After five stages, the competitors get a well-deserved rest day at this year’s Dakar Rally, a day to rest and recharge for the second leg of the 2025 Dakar Rally. So far, KTM has dominated the rally, leading the overall standings while Hero and Honda are in hot it’s pursuit, while Toyota has managed to win all the stages so far. Here’s a look at the highlights of the 2025 Dakar Rally so far.
2025 Dakar Rally: Motorcycle highlights
KTM’s Daniel Sanders is in the overall lead, having opened the race this year with three consecutive stage victories. Honda’s hot on KTM’s tail, along with Hero’s Ross Branch, last year’s runner-up. Currently, in the overall standings, It’s Sanders in the lead followed by Honda’s Schareina in second and Van Beveren in third. Ross Branch has dropped a position and sits in fourth overall, ahead of Honda’s Skyler Howes and Ricky Brabec.
However, this year’s Dakar Rally had other plans for a few riders and last year’s Rally 2 winner Harith Noah was the first victim this year, having to withdraw from the race after sustaining an injury in the opening stages. Jatin Jain, one of the Indians competing in the race is also out after sustaining injuries and is in the race for the experience. Ashish Raorane is also out of the Dakar Rally this year. All three Indian riders participating have unfortunately withdrawn — they will be back again next year!
2025 Dakar Rally: Cars highlights
In the Cars category, it’s Toyota Gazoo Racing in the lead with South African driver Henk Lategan, who has shown consistent pace so far. Saudi driver Al Rajhi is in second, keeping the pressure on the leader, while Ekstrom is third in the Ford. Nasser Al-Attiyah is in fourth with the only Dacia in the competition.
Similar to the motorcycles, this year’s Dakar Rally wasn’t kind to competitors in four wheels as well, as the defending champion, Carlos Sainz Sr was out of the rally after rolling his Ford and his car was deemed to be unsafe by the FIM. The same is the case with nine-time WRC winner, Loeb, who also had a crash and the organisers deemed his Dacia unfit to continue. That said, ex-Dakar champions in the motorcycle category racing this year in four wheels – Toby Price and Sam Sunderland – have dropped down the rankings to 40th place overall.
2025 Dakar Rally overall results: Rest Day
| Motorcycles | ||
| Position | Name | Team |
| 1 | Daniel Sanders | KTM |
| 2 | Tosha Schareina | Honda |
| 3 | Adrien Van Beveren | Honda |
| Cars | ||
| 1 | Henk Lategan | Toyota Gazoo Racing |
| 2 | Yazeed Al Rajhi | Overdrive Racing |
| 3 | Mattias Ekstrom | Ford M-Sport |