Two years after making his début, Ottavio Missoni Jr. will tackle the Dakar Rally once more in 2025. This time, however, he will do so without a team to help him as he plans to compete in the Original by Motul class.
Missoni announced Friday that his application to run the 2025 edition was accepted by the Amaury Sport Organisation.
“I have always said that the satisfaction of being at the start, the thrill of riding, and the joy of finishing on the first try were such that only with the right motivation would I consider a second start,” he wrote. “A great proposal has appeared, an intriguing challenge, in the ‘Original’ category, more commonly called Malle Moto: it will be me with my toolbox and my tent, without any external assistance… And I accepted with great enthusiasm!
“I would therefore say the bar has been raised!”
His first and only Dakar to date took place in 2023, where he finished forty-seventh overall in the Rally2 category with a best daily outing of forty-fifth in Stage #9. His bike, a Honda CRF450, was prepared by RS Moto but he competed under the Lucky Explorer Gentlemen Team banner alongside Malle Moto rider Cesare Zacchetti. Founded in 2021, Lucky Explorer is a lifestyle brand by MV Agusta for off-road and adventure motorcycle riding, taking inspiration from the Lucky Explorer Cagiva Elefant programme that won the 1990 and 1994 Paris–Dakar Rallies with Ed Orioli.
Malle Moto competitors do not have crews to service their bikes, and they instead either do the work themselves or with the assistance of fellow competitors. For example, Zacchetti leaned on Missoni to help coordinate a helicopter extraction when his bike got stuck in mud during the final stage.
His family founded and runs the Missoni luxury fashion brand. Vittorio Missoni, his father, competed in rally raids in the 1980s and had hoped to do the Dakar Rally alongside his son before his death in a plane crash in 2013.
While Missoni Jr. continued to work with the company by overseeing sales in America, he eventually took up racing in amateur rallies on both two and four wheels. In 2022, he earned his 2023 Dakar ticket with a twelfth in class at the Andalucía Rally.
The 2025 Dakar Rally runs 3–17 January.
