Rally Raid
The Dakar is one of the world’s toughest races, where speed can be secondary to making it over the line. With huge, unfixable crashes a common occurence, not every vehicle makes it through the desert.
The Dakar Rally is a legendary race, renowned for its dramatic moments and unforgiving challenges. Discover some of the hurdles competitors have faced during the 2025 race and how they've faced up to adversity. For some fan favourites, the race ended a long, long way from the finish line.
01
Laia Sanz's race against time
"The day didn't start as we expected," explains Spain's Laia Sanz when discussing her first retirement in 15 Dakars. "We had a really good starting position; at kilometre 20 we were without third gear already, so it was hard to manage because we had to jump from second to fourth, then the the navigation system stopped working and then Giniel [de Villiers] passed me and I was in in the dust and I hit a a big rock and unluckily it made us roll."
What followed was a race against time for Sanz as she and the team from the service truck attempt to patch the car up to get it to the next checkpoint in time for her to be able to carry on her 2025 Dakar. "We made it to the end by two minutes," revealed Sanz. "It was tight and I cannot be happy today, but at least we got to the end and hopefully we can start tomorrow."
It's a feeling I didn't know until now, because I could finish all the rest of the Dakars
However, on inspection by the Dakar safety team, it was found that because the roll cage had been warped by the crash, the vehicle was unsafe, bringing Sanz's race to an end: "We need to respect the decision, even though it's painful. It's a feeling I didn't know until now because I could finish all the rest of the Dakars, so now I know and it's so bad! I hope to to come back next year and have better luck."
02
A helping hand for Carlos Sainz
Reigning champion Carlos Sainz is as familiar with the Dakar's adversity as he is with its glory; the four-time winner flipped his Ford Raptor T1+ on Stage 2 of this year's event. Thankfully help was at hand in the shape of team-mate Mitch Guthrie Jr. "We were going and saw Carlos off on the side. We just saw him, we couldn't see the car until we stopped and it was down in the dune, rolled over," explains Guthrie. "He asked if we could roll him over; of course we're going to help Carlos - it's Carlos! - so we helped him out. I'm sorry for him, but at least we could do what we could do."
It's probably the hardest race in the world and the spirit is always to try to continue
Despite his car having suffered significant visible damage to the front, El Matador was able to push on and reach the bivouac that night. However, in a story that will sound familiar to compatriot Sanz, the FIA refused to let Sainz continue his hunt for a fifth Dakar title after a safety fault was found with the vehicle's roll cage.
"We brought the car here today for a deeper check and the roll cage was very slightly damaged," he commented. "The team was pushing the FIA to [allow a] repair, but we couldn't convince them, so we need to stop the race. I'm super disappointed. It's probably the hardest race in the world and the spirit is always to try to continue."
03
Disappointment for Sébastien Loeb
Stage three saw another favourite retired from the 2025 Dakar. It was shocking when Sébastien Loeb overturned spectacularly, leaving pieces of bodywork scattered across the sand. Thankfully, he and co-driver Fabian Lurquin remained uninjured. The Frenchmen left the car within seconds to inspect the damage immediately.
"It was a hard stage," recalls Loeb. "I rolled in the beginning of the stage in a little ditch that I didn't see and so we destroyed two tyres. We restarted after five minutes, so it was quite quick."
Unfortunately, a few hours later, it was concluded that the damage sustained to the Dacia Sandrider was simply too much for them to continue, and the FIA took him out of the race. The world rally champion driver's ninth attempt to win the Dakar came to an end.
04
Cristina Gutiérrez is a team player
There was more bad news for Dacia because Christina Gutiérrez was also taken out of the main classification after a technical defect.
"Our goal is different now. It's to help the team and this is the thing that we are doing," said Gutiérrez, taking this loss in stride. Though she would not win the Dakar, it wasn't over.
Our goal is different now. It's to help the team and this is the thing that we are doing
"It's important for us to still be in the race because we made a lot of kilometres, we trained a lot, we helped the team for sure. We scored points for the championship, and for us, this is super important because it's our first year in T1. Plus, anything can happen at the Dakar Rally. Giving up is never an option, but safety always comes first."
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