Michael Docherty, who finished third in the Dakar Rally’s Rally2 class, will not run the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge due to lingering pain from a wrist injury sustained at Dakar.
The final 3 rounds of the FIM Baja World Cup have received new dates, with the Baja do Oeste now on 6–8 October and the Dubai International Baja swapping slots with the Jordan Baja.
From Dakar Rally T1 competitor Henk Lategan to snowmobile champion Tim Marklund, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge’s 100+ entry list includes a healthy dose of racers not vying for the World Rally-Raid Championship looking to play spoiler.
After finishing runner-up in the 2022 Extreme E Championship, Rosberg X Racing will retain the Swedish duo of Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky for 2023.
Despite winning the Dakar Rally to be the World Rally-Raid Championship T4 points leader, 18-year-old Eryk Goczał will not run the full season as he prepares for university.
After last appearing in 2018, Renault is planning a return to the Dakar Rally in 2025 with the Dacia brand. It is likely that the French make will enter a hybrid Dacia Duster.
55 comprise the pre-check grid for the second leg of the World Rally-Raid Championship in Abu Dhabi, with 30 in the FIA classes and 25 for the FIM.
Hennie de Klerk will run the 2024 Dakar Rally with a new WCT/TreasuryONE Toyota Hilux T1+, which is simpler, cheaper, and aimed at privateers unlike the factory-aligned Hilux that won the last two Rallies.
Mattias Ekström will contest the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for the first time, albeit in a T3 Can-Am for South Racing after running the Dakar Rally for Audi.
After finishing runner-up in T5 at the Dakar Rally, Martin Macík Jr. does not plan to run the next World Rally-Raid Championship round at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge but will enter the one after that at the Rallye du Maroc.
German amateur rider Justin Gerlach will compete in the World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time when he enters the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in Rally2.
Honda Factory Off-Road Racing will have a new Honda Talon ready for Zach Sizelove, who has signed a multi-year extension, starting at the Baja 500.
The International Off-Road Drivers Association (IODA), a series formed amid a rift with SODA, will kick off its inaugural season in April. It will host 5 rounds all at Gravity Park USA.
Matthew Stevenson, Dakar Rally co-driver for those like Jutta Kleinschmidt and Luc Alphand in the 2000s and Volkswagen Dakar factory team member, died Monday after suffering an aneurysm. He was 53.
From the début of Great American Shortcourse to Raul Gomez’s back-to-back to Robby Gordon’s busy week, the 2023 King of Hammers had it all.
Brazilian outfit X Rally Team will race the Prodrive Hunter T1+, which won 9 stages at the Dakar Rally, in 2023. One of their new Hunters was driven by Sébastien Loeb to 7 of the stage wins.
Despite his fractured vertebrae suffered at the Dakar Rally, Carlos Sainz will not need to head to the operating room and is instead using INDIBA radiofrequency therapy.
