Lategan and Sanders first winners on the 2025 Dakar

The Prologue kicked off the Dakar 2025 in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, releasing this Friday the 335 vehicles admitted to the start of this 47th edition, including 64 cars and 134 motorcycles. On varied terrain mixing hard tracks and technical sections, it was necessary to cover 29 km of special to establish the very first hierarchy.

A first time already strategic, for two obvious reasons: the first ten will have the choice of their starting position for the first stage on Saturday, the eve of an already feared “48H Chrono”, and the times of the day will be erased from the general classification. As is often the case with this type of opening special, there was little to gain but a lot to lose.

Opening the road, Nasser Al-Attiyah held the lead for a long time at the wheel of his Dacia Sandrider, but he was then dislodged by the returning Henk Lategan, absent last year with Toyota. The South African took the day’s victory with just one second ahead of Mattias Ekström, who has already proven that the Ford Raptor is in the game in terms of pure speed.

“We didn’t have a perfect run, we made a few mistakes here and there but we had a good rhythm”reacted the winner of the day. “Usually, it takes me around twenty kilometers to get into the rhythm. The track was tricky at that speed and the slightest mistake could be costly.”

Behind this leading trio, it was the Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuska who showed himself, ahead of Sébastien Loeb who finally returned 33 seconds to the line.

“We rode well, we did a good stage, which was not easy for a first”confided the Frenchman upon arrival. “Even in terms of navigation and visibility of the tracks, it wasn’t easy. We did what we could, it’s not bad. The sensations are good, everything is fine with the car, we drove well and We didn’t make a big mistake. It’s okay.”

On the other hand, not unlike what he had already done last year, the defending champion Carlos Sainz did not come to compete for the top 10 and finished beyond the first twenty positions, 1’14 behind . Tenth, Guerlain Chicherit is the first Mini driver in the standings.

The top 10 of the Prologue Autos

Sanders first winner on Motorcycle

Among the bikers, this Prologue was marked by a first notable retirement, that of Harith Noah, last year’s winner of the Rally 2 category. The Indian driver fractured his wrist and will have to be operated on, leaving Lorenzo Santolino and Rui Gonçalves only official representatives of Sherco.

On the clock, it was Daniel Sanders who was the fastest, the KTM rider taking the stage victory with 11 seconds ahead of Ross Branch and 12 over Edgar Canet. Defending champion Ricky Brabec took fourth place while Frenchman Adrien van Beveren finished eighth, 41 seconds behind.

Remember that in the Motorcycle category, the times recorded during the Prologue will be kept and will therefore count to establish the general classification on Saturday, the evening of the first stage. This first stage will consist of a large loop around Bisha, with only 86 km of connection but, above all, 413 km timed.

The top 10 of the Motorcycle Prologue