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January 3, 2025 in Motorsport

Dakar Day 1: Prologue Bisha > Bisha – Liaison 50km | Special 29k

Some of the world’s most daring drivers and riders take on Saudi Arabia’s breathtaking and unforgiving landscapes. From shifting sands to rocky trails, witness unparalleled endurance, strategy, and determination as competitors tackle each stage.

- The 2025 Dakar Rally roared into life at Friday's high-speed Prologue Stage with 29 kilometres against the clock around the Start Camp in Bisha seeing the Red Bull Desert Wings racers putting themselves in pole position for a favourable starting position on Saturday's Stage One.

- The Ultimate Class proved to be fruitful for the V8-powered Ford Raptor T1+ of Mattias Ekström with the Swede finishing just one second off the Toyota Hilux of Prologue winner Henk Lategan. The 46-year-old, who is now 19 seconds ahead of five-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, said: "I grew up with V8s in the DTM, so I have a lot of experience with these engines. I think the sound of a V8 beats everything."

- Ultimate category debutant Rokas Baciuška can also be pleased with his day's work on the back of claiming World Rally-Raid Championship titles in both the SSV and Challenger categories. The 25-year-old from Lithuania finished fourth and revealed: "It's great to finally get this Dakar started. Today was just 29km, but tomorrow looks like a really tough stage."- Over in the Challenger class, the newest recruits of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team started brilliantly with rookie Corbin Leaverton excelling behind the wheel of his Taurus T3 Max to lead fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Gonçalo Guerreiro by four seconds. The 23-year-old American admitted: "I'm a little bit surprised by the result, but pleasantly surprised. It's just one very small task in the scheme of a huge 12-stage race, but it's good to know that we have the pace."- In a stacked bike field for the 47th edition, Australian Daniel Sanders put down his marker early by becoming the only rider to cover the day's 29km in less than 17 minutes on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bike. With Spanish teammate Edgar Canet in third, the 30-year-old said: "It was a pretty smooth run today. Hopefully it's good enough to give me a good position for tomorrow. This is just the beginning of a long race."- The SSV class sees the return of Dakar favourite Francisco 'Chaleco' López, who banked fifth place on Friday in the category he won in 2019 while the rally was still hosted in his native South America. The Chilean is 39 seconds behind American leader Brock Heger heading into Stage One.

- Saturday's Stage One takes the convoy on a timed 413-kilometre loop around the Bisha Start Camp with plenty of navigation puzzles to solve along the way over extreme and unforgiving terrain.

2025 Dakar Rally selected overall standings after Prologue Stage

Ultimate

1. Henk Lategan (ZAF) 15:28

2. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 15:29

3. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) 15:48

4. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) 15:49

7. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 16:01

8. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 16:03

9. Nani Roma (ESP) 16:03

12. Toby Price (AUS) 16:12

15. Seth Quintero (USA) 16:18

16. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) 16:20