Written by Max Smolarski, Edited by Sean McKean
Welcome to 2025, everybody. Last year was a landmark year in many championships and categories, and this year is already proving to be no less busy. Whilst January is usually one of the quieter months in motorsports, there are still quite a few exciting events to look out for.
Dakar Rally/World Rally-Raid
The annual Dakar Rally opens the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship and will be the sixth time the famous rally races in Saudi Arabia.
The rally started with testing on the 2nd of January, with the prologue set for the 3rd, and stage one starting on the morning of the 4th local time.
The new marathon stage, which debuted last year, will now be during stage two from the 5th to the 6th of January.
The rally starts in the south-western city of Bisha, resting in the northern city of Ha’il on the 10th, before going through the ‘Empty Quarter’ desert, and finishing off near the Shaybah Oil Field.
Various names to look out for are 2016 bike class runner-up Štefan Svitko, who returns to Dakar after two years away.
Others include 2009 car class winner and veteran Giniel de Villiers; one of the greatest women in rallying in Laia Sanz; five-time car class champion Carlos Sainz Sr. in his first entry with Ford; and two-time truck class champion Hans Stacey in his first entry in eight years, switching to Classics class.
Formula E: Mexico City
The 2024-25 Formula E season continues to round two in Mexico City. Many chaotic and exciting FE races have occurred at Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and this season is set to be no different.
The Gen3 Evo will prove to completely change the style of racing, especially at a track with a long straight.
Peloton racing, which was present most of last year, may be eliminated, as was the case in São Paulo, after the addition of 4WD to attack mode completely changed how attack mode is used in the future.
Last year’s champion, Pascal Wehrlein, will have a minor setback in Mexico, as he will have to use a spare chassis after a crash in round one, where his car was flipped upside down.
As for Nissan’s pair of Nato and Rowland and Nissan’s customer McLaren, they hope their cars are fixed in time after being penalised for overpower during race starts and restarts.
Formula E will be in Mexico on the 10th and 11th of January, with both qualifying and race set for Saturday.
F4 Middle East/Formula Regional Middle East: Kuwait
The 2025 Formula 4 Middle East, a successor of F4 UAE, will join alongside FRMEC for the season opener double-header at the Yas Marina Circuit on the 17-18th and 22-24th January.
Whilst we are a few weeks away from the first race, we can expect a lot of announcements in the run up to the first race weekend.
WRC: Monte Carlo Rally
The 2025 World Rally Championship starts on the 23rd of January in Monaco at Casino Square, where the first round will last until Sunday the 26th.
One of the most prestigious rally races will be set for 18 stages over 340 kilometres in France’s Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.
Adrien Formeaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria moved from Ford to Hyundai for this season. Kalle Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen return to a full-time campaign with Toyota after doing a partial season in 2024.
Toyota will serve four full-time drivers, as WRC2 champion Sam Pajari joins the squad with new co-driver Marko Salminen, and eight-time champion Sébastian Ogier continues his part-time campaign with co-driver Vincent Landais.
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