Dakar 2025 - Stage 12
Friday, 17 January
Shubaytah > Shubaytah | Special = 61km | Liaison = 70km
The time has come to zoom out and enjoy a mass start, watching the cavalry charge down the desert at full gallop —at least on some stretches—, ready to sink their sabres into their prizes. Each at their own level, the racers will savour the last finish in the middle of the bivouac at the centre of a cirque of dunes. Thrills and emotions guaranteed.
Docherty wins stage 12 | Rally 2 | 09:01
Michael Docherty has produced the best time on the final special of the 47th edition of the Dakar, 3’’ ahead of Adrien Van Beveren. As a result, the South African has picked up his second stage success in the bike category (after stage 10) and his fourth in the Rally 2 class on the 2025 edition.
A magnificent effort by Lategan, pushing all the way. The stage was just too short to make things work for the TGR team driver, but he did manage to close the gap to Al Rahji to just under 4 minutes at the end. And considering that Al Rahji’s total time for Dakar 2025 was almost 53 hours, that 4 minutes is a tiny deficit.
On home soil, Yazeed Al Rajhi & Timo Gottschalk make history with a Dakar victory for Saudi Arabia!
RALLY GP I Daniel Sanders wins the Dakar
Daniel Sanders has become the second Australian biker to win the Dakar after Toby Price (in 2016 and 2019). ‘Chucky’ has also given KTM its 20th triumph on the race. The Austrian firm was unbeaten between 2001 and 2019 and also achieved first place in 2023.
ULTIMATE I Yazeed Al Rajhi wins his first Dakar
On home soil, or rather sand, Yazeed Al Rajhi has become the very first Saudi driver to win the Dakar in the Ultimate class. Henk Lategan, the leader of the general rankings from stages 2 to 8, jostled for position with Al Rajhi but, in spite of his efforts, the South African has to make do with 2nd place, 3’57’’ behind the Saudi driver. It is the 4th success for Toyota on the event following the titles won by Nasser Al Attiyah in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
SSV I Heger wins the Dakar
Dakar debutant Brock Heger has won the title on his first participation to give Polaris a second consecutive title in the SSV class following on from his team-mate Xavier de Soultrait last year. Although he finished more than 5 minutes behind Jérôme de Sadeleer, who has the best provisional time at the finish, he completed the stage several seconds quicker than his two pursuers in the general rankings, ‘Chaleco’ Lopez and Alexandre Pinto, to take the title.
CHALLENGER I Cavigliasso takes the Challenger title
Having already won in the quad race in 2019, Nicolas Cavigliasso has today won his second title on the rally and his first in the Challenger class at the finish in Shubaytah. The Argentinean displayed exemplary consistency by finishing in the top six on every stage. Cavigliasso has led the general rankings since stage 1 and avoided the pitfalls on the route to take the title.
Dakar 2025 Final General Ranking
Cars
Bikes
Changing of the guard in the car category
The top 10 in the car category is made up of 5 drivers aged 30 years or younger: Henk Lategan (in 2nd, aged 30 years); Mitch Guthrie (5th, 25); Juan Cruz Yacopini (7th, 25); Joao Ferreira (8th, 25); and Seth Quintero (9th, 22). This phenomenon can also be observed in the list of stage winners, because the record for youthfulness was beaten twice, firstly by Seth Quintero and then by Saood Variawa (19 years old), while 25-year-old Rokas Baciuska also won a stage.
Dakar 2025 Final Category Rankings (Top 20)
Ultimate Cars
Challenger Cars
SSV Class
Trucks
Rally GP Bikes
Rally 2 Bikes
DAKAR 2025: CONSECRATION FOR SANDERS AND AL RAJHI
The 47th edition of the Dakar and the 6th in Saudi Arabia was completed in Shubaytah by 175 vehicles. 77 bikes (including 67 Rally 2), 40 Ultimate cars, 1 Stock car, 21 Challengers, 23 SSVs and 13 trucks reached the final finishing line after covering the entire 7,453 km (FIM) or 7,828 km (FIA) of the route. 52 vehicles that used their jokers also finished, while 108 were forced into premature exits from the rally (i.e., 32.24%).
The bike race witnessed a return to the top step of the podium for KTM, which enjoyed its 20th triumph on the race thanks to the unshakable Daniel Sanders who became the second Australian winner on the Dakar after having dominated the race from start to finish, as Marc Coma did in 2009.
The Dakar roll of honour welcomed a new name and a new nationality in the car category thanks to Yazeed Al Rajhi : the Saudi driver persevered until his 11th participation to enjoy his date with destiny, with the rare privilege of winning the rally on home soil, as was the case when Pierre Lartigue triumphed in 1994 on the Paris-Dakar-Paris!
With Nicolas Cavigliasso (who triumphed in the quad category in 2019) winning the title in the Challenger class and Brock Heger in the SSV race on his 25th birthday, two new drivers also triumphed. Only Martin Macik, who dominated proceedings in the truck category, victoriously defended the title he conquered last year.
The Dakar Classic race for consistency came to a close with 80 vehicles (as opposed to 95 starters). Spanish title holder Carlos Santaolalla triumphed to become the first double winner since the creation of the category in 2021.
The five vehicles enrolled in the Mission 1000 challenge completed their journey through Saudi Arabia, over a distance of 1,300 kilometres for this second edition. Progress was made since last year in terms of range and performance for the KH7 truck driven by Jordi Juvanteny, who already won in 2024, as for the hydrogen-powered HySe SSV. The three Segway electric bikes, which were newcomers to the challenge, also validated their technology on the terrains of the Dakar and can look forward with a whetted appetite to 2026.
Giniel
Henk