The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally", is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal; due to security threats in Mauritania, which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
Jutta Kleinschmidt is a German competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the only woman driver to win the race and the only German to win the car category. In 2013, Kleinschmidt was named an FIM Legend for her motorcycling achievements.
Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He was the 2006 Production World Rally Champion, 2014 and 2015 WRC-2 champion, an 18 time Middle East Rally Champion, five times winner of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, and a five times Dakar Rally winner. His five victories in the Dakar Rally make him the only Middle Easterner and West Asian to win the competition more than once.
Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the mission to enforce the brand's participation in rally championships, followed by 11 titles between 1979 and 1983. In 2018, SEAT created the Cupra brand as its independent high-performance branch and SEAT Sport was officially replaced by Cupra Racing.
The 2009 Dakar Rally was the 31st running of the Dakar Rally. In addition to motorcycle, automobile, and truck categories, a separate quad class was added for the first time. The race began on 3 January 2009, and took place across Argentina and Chile. The rally was for the first time to take place outside of Europe and Africa as the location was changed by organizers due to concerns about possible terrorist attacks that resulted in the moving of the 2008 edition from the traditional route to Senegal to Hungary and Romania in the spring.
The 1999 Dakar Rally, also known as the 1999 Granada–Dakar Rally was the 21st running of the Dakar Rally event. After a short prologue stage on New Year's Eve 1998, the race began in earnest on 1 January 1999 and ended on 17 January after 16 competitive stages. After the fifth stage, the overall rally leader was German driver, Jutta Kleinschmidt, who, in the 1998 rally, was the first woman to ever win a stage of the rally. The event was marked by a robbery on the 12th stage of the rally between Néma and Tichit in Mauritania of fifty competitors by armed men, in which vehicles, money and petrol were stolen. Rally co-ordinators decided to continue with the race. The rally was won by French driver Jean-Louis Schlesser. The motorcycle title was won by Richard Sainct, whilst the truck title went to Karel Loprais in a Tatra 815.
The 2001 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2001 Paris–Dakar Rally, was the 23rd running of the Dakar Rally event. The format was revised to reduce the amount of airborne assistance to competitors in favour of assistance vehicles. The 2001 rally was 6,600 miles (10,600 km) long and began in Paris, France, on New Year's Day, passing through Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali before finishing at Dakar in Senegal. This was the last Paris-Dakar Rally that commenced and finished in the same locations as the original race. Jean-Louis Schlesser won the penultimate stage of the rally to take the lead but was penalised one hour for unsportsmanlike conduct. The rally was won by German Jutta Kleinschmidt, who became the first woman to win the event. The motorcycle class of the rally was won by Italian Fabrizio Meoni, with Karel Loprais winning the truck class.
Guerlain Chicherit is a French rally and rallycross driver, and a professional skier who was four times world champion in freeriding.
The Volkswagen Motorsport was a works rally team of the German car manufacturer Volkswagen, who competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC) and Dakar Rally.
Timo Gottschalk is a German rally co-driver, most notable for being on the winning team of the 2011 Dakar Rally alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Harry Hunt is a British endurance and rally driver, and son of billionaire Jon Hunt. In 2016 he became the youngest British driver to take part in the Dakar Rally, finishing in 10th place out of 110 cars. He has participated in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), winning the IRC 2WD class championship in 2010 and 2012.
The Mini All4 Racing is an off-road competition car, built by X-raid between 2011 and 2016, specially designed to take part in the rally raids with the main objective of winning the Dakar Rally. In 2017 Mini All4 Racing was succeeded by Mini John Cooper Works Rally.
The FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas is a rally raid series organized by the FIA, culminating with a champion driver, co-driver, and team; with additional trophies awarded to T3 and T4 drivers & teams.
Cristina Gutiérrez Herrero is a Spanish dentist and rally raid driver who in 2017 became the first Spanish female car driver to finish the Dakar Rally. In 2021 she was the second woman to win a stage in Dakar Rally history. She participates in the Extreme E electric cross-country series, driving for Lewis Hamilton's Team X44. In 2021 she won the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, becoming the first-ever female driver to win the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. In 2022 she won the Extreme-E Championship alongside Sébastien Loeb in Lewis Hamilton's Team X44, making her the first Spanish woman to ever win it. In 2022 she was the first Spanish female to reach the podium of the Dakar Rally, being the third classified in the T3 category. In 2023 Dakar Rally she finished in 4th position after having many issues in the first week that prevented her from fighting for the victory. Nonetheless, she won the prologue of the Dakar Rally and the last stage which allowed her to finish in 4th position. Cristina currently has 3 stage victories in the T3 category of the Dakar Rally.
The 2022 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia and the 44th edition of the Dakar Rally organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). The event took place between 1–14 January 2022. This was the third time Saudi Arabia had hosted the event, with support from the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation. The race started in Ha'il and ended in Jeddah, going through canyons and cliffs in the Neom region, passing by the Red Sea coastline, into the stretches of dunes surrounding Riyadh, with a lot more action on sand dunes in the Empty Quarter. The route consisted of one prologue stage and 12 normal stages, with one rest day in Riyadh on 8 January.
The World Rally-Raid Championship is a rally raid series organised by the Amaury Sport Organization and co-sanctioned by the FIA and FIM. The championship's seasons culminate with world championship titles in both automobile and motorcycle categories.
Mathieu Baumel is a French rally raid co-driver currently competing in the World Rally-Raid Championship. Alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah, he won the Dakar Rally four times and the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies four times. He also won the World Rally-Raid Championship with Nasser.
Klara Andersson is a Swedish rallycross driver who currently competes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for the CE Dealer Team and is the Extreme E reserve driver.
Bahrain Raid Xtreme also known as BRX is a rally raid team that participates in the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) and the Dakar Rally.
The 2023 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas is the fifth season of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas; an annual competition for baja-style rally raid events for cars, buggies, and side-by-sides held in multiple countries.
