The Dakar 2025 officially begins today with the Prologue. A small stage of 29km timed which allows you to get into shape. There are already some surprises, the proof of which is today's ranking.
Dakar 2025, Henk Lategan overtakes a Ford!
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) is the first to start this prologue in the car category. It logically establishes the reference time. The next five set off but failed to do better. Nevertheless, Rokas Baciuska (Toyota) is just a second behind Al-Attiyah for his first special in a Hilux T1+ on the Dakar! A great start for the Lithuanian. Conversely, Grégoire De Mevius (MINI) is already puncturing and finishes more than three minutes behind the best time of the day.
It was ultimately Henk Lategan (started 14th) who set the fastest time in the Prologue. The Toyota driver will therefore start as an “opener” tomorrow. He is 20 seconds faster than Al-Attiyah. Mattias Ekström (Ford) confirms his great form with a fine second best time, 1s3 behind Lategan. The Qatari finally finished with the third time. The top5 is completed by two surprises: Rokas Baciuska (Toyota) and Brian Baragwanath (Century).
Among the favorites, we tried to “position ourselves” to have a good position on the road tomorrow. Thus, Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) achieves the sixth best time. He is followed by Lucas Moraes (Toyota) and Nani Roma (Ford). Guerlain Chicherit (MINI) is tenth. For their first special on four wheels, Toby Price and Sam Sunderland (Toyota) finished tenth. Laia Sanz is twenty-third while Carlos Sainz is “only” 25th but perhaps with a plan for tomorrow!
A very open motorcycle category!
With two former winners (Price and Sunderland) having left in the car, the race for victory in the motorbike is even more open and competitive than last year. On the Prologue, Daniel Sanders (KTM) already shows his intentions. He set the best time with 12 seconds ahead of Ross Branch (Hero). Edgar Canet (KTM) started strong in his first Dakar and finished equal in time with Branch. At Honda, the favorites Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina complete this top5. For his part, Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) is already placed with an 8th time.
Article published on 01/03/2025 at 12:45 p.m.
