The detailed route of Dakar 2025, which will take place in Saudi Arabia in January, was revealed this Thursday. The largest off-road rally in the world also opens the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) season.
Scheduled from January 3 to 17, it will feature a prologue and 12 stages – including a marathon stage and a 48-hour stage extending over two days (Chrono 48H) – as the second leg. There are 5,100km of timed sections and about 7,700km including liaisons.
The first days begin and end in Bisha, after which the competitors will move to other parts of Saudi Arabia starting January 7 – the third stage. The Empty Quarter Desert is not left out of a route that ends with a final stage beginning and ending in Shubaytah.
The sixth stage has the longest timed section in a single day (829km), but the leg with the greatest total distance is the third (845km) – excluding, of course, the Chrono 48H, which is spread over two days.
The rest day is January 10, after Stage 5, the marathon. For the first time, there are five stages with different routes for FIM and FIA vehicles.
Dakar 2025 route and dates
- Prologue, January 3: Bisha/Bisha (29km special, 79km total)
- Stage 1, January 4: Bisha/Bisha (412km special, 500km total)
- Stage 2, January 5 and 6 (Chrono 48H): Bisha/Bisha (965km special, 1,057km total)
- Stage 3, January 7: Bisha/Al Henakiyah (496km special, 845km total)
- Stage 4, January 8: Al Henakiyah/AlUla (415km special, 588km total)
- Stage 5, January 9 (Marathon): AlUla/Ha’il (428km special, 491km total)
- Rest day, January 10: Ha’il
- Stage 6, January 11: Ha’il/Al Duwadimi (606km special, 829km total)
- Stage 7, January 12: Al Duwadimi/Al Duwadimi (481km special, 745km total)
- Stage 8, January 13: Al Duwadimi/Riyadh (487km special, 733km total)
- Stage 9, January 14: Riyadh/Haradh (357km special, 589km total)
- Stage 10, January 15: Haradh/Shubaytah (119km special, 638km total)
- Stage 11, January 16: Shubaytah/Shubaytah (280km special, 506km total)
- Stage 12, January 17: Shubaytah/Shubaytah (13km special, 205km total)