Dakar 2025: The Finale, Yazeed takes the win

Dakar 2025: The Finale, Yazeed takes the win

Blood, sweat, and tears fuel the Dakar, and the 2025 outing demonstrated the highs and lows of a fantastic rally. Henk Lategan was somewhat of an underdog heading into this year's Dakar, and although all the signs pointed to a hopeful South African win, the desert is a ruthless place, and with only minutes to spare and an upsetting 11th stage, it gave Yazeed Al Rajhi the six-minute lead he needed to take the title the following day. With only four minutes between them, Yazeed finished in 52h52m15s, ahead of Henk’s 52h56m12s.

This year offered a promising start to the W2RC season and offered a fresh glimpse into the Dakar's future. The rocky terrain early in this season's race brought a strong realisation for many teams, especially the new Dacias. As sleek as these new futuristic rally cars might look, just as well equipped for Mars as the desert, a lack of engineering familiarity with the unforgiving landscape brought an early shock to the team as its cars were suffering numerous punctures and mechanical breakdowns. The Mini team, as iconic as Mini is to rally, was a refreshing sight out in the dunes, but their ability to keep up with the domination of Toyota and Ford was another reminder of a pay-to-win race. 

On the other hand, Ford brought an exciting element to this year's event, displaying impressive speed and precision from their new vehicles. However, continuing with the current W2RC trend, the Toyotas were the unstoppable force, which is especially exciting for us in SA, as these fire-breathing, earth-conquering vehicles were born and raised right here in Jozi, proving once again that when it comes to covering great distances in the toughest conditions, it's hard to beat a South African. 

But the achievement of such an impressive engineering feat is further amplified when a formidable driver lives and breathes Mzansi. Despite being somewhat of an underdog going into this Dakar race, Henk Lategan and his co-driver Brett Cummings soon established themselves as formidable competitors. Not necessarily in outright speed and performance but rather in consistency and strategy. As I have said time and time again, the Dakar is about more than speed, as a dominating performance can be mitigated with a slight misjudgment. 

Although Henk had led the Dakar from the second stage with a brief upset on stage nine, he demonstrated textbook rally raid technique in such a cautiously aggressive manner that his name was on everybody's tongue. His unfortunate 11th-stage finish will likely haunt him in the coming months, but his second-place overall achievement is one that remains worthy of celebration. 

But he wasn't the only South African to make the headlines this year, as Saood Variawa's first stage win made him the youngest stage winner ever in the top class and is a monumental moment for local motorsport. His final position was 20th, which is still a rather good effort, and finishing is a win in any avid fan's book. 

As for this year's victor, Yazeed Al Rajhi is a ruthlessly consistent driver with an impressive understanding of the various elements that a Dakar can reveal. Right from the start, on stage two, Yazeed sat comfortably on Henk’s tail in second, right up until the ninth stage, where Yazeed took the lead. In stage ten, Henk clapped back, so to speak, but struggled to maintain the lead in the 11th stage. As big as four minutes might seem in a traditional racing format, in the Dakar, that is one close race, capable of being ruined by something as ordinary as a puncture.

The 2025 Dakar was a brutal one, with many large accidents and tight racing. I think we all wanted to see a green and gold victor, but the Overdrive driver's undeniably impressive performance is certainly deserving of the title. Although the 2025 Dakar is finally at a close, this isn’t the end of the excitement for local W2RC supporters, as the Dakar is only the start of the rally raid season. One which is making its way to South Africa soon. So if your Dakar appetite is still craving more, we now have the chance to see these legends in action on our very own soil.

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