Rally Dakar 2025 started today, January 3rd, with a "Prologue" stage, of just 29 km timed, in Bisha, Saudi Arabia. This short time trial didn't account for points, but decided the grid positions in the first stage. Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, five time winner, seemed to be the favourite for the win, but he lost to South African driver Henk Lategan, driving a Toyota, finishing just one second ahead of Swedish Mattias Ekström. Last year Rally Dakar winner, Carlos Sainz Sr., was 23rd.
Meanwhile, in the motorcycle Dakar, where the Prologue does account for points, has been won by Australian biker Daniel Sanders, followed by Ross Branch, from Botswana.
This prologue is just a teaser for what's to come for the next two weeks: 12 stages, starting Saturday with over 400 km on the desert, followed by a "marathon" 48 hour chrono, 971 km, with drivers sleeping in bivouacs in the Saudi sand.
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