Nandu Jubany returning to Dakar Rally in 2025
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Nandu Jubany, a Michelin Star-awarded chef, plans to race the Dakar Rally in 2025 with MD Rallye Sport.
Boris Rotenberg, an oligarch and friend of Vladimir Putin who runs ex-WEC team SMP Racing, hopes to develop a new F4 car and work with BRICS members as the new Russian Automobile Federation head.
The Dakar Classic will increase its list of participating vehicles for 2025. After the first 4 editions limited racers to cars/trucks built before 1999, those from 2000–2005 may now also take part.
The 2025 Dakar Rally will run from Bisha to Shubaytah with 3 stages in the Empty Quarter, 5 with separate routes for cars and bikes, and even a mass start like the old days on the final leg.
Due to “safety reasons” reportedly pertaining to the border, the Asia Cross Country Rally will remain exclusively in Thailand for 2024 instead of crossing into Malaysia as planned.
With the death of the Quad class for the 2025 Dakar Rally, defending winner Manuel Andújar will not take part in another category, though he is interested in racing an SSV in the future.
Gert Duson: 2024 Morocco Desert Challenge "a total difference from last year's unfortunate edition"
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After the 2023 Morocco Desert Challenge was marred by tragedy, a swath of safety requirements for the 2024 edition proved to be the right call, and director Gert Duson couldn’t have asked for anything else.
The top Latin American rider at the Desafío Ruta 40 will be crowned the inaugural Ibero-American Cross Country Rally Champion.
Although Kove Moto dissolved their rally raid factory programme following CEO Zhang Xue’s departure in March, the marque will still provide support as the Taklimakan Rally looms.
Akira Miura will trade in his Toyota Land Cruiser for a Toyota Hilux as he enters the Baja Greece and Dubai International Baja for Overdrive Racing.
While the Can-Am Maverick R is tearing it up in America, it won’t be approved for the World Rally-Raid Championship until 2025. In the meantime, it’s been more than fast in regional cross-country rallies.
After racing Estonia’s only rally raid, co-driver Andrei Rudnitski is receptive to the idea of a cross-country rally series in the Baltics alongside Latvia and burgeoning rally hotbed Lithuania.
Vasily Glukhov and Andrey Ryaboshkapov completed the Russian Rally-Raid Championship’s Baja Kagan’s Gold on the GR500, a 500cc adventure bike not exactly designed for cross-country rally.
For the second year in a row, Kevin Benavides will miss his home country’s Desafío Ruta 40 after breaking his arm and suffering a head injury in a crash.
Michael Docherty will sit out the Desafío Ruta 40 in June as he continues to recover from his fractured pelvis suffered at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. He hopes to return for the Rallye du Maroc in October.
Ford M-Sport will have a pair of Spaniards driving their Ford Ranger T1+ at the 2025 Dakar Rally as defending winner Carlos Sainz pairs up with Nani Roma.
Supercars legend Craig Lowndes is eager to put the Chevrolet Silverado ZR2 Off-Road Racer to the test in his maiden Finke Desert Race and return to off-road competition.
