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FIA: Dacia and Ford take the fight to Toyota and X-raid
The Dacia Sandriders burst onto the stage with a three-pronged assault on the championship finale last October, with Nasser Al Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb securing a one-two finish and firing a shot across the bows of their rivals ahead of the 2025 season. The three-time world champion and his runner-up from 2022 are good to go. Cristina Gutiérrez will be racing at their sides.
Ford M-Sport are fielding four drivers in the W2RC. Carlos Sainz, who started the season with his fourth Dakar triumph and went on to finish in the top 5, will count on the support of fellow Spaniard Nani Roma, a Dakar winner on two (2004) and four wheels (2014). Backing up these two rally-raid legends in the American squad are Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie Jr., a newcomer from the Challenger class. X-raid have also mustered four drivers for their petrol-powered Mini 3.0i JCWs . Guillaume de Mévius was the breakthrough performer of the 2024 season, clinching second place overall in his first Dakar in the Ultimate class —competing for Overdrive Racing— and taking third at the Rallye du Maroc, where the Belgian got a feel for the Mini and got to know his new co-driver, the two-time world champion (2022 and 2023) Mathieu Baumel. The Red Devil is going to raise hell alongside Denis Krotov, Lionel Baud and the 2024 World Baja Cup champion, João Ferreira.
Toyota are determined to make an impact too, with seven Hilux drivers on the entry list. Three will compete for Overdrive Racing, including the two-time W2RC silver medallist (2023 and 2024) Yazeed Al Rajhi. Jean-Marc Fortin renewed the contract of Juan Cruz Yacopini, third in 2023, and recruited the precocious Rokas Baciuška, whose meteoric rise has taken him to the heights of the SSV (2022 and 2023) and Challenger (2024) classes. Four Toyota Gazoo Racing factory drivers make up the rest of the contingent. Lucas Moraes, who finished on the overall W2RC podium for the first time in 2024 after standing on the podium of the 2023 Dakar, will share the same roof with Seth Quintero again. Saood Variawa is entering his second W2RC season alongside fellow South African Henk Lategan.
Six hired hands will have outsider status in 2025: Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Factory Team), Martin Prokop (Orlen Jipocar Team), Jean-Luc Ceccaldi (JLC Racing), Dave Klaassen (Daklapack Rallysport), Guoyu Zhang (Mintimes Yunxiang Rally Team) and the W2RC rookie Daniel Schröder (PS Laser Racing).
Toyota, the three-time manufacturers' champion, face a gruelling title defence match now that Dacia and Ford have stepped into the ring.
Meanwhile, in the Challenger class, five structured teams and a handful of lone rangers will jostle to fill the power vacuum left by Rokas Baciuška's promotion to Ultimate.
Yasir Seaidan hopes to follow up his recent SSV triumph with the Challenger title in 2025. The Saudi has jumped ship to Team BBR, joining Nicolás Cavigliasso, the runner-up to Baciuška, and his navigator, the 2024 champion Valentina Pertegarini. Another Saudi, Dania Akeel, who finished the 2024 season in the top 5, will be racing at his side. The young Pau Navarro rounds out the French squad, which will field five Taurus T3 Max cars.
Mission accomplished for Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA by BFG: Quintero, Gutiérrez and Guthrie will all be factory drivers in the Ultimate class in 2025, while Guillaume de Mévius, who also used to be part of their structure, is also playing in the big leagues. A new generation of rally-raid talent is emerging in the shape of two 23-year-old drivers. The American Corbin Leaverton is a worthy successor to Quintero and Guthrie. The Californian has already picked up several titles in the World Off Road Championship Series (WORCS) and Best in the Desert (BITD) events on the other side of the pond. Gonçalo Guerreiro, the 2022 Portuguese national cross-country champion, a three-time winner of Baja Portalegre in his class, will fly the flag for Europe.
The Argentinian David Zille will be driving a Taurus (Daklapack Rallysport), just like Team BBR and Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA by BFG.
Nasser Al Attiyah is making waves with the debut of his own team. Nasser Racing, which has the backing of the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF), will be fielding three crews: Khalifa Al Attiyah, the other Al Attiyah brother, who made his first international appearance at the 2021 Andalucía Rally; Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, the title holder in the Middle East Rally Championship (MERC), which Nasser Al Attiyah won nineteen times; and the Spaniard Eduard Pons, who claimed the World Baja Cup in the Challenger class (third overall) this season.
G Rally Team and Franco Sport live by the maxim "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The team founded by Guillaume de Mévius will continue to place its trust in Rui Carneiro and the other female driver in the class, Puck Klaassen. Meanwhile, the Portuguese outfit with Yamaha vehicles has entered Mario Franco and Pedro Gonçalves. The Emirati Khalid Aljafla (Aljafla Racing), who finished on the podium of the 2024 World Baja Cup in the Challenger class (fifth overall), and the Pole Adam Kuś (Akpol Recykling) are joining the caravan too.
In the SSV class, Seaidan's move up to Challenger is fuelling an American dream! Sara Price, second overall at the 46th Dakar in her latest international appearance, is bursting with ambition after becoming a Can-Am Factory driver. Scott Abraham's South Racing team is banking on the new Can-Am Maverick R and focusing on the SSV class with an Argentinian triumvirate: the World Baja Cup champion in SSV (second overall), Fernando Álvarez, the quad World Cup champion Manuel Andújar, and Diego Martínez. Italy is pinning its hopes on quantity and experience. Two Italians in the top 10 in 2024 are coming back for more: Enrico Gaspari (TH Trucks) and Michele Antonio Cinotto (CST XtremePlus Polaris Team) in a Polaris. The German Roger Grouwels (Raceart), the Portuguese Alexandre Pinto (who won the Road to Dakar Challenge at the Rallye du Maroc) and the Spaniard Carlos Vento (Old Friends Rally Team) are all set for their debuts. Claude Fournier (MMP), the grandfather of the W2RC house, has no intention of missing a single championship round!
FIM: red and orange squadrons up for a rematch
The KTM Group, which claimed the first two W2RC titles with Sam Sunderland (2022 — GasGas) and Luciano Benavides (2023 — Husqvarna), is consolidating its forces under one banner for 2025, fielding a three-rider squad. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is doubling down on Kevin Benavides, a two-time Dakar winner (2021 and 2023), his brother Luciano and Daniel Sanders.
In 2024, Monster Energy Honda HRC pulled off an impressive team effort for the third year running, clinching four out of five rounds. Ricky Brabec took victories at the Dakar and the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF Infinia, while Tosha Schareina topped the BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal and the Rallye du Maroc. In the final standings, Adrien Van Beveren, Schareina and Brabec lined up one after the other behind the champion, securing yet another manufacturers' title for the reds… but coming up short in the fight for the individual crown. Pablo Quintanilla and Skyler Howes remain key players in the squad run by Ruben Faria.
Hero MotoSports and their superhero rider Ross Branch know the score: Season 4 is likely to be KTM's shot at reclaiming past glory and Honda's relentless push for the elusive riders' world championship. Nacho Cornejo and Sebastian Bühler will again support the Botswanan in his title defence campaign.
Twelve riders are lined up in Rally GP this season —eleven factory riders and a rookie. Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing), fresh off his Rally 2 World Cup triumph, is stepping up to play with the big boys.
The South African leaves his title up for grabs. Romain Dumontier, backed by Honda since the fourth round of the 2024 season to help develop the brand’s customer-targeted machine, is determined to reclaim his 2023 crown aboard the 450 CRF. However, the Frenchman will face tougher competition due to the new FIM rules (see FIM Updates). Rising stars such as Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally), who made the 2024 podium, and seasoned contenders such as Michael Docherty (BAS World KTM Racing) are certain to be in the mix. Threats now lurk behind every corner, including the factory rider Harith Noah (Sherco Rally Factory), the 2024 Dakar champion in the class, as well as the BAS World KTM Racing camp, with budding talents such as Edgar Canet and Tobias Ebster. As it is, this privateer outfit has what it takes to contend for the new team prize introduced in 2025 (see FIM Updates).
The quads will step into the fray from the second round, while the Rally 3 class will make its debut at the third event on the calendar.
FIA updates: right on point!
Rule changes for the 2025 season will award more points to highlight various aspects of a competitor's skill set:
- Starter and Finisher Points: the top 15 riders in a rally format round will continue to earn 30, 25, 20, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2 points, respectively, with an additional 2 points now awarded from sixteenth place onwards to all classified competitors, along with 1 point for unclassified competitors. For Marathon events (more than five stages) such as the Dakar, the specific points scale (50, 40, 30, 26, 23, 20, 17, 15, 13, 11, 9, 7, 6, 5 and 4) doubles these additional points: 4 points for classified competitors from sixteenth place onwards and 2 points for unclassified competitors.
- Power Selective Section: held at the very end of the rally, this final sprint, stretching for 5 to 30 kilometres, will reward the three fastest crews in each class with 3, 2 and 1 points, respectively. The Power Selective Section will be a recommendation for organisers in 2025 and mandatory in 2026.
- Manufacturer stage points: following the model of stage points awarded for individual performances (driver and co-driver) on every stage of the rally, the five fastest cars nominated by manufacturers to represent them will earn between 5 and 1 points.
FIM updates: the more rookies the merrier / team title
Two key updates to the FIM 2025 regulations aim to shine a spotlight on amateur motorbikes, quads and their teams:
- Automatic registration for the Rally 2, Rally 3 and quad classes: any rider entering a round on the 2025 calendar in a class other than Rally GP will automatically be registered for the championship. At any point in the season, local riders can score points and potentially shake up the provisional standings. This approach is expected to uncover new talent and encourage rookies to commit to the discipline.
- Team title: inspired by the professional manufacturers' title, a new team classification will now recognise the efforts of Rally 2 motorbike support teams. The two best riders from each team in this category will score points at every round, determining the best privateer outfit of the year.
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