ANOTHER CLASSIC DESERT DUEL COMING ON THE DAKAR

Audi has won and run and now it's up to Ford and Toyota to fight for supremacy in Dakar 2025 – with a twist.

The twist is provided by Australia's Toby Price, already a two-time Dakar winner on a motorcycle but fronting as a rookie this time in Saudi Arabia.

Price has almost zero chance of winning at his first start, even with fellow two-wheeled champion Sam Sunderland sharing their Toyota HiLux in the top-line T1+ category, but he will definitely be fun to watch.

He even comes to Dakar with proven form on four wheels, thanks to victory in the Finke Desert Race in the Aussie outback and a recent win at the Baja 500 in Mexico sharing a Trophy Truck with Paul Weel in 2024.

Price will be looking to follow in the wheel tracks of Stephane Peterhansell, the all-time Dakar record holder with 14 victories – on both two and four wheels.

"It’s an advantage being two bike guys in one car. Surely, we will make mistakes and things will go wrong but at the end of the day we are going to have some bike lines in front of us as well as car lines so once we get into the groove, we will be good from there," says Price.

"Even though we have done over 20 Dakar Rallys already, it’s a new category for us and the wins don’t guarantee anything. Top-10 will be definitely a great result.

"You can make thousands of plans but they will never be enough. We must take it day by day – just keep the wheels rolling.”

A Top 10 would be nothing for Ford, which is all-in for the Dakar and has recruited defending champion Carlos Sainz in a return to his World Rally Championship roots driving for the blue oval brand.

But the Ranger Raptor T1+, even though it is built by M-Sport in the UK, is unproven over the Dakar and a four-car entry – with Sainz joined by Matthias Ekstrom, American youngster Mitch Guthrie and former Dakar winner Nani Roma – is no guarantee of success.

The Ford ran strongly in a shakedown at the Morocco Rally, where its bellowing V8 Coyote motor was a sharp contrast to its rivals and where Ford emphasised the reason for tackling the Dakar.

"We want to own off-road and rally," says Mark Rushbrook, the global director of Ford Performance Motorsports who also oversees the Ford Mustang program in Supercars racing.

But success in Morocco went to Dacia, a little-known budget brand which took its ambitions to Prodrive – a motorsport powerhouse at Le Mans and in touring cars, rallying and Dakar – and signed former WRC powerhouse Sebastian Loeb and five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah to handle the wheel work.

The most popular brand in the Dakar is Toyota, which has 38 starters in the 72-car field and youthful lead drivers Seth Quintero and Lucas Moraes challenging for victory in its turbocharged V6-powered GR HiLuxes.

"The 2025 Dakar Rally is going to be an incredible challenge, and I can’t wait to take it on. The route is brutal, and we know there won’t be any easy days out there, but that’s what makes Dakar so special," says Quintero.

Dakar 2025 runs for a fortnight from Friday, January 3 with a 5100 kilometres of special stages in a total distance of 7700 kilometres.