W2RC – Al-Rajhi earns maiden Dakar win on house floor, co-driver Gottschalk claims 2nd victory
Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi made historical past by turning into the primary Saudi Arabian driver to win the Dakar Rally.
The Toyota Hilux driver solely received one stage however he led after the ninth day for the primary time after which moved forward on the penultimate stage to clinch a slim 3min 57sec victory and the early lead within the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings led from the second stage to the eighth after which hit the entrance once more after the tenth stage. However the South African couldn’t stop Al-Rajhi incomes the largest win of his profession and the Saudi’s co-driver Timo Gottschalk from securing a second victory after a 14-year wait following his success with Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah in South America in 2011.
Lategan led the race for a complete of eight days however simply fell brief after an excellent drive. A delighted Overdrive Racing’s crew principal Jean-Marc Fortin mentioned: “What to say? Two and three years in the past, one and three, final 12 months second, and this 12 months, one and two. I’m so glad. It’s a dream of life that you’re profitable Dakar. However this one was one other take a look at and Overdrive has received the Dakar. It’s unbelievable. We’re main the Drivers’ and Producers’ Championships. It’s a phenomenal day.”
The Japanese producer managed the race from the beginning. The crew received the Prologue and eight of the 12 levels to seal a fourth Dakar success after earlier wins in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
The Ford M-Sport Workforce picked up a podium end and two stage wins after a profitable two weeks for the brand new Ford Raptor. The Swedish pairing of Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist topped the occasions on stage 11 on their strategy to third place, whereas team-mates Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch completed fifth. Joan Roma received a stage within the third Raptor however was out of rivalry after a first-week engine block stage and ongoing delays, whereas the defending champion Carlos Sainz retired earlier than the remainder day with accident injury to his automobile.
Sandwiched between the 2 Fords in fourth place was the five-time winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his French navigator Edouard Boulanger on the primary Dakar look of the brand new Dacia Sandrider. The Qatari was in rivalry for a high outcome all through the 2 weeks however a expensive navigational error and niggling little delays proved costly and he missed out on a podium end.
Dacia team-mate Sébastien Loeb was disqualified throughout the first week after a crash had broken the roll cage and Cristina Gutiérrez performed a supporting position to the Qatari within the third automobile after her personal delays and subsequent time penalties throughout the first week.
The French pairing of Mattieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier achieved a career-best sixth-place end of their Century CR7 and have been properly away from Juan Cruz Yacopini and Dani Oliveras, who guided the second of the Overdrive Racing Toyotas to seventh.
A spirited second-week efficiency from the present FIA World and European Baja Cup champions, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, lifted the Portuguese duo from eleventh to eighth within the lead diesel-engined X-raid Mini JCW Rally, regardless of punctures. Their trigger was helped by niggling delays and time misplaced within the sand for the ninth-placed Toyota Gazoo Racing duo of Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz. The 22-year-old American led the occasion after stage one and picked up a second stage win earlier than the remainder day.
Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer topped a profitable two weeks for the Century Racing Manufacturing facility Workforce by rounding off the highest 10, however they weren’t registered for the W2RC. The Czech Ford F-150 crew of Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka fended off a problem from Overdrive Racing’s Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Mena to seize eleventh.
The second week was a disappointing one for Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón. That they had been in rivalry for the rostrum till they misplaced over two and a half hours with technical points on stage six and have been additionally penalised an hour for a ‘cell phone infringement. Moraes completed fifteenth however had the comfort of profitable levels seven and 12.
Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq began the second half of the occasion from tenth of their petrol-engined X-Raid MINI JCW Rally, however the Frenchman rolled after simply 16km of the sixth stage, complained of neck ache and opted to be airlifted again to Ha’il for medical checks. His 14th Dakar ended with a fifth withdrawal.
Guillaume de Mévius and final 12 months’s profitable navigator Mattieu Baumel suffered transmission woes and several other minor time delays and completed twenty second, one place behind their X-Raid team-mates, Lionel and Lucie Baud.
Toyota’s Saood Variawa dropped out of rivalry after hefty time losses however entered the historical past books, at simply 19-years-old, for turning into the youngest ever winner of a stage (SS3) within the Final class.
Cavigliasso and Pertegarini romp to Challenger class victory
Argentina’s Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini held a lead of just below half-hour after the primary week and held on to safe a memorable victory within the Challenger class of their Taurus T3 Max.
The husband and spouse received three levels throughout the first week however managed to complete 1hr 11min 38sec forward of Portugal’s Gonçalo Guerreiro and Brazil’s Cadu Sachs after a number of of their rivals hit hassle throughout the course of a demanding second week of racing in southern Saudi Arabia. Cavigliasso had received the quad class again in 2019.
Younger Spaniard Pau Navarro turned embroiled in an enchanting tussle with Qatar’s Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari throughout the second week and he and co-driver Lisandro Herrera took full benefit of late technical issues for the Crimson Bull Off-Highway Junior Workforce USA by BFG’s Corbin Leaverton and Dutchman Paul Spierings (engine) to complete third general and declare a stage win. Al-Kuwari and his brother Nasser secured fourth, regardless of a 30-minute time penalty, with Poland’s Adam Kus and his navigator Dmytro Tsyro rounding off an all-Taurus high 5.
Final 12 months’s W2RC SSV champion Yasir Seaidan suffered hefty time losses early within the occasion after steering points however had the comfort of three stage wins, whereas Dania Akeel additionally fell out of rivalry with a damaged suspension wishbone and a fistful of time penalties on stage six however turned the primary Saudi lady to win a stage on the Dakar in her Taurus T3 Max. David Zille and Leaverton additionally received a stage apiece.
Behind Kus, Khalifa Al-Attiyah, Mario Franco, Puck Klaassen, Leaverton, Seaidan and Akeel rounded off the W2RC entrants.
America’s Heger/Eddy win the SSV part: Portugal’s Pinto/Oliveira end as high W2RC-registered crew in third
The Sebastien Loeb Racing-RXR Manufacturing facility Racing duo of Brock Heger and Max Eddy dominated the SSV class from the fourth stage to the end to safe a cushty win by the margin of 2hr 06min 04sec.
As soon as their team-mates and early rally leaders, Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet, had incurred a one-hour time penalty and suffered front-end meeting and resultant transmission issues, debutant Heger was capable of cruise to the end to earn the win in a Polaris RZR Professional R Sports activities to comply with up De Soultrait’s success for the model in 2024.
Heger, 25, received the Prologue and stage two. The American mentioned: “Right now’s my birthday, so I figured I wanted to deal with myself to an excellent birthday current. We’re the Dakar champions and it’s fairly loopy to consider it. It hasn’t sunk in but. It’s a fairly cool accomplishment after a loopy two weeks. We have been just about close to the rostrum daily. It’s one thing I’ll always remember.”
The Can-Am Manufacturing facility Workforce’s Francisco Lopez and Juan Pablo Latrach have been the quickest crew for big components of the race within the new Maverick R however misplaced loads of time throughout the early levels. The Chilean received 5 of the 12 specials and climbed to second place after De Soultrait’s points.
The Portuguese pairing of Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira have been the main W2RC-registered crew on the underside step of the rostrum of their Previous Associates Rally Workforce Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR. MMP’s Jérôme de Sadeleer and Diego Gil completed fourth.
Enrico Gaspari and Fausto Mota have been fifth and picked up W2RC factors for being the second registered crew to complete with the Dutch duo of Roger Grouwels and Rudolf Meijer coming house third in W2RC.
After a disappointing begin, the Can-Am Manufacturing facility Workforce delivered some spectacular stage performances. Jeremias Ferioli received the seventh and eighth levels and Sara Value prevailed on the fourth and eleventh and twelfth days to offer the Canadian producer 10 successive stage wins.
The South Racing Can-Am Workforce’s Fernando Alvarez was pressured to retire with sciatica earlier than the restart after the remainder day in Ha’il.
Behind, Grouwels, Claude Fournier, Michele Cinotto, Value and Manuel Andujar have been W2RC-registered drivers on the end in Shubaytah.
2025 Dakar Rally – Closing positions (Prime 30) 1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 52hr 52min 15sec2. Henk Lategan (ZAF)/Brett Cummings (ZAF) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo52hr 56min 12sec3. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor53hr 12min 36sec4. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider53hr 16min 13sec5. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) Ford Raptor53hr 54min 25sec6. Mathieu Serradori (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Century CR754hr 04min 19sec7. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive54hr 50min 02sec8. João Ferreira (PRT)/Filipe Palmeiro (PRT) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D55hr 08min 12sec9. Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Toyota GR DKR Hilux55hr 12min 19sec10. Brian Baragwanath (ZAF)/Leonard Cremer (ZAF) Century CR755hr 51min 41sec*11. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor RS56hr 14min 29sec12. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive56hr 34min 36sec13. Urvo Männama (EST)/Risto Lepik (EST) Toyota Hilux Overdrive56hr 48min 47sec*14. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus T3 Max57hr 50min 21sec15. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux58hr 15min 45sec16. Gonçalo Guerreiro (PRT)/Cadu Sachs (BRA) Taurus T3 Max59hr 01min 59sec17. Brock Heger (USA)/Max Eddy (USA) Polaris RZR Professional R Sport59hr 13min 11sec*18. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Lisandro Herrera (ARG) Taurus T3 Max59hr 20min 34sec19. Marcelo Gastaldi (BRA)/Adrien Metge (FRA) Century CR759hr 31min 17sec*20. Pierre Lachaume (FRA)/Christophe Crespo (FRA) MD Optimus59hr 46min 09sec*21. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D59hr 46min 44sec22. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i60hr 55min 58sec23. Francisco Lopez (CHL)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) Can-Am Maverick R61hr 19min 15sec*24. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Taurus T3 Max61hr 32min 03sec25. Ferran Jubany (ESP)/Marc Sola (ESP) MD Optimus61hr 46min 24sec*26. Saood Variawa (ZAF)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo62hr 22min 11sec27. Marcos Moraes (BRA)/Maykel Justo (BRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive62hr 24min 31sec*28. Alexandre Pinto (PRT)/Bernardo Oliveira (PRT) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR62hr 50min 22sec29. Isidre Esteve Pujol (ESP)/José-Maria Villalobos (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 63hr 14min 35sec*30. Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Yicheng Wang (CHN) Toyota Hilux63hr 22min 00sec* denotes not W2RC registered
Rally leaders SS1Seth Quintero (Toyota)SS2-8Henk Lategan (Toyota)SS9Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota)SS10Henk Lategan (Toyota)SS11-12Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) Stage winners PrologueHenk Lategan (Toyota)SS1Seth Quintero (Toyota)SS2Rokas Baciuška (Toyota)SS3Saood Variawa (Toyota)SS4Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota)SS5Seth Quintero (Toyota)SS6Guillaume de Mévius (Mini)SS7Lucas Moraes (Toyota)SS8Henk Lategan (Toyota)SS9Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (Dacia)SS10Joan Roma (Ford)SS11Mattias Ekström (Ford)SS12Lucas Moraes (Toyota)
