Written by Jackson Lambros, Edited by Vyas Ponnuri
After over 2,500 kilometres of brutal desert driving, the 47th edition Dakar Rally in 2025 had its halftime rest day in Ha’il. Embedded in the heart of Saudi Arabia, 299 entries from all five classes would enter the city for the break, with some unproven talent up front, and major names already out.
In the T1 ultimate class, many were expecting a rematch between WRC legends Carlos Sainz Sr. and Sébastien Loeb.
However, Sainz would encounter trouble early on in stage 2, when the 63-year-old went nose-over 327 km into the Chrono-Stage, ending up on their roof.
Sainz and Co-driver Lucas Cruz were unable to reorient the Raptor themselves, with Ford stablemates Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch stopping to lend a quick tow to the duo.
With the windshield and half the car’s bodywork gone, the 20-minute stop would ultimately put Sainz an hour off pace going into the night, but the duo of Sainz and Cruz ironmanned to finish off the 48-hour 2nd stage.
The Spaniards were willing to continue, but the FIA would cut them off, as damage to the car’s roll cage was deemed too unsafe to continue, putting away the defending champion’s hopes of going back-to-back.
“Very disappointed,” the four-time winner Sainz said at the bivouac. “The roll cage was very slightly damaged, (and) very easy to repair. The team was pushing the FIA to repair, but we couldn’t convince them.”
Sébastien Loeb discovered his own set of troubles during the Chrono stage as well. Despite mechanical issues putting him a half-hour off the lead at nightfall, He’d hustle his sandrider the following morning to close the gap to just 10 minutes.
But just 12 kilometres into the third stage, trouble would strike the Frenchman. An off-camber jump unsettled his Dacia, sending it end-over-end, before landing right-side-up.
Quick work from Loeb and Navigator Fabian Lurquin got the no. 219 Sandrider back up and running quicker, but would have to stop again at Kilometre 63.
Fellow Sandriders Christina Gutierrez and Pablo Moreno would come to the rescue, assisting in the replacement of a broken steering rod. Loeb ended the day 16th in the T1 class, some 90 minutes off the pace.
But just like Sainz, roll-cage woes would be the real issue, as with the FIA deeming the car unsafe to continue the rally. With 9 WRC titles in the trophy cabinet, Loeb will have to wait another year for his first Dakar Win.
With two of T1’s heaviest hitters out early, it’s all eyes on leader Henk Lategan. Trying to improve on a best finish of 5th in 2023, the South African's consistency has been incredible, with a worst stage finish of 12th.
That put his Toyota Hilux at the front of the field, but certainly kept at bay by Yazeed Al Rajhi. The hometown hero is just 10 minutes back from Lategan.
Just after that Dakar Veteran Mattias Ekstrom and five-time winner Nasser Al Attiyah, ensuring that the fight for victory in the Ultimates is far from over.
On two wheels, it’s been Daniel Sanders who’s maintained a dominant lead so far on his KTM. The Australian has played it smart so far, using his fastest time at the prologue to start as far back as possible for Stage 1.
He’d win stage one, and again start at the tail thanks to the reverse starting order for the Chrono stage. Even with opening stages 3 and 5, ‘Chucky’ has still held on to the top of the timing chart since stage one.
That lead had its biggest hit coming into Ha’il, as issues with his Electronic Roadbook and speeding penalties added significant time in Stage 5. Sanders would still finish with a 15-minute lead, over Toscha Schareina.
It’s a KTM up front, but Honda’s riders are swarming the top six, with Schareina, Adrian Van Beveren, Skyler Howes, and Ricky Brabec all within striking distance.
Still, KTM continued to dominate the Rally, with Branch earning the brand three stage wins, and Luciano Benavides getting a fourth, fastest in Stage 5.
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Outside of the Marquee Classes, Rally-2 rider Edgar Canet has had a Magical Dakar debut. The 19-year-old has taken half of the stages thus far and is tenth overall on two wheels.
The Spaniard led, 16 minutes up on fellow KTM rider Tobias Ebster, with South African Michael Docherty keeping it a provisional podium sweep for the Austrian brand.
In the T3 Challenger division, Nicholas Cavigliasso led in his Team BBR Taurus. The 33-year-old is a refugee of the defunct quad class, but is proving to be just as fast with a roof over his head.
Red Bull’s Goncalo Guerrerio and Rebellion’s Paul Speirlings are the only competition within an hour to the leader.
SSV’s are nothing new to Brock Heger. Growing up a heartbeat from the Baja 1000, the kid from Vista, California won the event in the Pro UTV open class.
Dakar, however, marks his first-ever roadbook rally, but growing up with fellow Californians Seth Quintero and Mitch Guthrie, Heger’s hit the ground running finishing each of the five stages within the top-3.
He leads by an hour over Frenchman Xaveir de Soultrait, Heger comes into the break day with no anxiety.
“We’ve just been taking it day-by-day, not doing anything crazy, kinda pushing everyone where we need to push them and they ran into their own mistakes,” said Heger. “Been keeping it smooth and having a lot of fun, so hopefully we can keep it up.”
Lastly, Trucks has seen a dominant performance, as Martin Macik’s MM Technology team have become early favorites.
The all-Czech trio of Macik, navigator Frantisek Tomasek, and mechanic David Svanda has remained the same for the past five editions of the Dakar, and are looking to repeat their 2024 victory. Their in-house MM technologies Iveco rolled into Ha’il with three stage wins.
They lead by nearly two hours over Mitchel Van Den Brink, with Ales Loprais not far behind the duo, in third.
Halfway done, but still plenty of road ahead for all, with nearly 2,500 Kilometres remaining over the next seven days, before the finish at Shubaytah.
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