DAY 15: Stage 12 – January 17, 2025
Route: Shubaytah > Shubaytah – Liaison 70km and Special 61km
– The 47th edition of the world’s toughest off-road race wrapped up in Saudi Arabia on Friday with Australian Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders leading from the start to the finish of the 2025 Dakar Rally to claim his first bike title with a brilliant display across the gruelling, mixed terrain. Towering sand dunes, extreme temperatures and a racing distance of over 5,000 kilometres all lay in wait for the Dakar convoy and 30-year-old Sanders proved equal to it on his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing bike.
– KTM racked up their 20th bike victory and Sanders, who won five stages in total to match compatriot Toby Price’s 2016 achievement on two wheels, revealed: “Winning this race feels massive. When I came over the last dune and saw the bivouac I got instant chills through the whole body. All the emotions just started coming through.”
– KTM team-mate Luciano Benavides of Argentina upped the pace in the second week with two stage wins to finish in a creditable fourth – his best ever Dakar finish. The 29-year-old said: “To get close to the front you must risk everything and it’s not easy to finish in one piece. It was a really tough Dakar, but I’m happy with how I rode. I will not stop until I win this race.”
– The breakout star of this year’s bike race was 19-year-old Edgar Canet, the last-minute recruit of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing competing in the Rally2 category due to his lack of experience which the Spaniard duly won with KTM’s Austrian Tobias Ebster in second spot. Canet admitted: “For two weeks, I’ve only been thinking about arriving at the finish. Finishing eighth overall and P1 in Rally2 is a dream come true. Also my team-mate Chucky wins the overall, so I’m super happy with that.”
– In the Ultimate car category, Sweden’s Mattias Ekström of Ford M-Sport claimed his first podium finish in third as Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al Rajhi held off South African Henk Lategan in a fascinating final week duel to become the first Saudi driver to win the Dakar. The Swede debuted the brand-new Ford Raptor T1+ and its V8 engine powered him and co-driver Emil Bergkvist to their best ever Dakar finish. Ekström, 46, said: “It feels very nice. It was a very challenging rally for all of us. We tried our best to fight for the win, but this year we were not good enough.”
– Five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah had to settle for fourth in his Dacia Sandrider with Ultimate rookie Mitch Guthrie Jr. adapting quickly to his Ford Raptor T1+ to finish fifth with fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team graduate Seth Quintero picking up two stage wins to end up ninth. He revealed: “A bit of bad luck here and there took us down a few spots.”
– Ultimate debutant Rokas Baciuška and co-driver Oriol Mena posted the 48-Hour Chrono’s fastest time en route to finishing 12th overall, while Brazilian Lucas Moraes won Stages 7 and 12 for 14th. The 33-year-old said: “I had some issues at this Dakar that helped me to learn a lot. It wasn’t the overall result we were expecting, but it’s nice to finish by winning the ‘Champs-Élysées’ stage.” Belgian Guillaume De Mévius as well as Spaniards Cristina Gutiérrez and Nani Roma also reached the finish.
– Challenger class rookie and Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Gonçalo Guerreiro pushed eventual champion Nicolas Cavigliasso all the way before finishing second with Spaniard Pau Navarro completing the podium. Guerreiro, 24, declared: “I’m happy. Even to start the Dakar was already a victory for me. I hope I can do this race many more times and one day, for sure, I will win.” American Corbin Leaverton won Stage 7 to end in 20th with Saudi driver Dania Akeel winning a superb Stage 10.
– Chilean legend Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López came close to repeating his SSV victories in 2019 and 2021 with second place behind American Brock Heger – the seventh podium finish of López’s Dakar career. The 49-year-old said: “The race this year was very, very hard. We had problems in the 48-hour stage. After that we kept pushing and finishing in second is a good result for us. Thanks to my co-driver.”
– All finishers were honoured on the podium stage at the spectacular setting of the Shubaytah bivouac in the heart of the Empty Quarter Desert with the Dakar Rally proving, yet again, to be the greatest challenge that motorsport has to offer.
2025 Dakar Rally selected overall standings after Stage 12
Ultimate
1. Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) 52:52.15
2. Henk Lategan (ZAF) +3.57
3. Mattias Ekström (SWE) +20.21
4. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) +23.58
5. Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA) +1:02.10
9. Seth Quintero (USA) +2:20.04
12. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) +3:42.21
14. Lucas Moraes (BRA) +5:23.30
18. Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) +8:03.43
41. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) +38:44.31
43. Nani Roma (ESP) +70:13.44
Challenger
1. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG) 57:50.21
2. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR) +1:11.38
3. Pau Navarro (ESP) +1:30.13
20. Corbin Leaverton (USA) +34:34.35
27. Dania Akeel (SAU) +72:56.34
SSV
1. Brock Heger (USA) 59:13.11
2. Francisco López (CHL) +2:06.04
3. Alexandre Pinto (POR) +3:37.11
Bike
1. Daniel Sanders (AUS) 53:08.52
2. Tosha Schareina (ESP) +8.50
3. Adrien Van Beveren (FRA) +14.46
4. Luciano Benavides (ARG) +22.16
8. Edgar Canet (ESP) +1:40.29
Bike (Rally2)
- Edgar Canet (ESP) 54:49.21
- Tobias Ebster (AUT) +33.25
3. Romain Dumontier (FRA) +1:22.33