Starting in Bisha in the southwest of the country, the most famous rally-raid will trace a loop through Saudi Arabia to end on January 17 in Shubaytah, in the desert dunes of the Empty Quarter, on the border with the United Arab Emirates. On this course made up of a prologue and 12 stages, with more than 5,000 kilometers of special stages (timed sections), the competitors will have to face from the second day the dreaded “48h chrono” inaugurated last year, which forces the drivers to sleep in the desert without assistance.
“It’s the rally of maturity,” its director David Castera told AFP, “with a real level of difficulty, it’s a real, tough Dakar, which will push everyone beyond their limits, out of his comfort zone. As for the cars, will this ninth Dakar finally be the right one for the nine-time world rally champion, Sébastien Loeb?
Driving this year a Dacia Sandrider, a team which is making its debut on the Dakar, the 50-year-old Alsatian hopes to climb onto the highest step of the podium which has so often slipped away from him so narrowly (3rd in 2019 and 2024, 2nd in 2017, 2022 and 2023). “We know that a first Dakar with a new car is always tricky, but from what we have seen so far it has gone rather well, so we can be optimistic,” he confided. to the AFP.
The Frenchman was able to showcase his new car in competition in October at the Morocco rally-raid, where he came second, 5 minutes behind his Dacia teammate Nasser al-Attiyah. For his 21st Dakar, the Qatari veteran will race with the goal of a sixth title in his sights. But watch out for the indestructible Carlos Sainz, winner of the last edition. The 62-year-old Spaniard, still sharp, is aiming for a fifth Dakar at the wheel of a Ford Raptor.
On the motorbike, bib No. 1 and reigning world rally-raid champion, the Botswanan Ross Branch, who came 2nd in the previous edition, leaves with the label of favorite on his Hero. However, he should have a lot to do with the winner of the previous edition, Ricky Brabec, or the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren.
For the 47th edition of the famous rally-raid, created in 1979 between Paris and Dakar and which left Africa for South America in 2009, 800 competitors – a quarter of which are French – are competing in the different categories. On 45% of the mileage of the specials, the routes for motorcycles and cars have been differentiated in order to reduce the risk of collisions but also to complicate the navigation of cars, which will not be able to follow the tracks of the faster motorcycles.
Loeb aims for ‘smart race’
Nine-time world rally champion but never crowned in the Dakar, Sébastien Loeb knows he is expected at the turn of the dune. On the eve of the green light for the famous rally-raid in Saudi Arabia, the French driver aspires to an “intelligent race” without “excesses and bullshit”.
“I think that an intelligent race avoiding excesses and bullshit would surely pay off,” philosophers the champion with ice blue eyes, who experienced multiple glitches during previous editions. But for this 2025 edition, the organizers have complicated the task of the cars by dissociating 45% of the mileage of the specials (timed sections which count for the classification) their route from that of the motorcycles.
Faster, the latter leave traces in the desert sand which facilitate the navigation of the four wheels arriving behind. “In the years before, we saw that the attack paid off, even when we opened the road behind the motorcycles. Two years ago, I won six special stages in a row, leading the way. With the track of the motorcycles, in certain types of terrain, it was enough,” explains the pilot.
But in the new conditions, opening the road by car, as the winner of the previous stage must do, could on the contrary prove to be a handicap. Without reference points, navigation errors could multiply among competitors. “As there will be no trace at all, I think the differences will not be to the second or the minute as it was. It may be several minutes lost by the first cars compared to those starting behind,” he fears.
For this edition, he will team up in the cockpit with Belgian navigator Fabian Lurquin and will appear at the wheel of a new vehicle, the Dacia Sandrider. The competitor he fears the most in the Saudi sands? His teammate at Dacia, the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah, already crowned five times on the Dakar. “He’s still the guy who has enormous experience in this type of rally, in the desert. But at the brand level, it’s open.”
The Dakar Rally pitched its tent in Saudi Arabia in 2020 under a contract whose value was not revealed but which sparked controversy due to the ultra-conservative kingdom’s human rights failings.
The rooting of the Dakar on Saudi soil, at least until the end of the 2020 decade, responds to Riyadh’s global strategy of converting its barrels of petrodollars into soft power, by bringing sporting competitions and foreign champions to its soil. The culmination of this policy, Saudi Arabia has just been awarded the organization of the 2034 Football World Cup.
The route of the 47th edition
The route, step by step, of the 47th edition of the Dakar, a rally-raid scheduled from January 3 to 17, 2025 in Saudi Arabia:
January 3, prologue: Bisha – Bisha, 79 km (29 km special)
January 4, 1st stage: Bisha – Bisha, 500 km (412)
January 5 and 6, 2nd stage: Bisha – Bisha, 1,006 km (958) for motorcycles / 1,067 km (971) for cars
7 January, 3rd stage: Bisha – Al-Henakiyah, 848 km (496)
8 January, 4th stage: Al-Henakiyah – Al-Ula, 588 km (415)
January 9, 5th stage: Al-Ula – Hail, 491 km (428)
January 10, day off
January 11, 6th stage: Hail – Al-Duwadimi, 829 km (606 – including 172 km transfer)
January 12, 7th stage: Al-Duwadimi – Al-Duwadimi, 724 km (460) for motorcycles / 745 km (481) for cars
January 13, 8th stage: Al-Duwadimi – Ryad, 731 km (485) for motorcycles / 733 km (487) for cars
January 14, 9th stage: Riyadh – Harad, 589 km (357)
January 15, 10th stage: Harad – Shubaytah, 636 km (117) for motorcycles / 642 km (123) for cars
January 16, 11th stage: Shubaytah – Shubaytah, 553 km (321) for motorcycles / 516 km (284) for cars / 447 km (130) for trucks
17 janvier, 12e étape: Shubaytah – Shubaytah, 132 km (62)
Motorcycles: 7706 km including 5146 km of specials
Cars: 7759 km including 5115 km of specials
Trucks: 7690 km including 4997 km of specials
