakar boss, Editor’s note) has prepared something good for them, because to spend three days there, you have to go there.”

The dunes, justices of the peace for the 2025 Dakar?

The Monegasque therefore sees the dunes separating the winner from the rest of the pack. “The hardest part is done in terms of kilometers. Now, it will be a little cooler but not in terms of difficulties. We have left the stones, we are going to get into the gardening, the tanking. Besides, it had started as early as the first dunes with De Mevius, Sainz or Lategan.”

The second week will therefore not lack interest. Especially since, despite numerous withdrawals, there are still customers among the favorites to win. Not enough to allow the winning crews to relax, as Daniel Elena confirms:

“There are still many customers [pour la victoire]as [Yazeed] Al-Rajhi, [Henk] How are you [Mattias] Ekström, who are pulling their punches. Moreover, from the first broadcast, they are the three crews that I bet I would see on the podium. So everything is fine for me, I’m not bad halfway through the race.

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