The world’s most famous off-road rally: thousands of kilometres of sand, rock and dust, raced by motorcycles, cars, trucks and more.
The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid: a long-distance race run in daily stages across deserts and rough terrain, where crews navigate with a road book and a compass. It began as a challenge to cross from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal, which gave it its name.
Competitors race against the clock each day, then camp in a bivouac and repair their own machines overnight. Navigation, endurance and mechanical sympathy often matter as much as raw speed.
The event left Africa after the cancelled 2008 edition but kept the Dakar name. It has since run in South America and, from 2020, in Saudi Arabia.
Routes are simplified and drawn as straight links between major waypoints. Actual stages, bivouacs and tracks changed every year.
French motorcyclist Thierry Sabine gets lost in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan–Nice Rally. Stranded and awed by the landscape, he decides to share it with others.
On 26 December 1978, 182 vehicles leave the Trocadéro in Paris for Dakar. Only 74 reach the finish on 14 January. Cyril Neveu wins on a Yamaha, and Alain Génestier wins the car class in a Range Rover.
A truck category is added, and the event grows to 216 starters.
British headlines follow the rally when Mark Thatcher, son of the prime minister, goes missing in the Sahara and is found after several days.
The longest edition, about 15,000 km. Thierry Sabine dies in a helicopter crash in Mali during the event. Porsche’s 959 wins the car class.
Peugeot’s turbo-charged rally cars dominate. Ari Vatanen wins four times in five years, in the 205 T16, the 405 T16 and finally a Citroën ZX.
The finish moves from Dakar to Cape Town, South Africa, in one of the longest routes ever run.
Pierre Lartigue wins three straight car titles in a Citroën ZX, while Tatra and Kamaz trucks begin a long run of success.
The rally ends in Cairo instead of Dakar, passing through Agadez in Niger and crossing the Sahara to the pyramids.
Jutta Kleinschmidt of Germany becomes the first woman to win the car category.
A record 688 entrants, including assistance vehicles.
The rally is cancelled on the eve of its start after terrorist threats in Mauritania. The event is replaced by the Central Europe Rally.
The Dakar relocates to South America, running mainly through Argentina and Chile and adding Quads to the programme.
Peru joins the route, and the rally finishes in Lima. Later editions add Bolivia and Paraguay.
Side-by-side vehicles (SSVs) become a separate class from the cars.
The Dakar moves to Saudi Arabia. American Ricky Brabec becomes the first North American to win a Dakar class, and F1 champion Fernando Alonso makes his debut.
Stéphane Peterhansel wins his 14th Dakar title. New for the year are the Dakar Classic class and turbocharged petrol engines in cars.
The Kamaz and MAZ factory truck teams stay away. Janus van Kasteren wins the truck class in an Iveco.
Carlos Sainz wins in the electrified Audi RS Q e-tron, with a hybrid-style range extender. The event is now in its fifth year in Saudi Arabia.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi wins for Toyota, the first Saudi winner in cars. The Quad class is dropped and a Mission 1000 class for low-emission vehicles begins.
The 48th edition runs 3–17 January. Nasser Al-Attiyah takes his sixth win, in a Dacia Sandrider, and Luciano Benavides wins on a KTM.
Winning vehicles are shown by the make and model most associated with the win, so names are simplified for some years. Check the official Dakar results for exact specifications.
The vehicle pictures are simple drawings, not photographs, and the colours are only indicative of each team’s livery. Wins are counted as in the winners tables above.
Solo riders navigating alone, famous for being the toughest class.
Purpose-built prototypes and production-based buggies, now including hybrid and electric entries.
Heavy machines racing at remarkable speeds.
Lightweight prototypes and modified production side-by-sides.