The 47th edition of the Dakar Rally, the world’s most grueling motorsport event, will take place in Saudi Arabia January 3-17. This is the sixth consecutive year it has been held in the kingdom.
This year’s rally begins in Bisha in Saudi Arabia’s southwest region and ends in Shubaytah in the country’s far east. Spanning 7,805 kilometers (4 850 miles), including 5,209 kilometers of timed racing, competitors will face harsh landscapes, from coastal plains to the Rub’ al Khali Desert’s dunes.
The race format includes of 14 days of racing, divided into 12 stages. There will be a 48-hour “chrono” marathon stage, covering 950km. Five stages will feature separate routes for cars and bikes. There will be one mass start stage.
For the fourth year the Dakar Rally will also be the first event in 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship.
Since the first Dakar Rally in 1979, 33 competitors have died, alongside nearly 50 other casualties, including journalists and organizers. Once held in Africa, the rally moved to South America in 2009 and found a permanent home in Saudi Arabia in 2020. Today, it spans eight categories, including cars, motorcycles, ATVs and UTVs.
432 bikes, cars, side-by-sides and trucks will compete in this year’s Dakar Rally.
Competitors include Stephane Peterhansel, with 14 Dakar titles (eight in cars and six on motorcycles); defending champions, Spaniard Carlos Sainz (cars), American Ricky Brabec (USA, motorcycles); five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb.
Al-Attiyah will be driving a specially designed Dacia Sandrider which was built specifically for the Rally-Raid competitions.
NBC Sports will have nightly coverage of the Dakar Rally starting Jan. 3 with a one-hour show at 8 p.m. ET on Peacock, which also will have a Dakar Rally page with full-event replays.
