Carlos Sainz Cenamor (62 years old, Madrid) continues at the foot of the canyon after a year 2024 to remember. He debuted it with his fourth victory in the Dakar Rally with Audi’s pioneering hybrid vehicle and finished it with the Ferrari F1-75 with which his son uncorked his record of victories in Formula 1 at the 2022 British GP. Those laps full of emotion in Maranello during the farewell of his little one from the ‘Prancing Horse’ team gave way to the final preparations for the umpteenth challenge that he will face. Sainz senior starts today, Friday. From Bishah, a small enclave in the southwest of Saudi Arabia, ‘El Matador’ will seek, alongside Ford, his fifth Dakar with his fifth different brand. In short, a new vehicle and the same ambitions for the most illustrious veteran of the bivouac, who was also able to celebrate the arrival of his first grandchild into the world last year. “I want to be the first grandfather to win the Dakar,” he said during the presentation of the project in Madrid.
“Starting with a car from scratch and trying to win the Dakar is a very nice challenge. I think we are facing the most open edition in recent years, the four brands are very evenly matched and this first week many things are sure to happen,” comments the Madrid driver. Dacia also launches a solid project with two totems such as the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and the Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, giving a historic opportunity to the Burgos-born Cristina Guitérrez, winner in the ‘challenger’ category last year and the second woman to have the support of a official structure after Jutta Kleinschmidt, winner in 2001. Among the favorites on four wheels, the Toyotas and the Minis will also have a lot to say despite having less prominent pilots.
The 47th edition of the event, the sixth in Saudi Arabia, presents a level of demand on par with last year, although the start threatens to knock out several of the favorites right off the bat. The second stage, a special of 48 hours and 1,000 timed kilometers without assistance and a night in a tent in the middle of the desert, can determine the course of the test. “The second and third day arrived suddenly, with stones, the threat of punctures and only two spare wheels. It’s early and they have taken a risk, but it’s the same for everyone and we have to accept it. It will be sad to see people lose all their options there,” laments Joan ‘Nani’ Roma, Sainz’s teammate and another of the main contenders for victory in the car category.
The record also seems to play against the big names of the Dakar in 2025. Since the time of the Finnish Ari Vatanen with Peugeot (1987) and Citröen (1991), no newly forged car has managed to win the Touareg trophy in its debut . “The first year of a car is always difficult, because when you do kilometers you always find some surprises, but the statistics are there to break and it is something that motivates the entire team,” says Sainz, who has a special bond with the project. His debut in the World Rally Championship in 1987 was made under the same colors and under the orders of Malcolm Wilson at M-Sport, once again his team leader and glue of the enormous team deployed by the American brand.
Ford has worked on its Raptor T1+ over and over, with more than 17,000 kilometers of tests in all types of conditions, even seeking to hit the vehicle on purpose, to try to stress all the components and mechanics to the maximum. The Dakar, however, always holds surprises every day and for everyone. The 5,115 kilometers of special stages of the edition that starts today in Bishah with the 29-kilometer prologue that determines the starting order and ends on the 17th in Shubaytah, in one of the most remote regions on the planet, will not be by any means the exception to the norm.
The big news in 2025 will be the splitting of routes in five of the 12 stages, a fact that eliminates the traces of motorcycles to the detriment of cars and complicates navigation and strategy tasks for drivers and co-drivers. “It will be a rally of resistance and also of maturity. There is a very high level of difficulty, and it will be a tough test that will take everyone beyond their limits and comfort zone,” summarizes David Castera, director of the Dakar Rally. Arriving safely and without having suffered major setbacks to the rest day in Hail on January 10, after another day without external help between the fourth and fifth stages, will be key for the contenders for victory.
Beyond the dance of favorites in the cars, on two wheels the test will once again present a dozen solid candidates for victory, with a very great equality between the main brands. The American Ricky Brabec and Honda will defend the title. Within the Japanese team, the Valencian Tosha Schareina will seek to make up for last year’s disappointment, when he fell and had to abandon injured in the first stage after having won the prologue. The last Spanish winner of the Dakar in the motorcycle category was Marc Coma in 2015, precisely one of the references of the Catalan Edgar Canet (KTM), the youngest participant of the edition at 19 years old.
