The 2025 Dakar Rally is go!
Dakar Rally in Saudi ArabiaThe 47th edition of the Dakar Rally got underway with a timed 29km prologue stage near Bisha in Saudi Arbaia as the world’s best rally raid riders focused on their goal of finishing in the top ten so that they could choose their starting positions for stage one tomorrow.
The longer prologue featured rocky passes and riverbed tracks with American Skyler Howes first off the line for Monster Energy Honda HRC. Returning from injury he finished the stage in eighth less than a minute off the quickest time of 16’51”. His fellow American, defending champion Ricky Brabec, was slightly disappointed with his third place, just 18 seconds off the best time as next up was 2024’s prologue king, Tosha Schareina who had to navigate around some slower cars on the route. Following behind were the experienced Dakar Legends Pablo Quintanilla, who rode a steady 29 kilometres without taking any risks and then Adrien Van Beveren in seventh who was glad to get the action started and release some of the pre-rally pressure he was feeling. It was mission accomplished for Monster Energy Honda HRC as all the riders will now get to choose their places in the start line order for tomorrow’s stage when they are back at the Bisha bivouac this evening.
There will be nearly 500km of riding on stage one, 413km of it against the clock over a mixture of terrain on a southern loop from Bisha; stony sections, sand and tricky navigation amongst the labyrinth of tracks will put them through their paces as they also strategise for the upcoming 48 Hour Chrono. That second 48 hour stage over two days is one of the hardest tests in any form of motorsport with all competitors sleeping out under the stars with simple rations for overnight food, but Monster Energy Honda HRC are the reigning ‘champions’ of the 48 Hour Chrono after Adrien Van Beveren won it last year.
The prologue is all done, it was a good warm up for all the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders and they’re all in the top ten so they can choose their positions for the start tomorrow. All the Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes are in good working order, the riders feel good on them and tomorrow is when the race starts proper. I hope that they can do a good stage without any mistakes, the Dakar is long and the first goal is to get to the rest day in the top positions to then be able to fight for the podium at Shubaytah.
The prologue is all done, it was a good warm up for all the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders and they’re all in the top ten so they can choose their positions for the start tomorrow. All the Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes are in good working order, the riders feel good on them and tomorrow is when the race starts proper. I hope that they can do a good stage without any mistakes, the Dakar is long and the first goal is to get to the rest day in the top positions to then be able to fight for the podium at Shubaytah.
Today was a good start to the race, it’s always important to do the prologue the correct way as it’s a big risk to then have a bad day. I rode a good pace without taking any risks so I’ve started the rally in a good way.
Today was a good start to the race, it’s always important to do the prologue the correct way as it’s a big risk to then have a bad day. I rode a good pace without taking any risks so I’ve started the rally in a good way.
Today was OK, not bad but not great. It was good to start the rally with a prologue full speed and get the bugs worked out. There’s nothing to do for the rest of the day, we’ll hang out and then choose our position for tomorrow. That’ll be a little tricky and then hopefully tomorrow we can land in a good position for the 48 Hour Chrono and set ourselves off for a good start.
Today was OK, not bad but not great. It was good to start the rally with a prologue full speed and get the bugs worked out. There’s nothing to do for the rest of the day, we’ll hang out and then choose our position for tomorrow. That’ll be a little tricky and then hopefully tomorrow we can land in a good position for the 48 Hour Chrono and set ourselves off for a good start.
The prologue was really fast and I like it like this. We had more or less open desert to navigate and so it was good, but of course I had to shake the nerves out today as during the last event that I was racing I had a big crash so I just wanted to get through the day and make sure everything was clean and ride good. So I’m pretty happy with my position for now, then we get to choose our positions for tomorrow and then the race begins.
The prologue was really fast and I like it like this. We had more or less open desert to navigate and so it was good, but of course I had to shake the nerves out today as during the last event that I was racing I had a big crash so I just wanted to get through the day and make sure everything was clean and ride good. So I’m pretty happy with my position for now, then we get to choose our positions for tomorrow and then the race begins.
It’s always difficult with the prologue to not take any risks so I was a bit tense to be honest. It was difficult to manage between reading the road book and not to because there were so many lines and trying to get into a rhythm was tricky for me, but I’m happy. It’s good to start as I felt that I needed to release the pressure on my shoulders, so now I can enjoy my Dakar from tomorrow.
It’s always difficult with the prologue to not take any risks so I was a bit tense to be honest. It was difficult to manage between reading the road book and not to because there were so many lines and trying to get into a rhythm was tricky for me, but I’m happy. It’s good to start as I felt that I needed to release the pressure on my shoulders, so now I can enjoy my Dakar from tomorrow.
It was a good, super fast 29km prologue and I did catch some cars which got in my way, so I just tried to ride smooth and get to the finish line so I can be ready to start tomorrow and go for it for 400 kilometres.
It was a good, super fast 29km prologue and I did catch some cars which got in my way, so I just tried to ride smooth and get to the finish line so I can be ready to start tomorrow and go for it for 400 kilometres.
Rally GP Provisional Standings after Prologue
Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SANDERS Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | 00:16:51 | |
2 | EVAN BRANCH Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | +0:12 |
3 | BRABEC Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | +0:18 |
4 | SCHAREINA Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | +0:25 |
5 | QUINTANILLA Pablo | 7 | CHI | Monster Energy Honda HRC | +0:27 |
6 | BENAVIDES Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | +0:40 |
7 | VAN BEVEREN Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | +0:41 |
8 | HOWES Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | +0:52 |
9 | BÜHLER Sebastian | POR | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | +1:00 | |
10 | COX Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | +1:03 |
11 | BENAVIDES Kevin | 1 | ARG | Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team | +1:38 |
12 | CORNEJO FLORIMO José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | +2:39 |