Overdrive Racing and Toyota Gazzo Racing made a strong start on the opening Prologue stage of the 47th Dakar Rally, near Bisha in Saudi Arabia, on Friday morning.
The first timed section of 28.92km does not count towards the general classification on the opening round of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) but a good result was important, nonetheless, for the nine Overdrive Racing-run crews and the two Japanese teams running with service and logistical support.
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Henk Lategan has overcome a shoulder injury that forced him to miss the event last year and the South African topped the overall times with co-driver Brett Cummings.
“It wasn’t a perfect drive,” said Lategan. “We made a few mistakes here and there but it was a good stage. We had a good rhythm early on. Usually, I struggle to get going on short stages. I need about 20km to warm up, but we knew this was quite important for the road position on the first stage, so we pushed a bit. The terrain was really tricky. The pace is so high and there were a lot of narrow spots. It can take a wheel off or get a puncture. It’s a fine balance.”
Lithuania’s Rokas Baciuska, 26, is running a Hilux on the Dakar for the first time with Overdrive Racing and he and Spanish navigator Oriol Mena clocked the fourth quickest time to give them the opportunity of a favourable start position for the opening special stage on Saturday.
Rokas said: “We pushed hard but not all the way. We were only one second behind Nasser Al-Attiyah and have fourth position. This is a good start for us.”
Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Spaniard Armand Monleon were classified in seventh, while Australia’s Toby Price and Briton Sam Sunderland made an impressive start to their first Dakar on four wheels. The two-time Dakar winners on motorbikes teamed up to set the 11th quickest time in their Overdrive Racing Toyota.
Price said: “It’s a different feeling this Dakar, for sure. I don’t know what to expect yet. I’ve done 10 on the bike but this feels completely new. It feels like my very first one again. It’s exciting. We will just take it step-by-step and enjoy the experience. Let’s go and have some fun.”
Moraes’s team-mates, Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, settled into 15th. Yazeed Al-Rajhi finished as the runner-up in last year’s W2RC and the Saudi began his title challenge with the 18th quickest time with Argentinean team-mate Juan Cruz Yacopini finishing 32nd.
Quintero said: “The Prologue went well for us and we are where we want to be. The first week is going to be tough but we are really looking forward to it.”
Al-Rajhi added: “The Prologue was a good start for us from second on the road. We do it well and don’t attack because we need a different strategy for this Dakar. It is a difficult first week. We will see what our start position will be with the new system.”
Estonian Urvo Mannama has joined the full team for the first time with navigator Risto Lepik and was classified in 22nd with the Brazilian duo of Marcos Moraes and Maykel Justo stopping the clocks in 39th. Spaniard Isidre Esteve Pujol and navigator Jose-Maria Villalobos are running under the Repsol Toyota Rally Team banner and were 50th.
The Chinese Mintimes Yunxiang Rally crews of Guoyu Zhang/Yicheng Wang and Rong Zi/ Hongyu Pan were classified in 37th and 111th with full Overdrive Racing support.
Tomorrow (Saturday), teams will tackle the opening special stage of 413km that loops through the demanding deserts around the Bisha start camp. After a road section of 86km, the stage winds its way through the surrounding countryside before finishing back at the Bisha camp. The leading FIA car is due on stage at 09.25hrs (GMT+3).
2025 Dakar Rally – Prologue result (unofficial @17.00hrs):
- Henk Lategan (ZAF)/Brett Cummings (ZAF) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo 15min 28sec
- Mattias Ekstrom (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor 15min 29sec
- Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider 15min 48sec
- Rokas Baciuska (LTU)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 15min 49sec
- Brian Baragwanath (ZAF)/Leonard Cremer (ZAF) Century CR-7 15min 58sec
- Sebastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider 16min 01sec
- Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleon (ESP) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 16min 03sec
- Toby Price (AUS)/Sam Sunderland GBR) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16min 12sec
- Seth Quintero (USA)/Dennis Zenz (DEU) Toyota GR DKR Hilux 16min 18sec
- Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16min 32sec
- Urvo Mannama (EST)/Risto Lepik (EST) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16min 41sec
- Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 17min 15sec
- Marcos Moraes (BRA)/Maykel Justo (BRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 17min 31sec
- Isidre Esteve Pujol (ESP)/Jose-Maria Villalobos (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 17min 47sec
Select others
- Guoyu Zhang (CHN)/Yicheng Wang (CHN) Toyota Hilux 17min 24sec
- Rong Zi (CHN)/Hongyu Pan (CHN) Toyota Hilux 20min 02sec
