Al Attiyah eyes sixth crown as stage set for 47th Dakar Rally

Doha, Qatar: Qatar s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, a five time winner and the defending W2RC champion, will start among the favourites when the Kingdom of...

Doha, Qatar: Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah, a five-time winner and the defending W2RC champion, will start among the favourites when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia plays host to the Dakar Rally for the sixth time from January 3-19.

Fifty registered FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) contenders spearhead a massive entry on what promises to be one of the most difficult ever Dakar rallies and the fourth to be the opening round of the W2RC.

Al Attiyah and co-driver Edouard Boulanger made the switch to the new Dacia Sandrider towards the end of 2024 and the Qatari clinched a third successive title – and a first with Boulanger - with victory at the Rally of Morocco on the car’s debut.

The Qatari-French duo will starting with a Prologue stage near Bisha on Friday, along with the other competitors who will tackle 12 gruelling desert stages that incorporate 5,145 competitive kilometres in a punishing route of 7,753km.

Toyota Gazoo Racing are the defending W2RC Manufacturers’ champions but face the might of Dacia and the Ford M-Sport teams on this occasion with X-raid Mini concentrating on the Drivers’ Championship. BBR Motorsport (Taurus), the G Rally Team and X-Raid will battle it out for honours in the Challenger category and the Can-Am Factory Team faces competition from Polaris in the SSV class. Three Dacia Sandriders, four Ford Raptors and X-Raid Minis and seven Toyota Hiluxes top the list of 24 entrants eligible for the Ultimate W2RC category with MD Optimus and Century Racing also in the mix.