The Dakar Rally is regarded as probably the world’s most gruelling motoring event and over the years this ten-to-fifteen-day event has taken its toll on man and machine whilst also giving great publicity and research opportunities for car and bike manufacturers.
Open to amateur and professional competitors, the first Paris to Dakar Rally occurred in 1978 and as the name suggests, went from Paris, France across various African countries to finish in Dakar, Senegal. On occasions from 1992 to 2007, the event didn’t necessarily start in Paris or finish in Dakar, however it kept the same name. As the 2008 rally was cancelled due to security threats in Mauritania, from 2009 and for the next decade it was held totally in South America.
From 2020 the event now known as the ‘Dakar Rally’ has been held totally in Saudi Arabia and this year’s rally in January, the 47th edition, saw competitors tackle 12 desert stages, travelling more than 7,700 kms over fourteen days, with one brutal stage being the 48-hour Chrono Stage.
As you can imagine this type of event in such a uniquely beautiful country creates some amazing highlights and over recent years the coverage has been so good that the highlights packages are a must see as the following video shows:
Highlights of the 2025 edition presented by Aramco
If you’re into still photography, you’ll really love this collection by Joe Salas from Dakar 2025 for newatlas.com
The very best photos of Saudi Arabia and Dakar 2025 – New Atlas
Aussies were very well represented with Toby Price in the car division while Daniel Sanders and Toby Hederics on KTM Bikes both faired extremely well.
