The 2025 Dakar Rally roared into life Friday with the high-speed Prologue stage, that includes 29km/18 miles towards the clock across the Begin Camp in Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
Within the Final class, Henk Lategan led the best way in his Toyota Hilux (pictured above), heading the V8-powered Ford Raptor T1+ of Mattias Ekstrom by only one second. 5-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah positioned third together with his Dacia Sandrider. “I grew up with V8s within the DTM, so I’ve quite a lot of expertise with these engines,” mentioned the pumped-up Swede. “I believe the sound of a V8 beats all the things.”
Al-Attiyah’s entry was the primary automobile onto the Prologue Stage and the Qatari was fast to credit score his co-driver Edouard Boulanger for locating the best way to the end line, 20 seconds again of the winner.
Different drivers with large Dakar ambitions, together with Sebastien Loeb, Lucas Moraes, and Nani Roma, additionally positioned contained in the Prologue’s High 10 and can now get themselves a good beginning place for tomorrow’s Stage 1. The instances on the Prologue don’t depend in the direction of the automobile class normal rankings, which is a aid for Guillaume de Mevius, who suffered a puncture and misplaced 4 minutes altering a wheel.
Challenger and SSV
American rookie Corbin Leaverton bought off to a powerful begin to win the Prologue behind the wheel of his Taurus T3 Max.
“We needed to come back and begin from the entrance so P1 at present helps us to try this. I’m a bit of bit shocked by the consequence, however pleasantly shocked,” the Californian mentioned. “It’s only one very small process within the scheme of an enormous 12-stage race. However it’s good to know that we have now the tempo.”
Sturdy begin for America’s Corbin Leaverton. Marcelo Maragni/Crimson Bull Content material Pool
Second place on the Prologue went to Leaverton’s fellow Crimson Bull Off-Street Junior Workforce driver Goncalo Guerreiro, with simply 4 seconds separating the rookies. It’s an especially robust opening assertion from the most recent batch of kids given their shot on the Dakar Rally by the Junior Workforce program.
One other American debutant, Brock Heger, received within the SSV class behind the wheel of a Polaris, forward of Argentinean Jeremías González Ferioli and title holder Xavier de Soultrait. The battle is underway between the Sebastien Loeb Racing drivers and the Can-Am automobiles pushed by America’s Sara Value and “Chaleco” López, who had been fourth and fifth respectively at present.
Bikes
Daniel Sanders of Crimson Bull KTM Manufacturing facility Racing was the quickest biker on the Prologue Stage. The Australian was the one rider to cowl at present’s 29km in lower than 17 minutes. It’s an awesome begin to the Dakar by the 2024 Rallye du Maroc winner, however Sanders is aware of it is a marathon and never a dash.
“It was a fairly clean run at present. Hopefully it’s ok to present me an excellent place for tomorrow,” mentioned Sanders, who completed 12s forward of Ross Department. “That is only the start of a protracted race.”
It was additionally a special occasion for Sanders’s teammate Edgar Canet, who clocked the Prologue’s third quickest time. The rookie has hit the bottom operating in Saudi Arabia and goes into Stage One filled with confidence after this spectacular experience.
Beginning tomorrow the distances are excessive and the terrain unforgiving. Saturday’s Stage 1 takes the convoy on a timed 412km/256-mile loop across the Bisha Begin Camp with loads of navigation puzzles to resolve alongside the best way.
