What Dakar Cars Preview 2026
Where Saudi Arabia
When 3-17 January 2026
Community International
South Africans ready with another epic Dakar Car race loading
South African cars and drivers are once again set to star when Dakar 2026 blasts off on Saturday 3 January. With eleven Southern African drivers and navigators, and countless locally developed, built, and prepared machines ready to race, local fans can, as ever look forward to the thrill of the chase through the quiet of early January.
The South African car contingent includes Toyota crew Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, Toyota drivers Saood Variawa and Guy Botterill, and made in SA Century Factory C7R crew Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer. German-South African father and son, Jürgen, and Daniel Schröder have South Africans, former biker Stuart Gregory and Henry Köhne navigating in a pair of Kyalami-built WCT Amaroks.
Also on four wheels, Stellenbosch lass Puck Klaassen and Argentine Augusto Sanz should be a factor in T3 Challenger, while South African notes men Dennis Murphy will be reading in Lawrence Janesky’s Can-Am and Leander Pienaar for Abdullah Al-Fahhad in the T4 Side by Sides. Another South African, Grant Ballington navigates in Tomas Tomecek’s Tatra and Angolan Paulo Oliveira is with Alberto Herrero in a Scania in the Trucks.
There is a most interesting twist among the Toyota Gazoo entries. South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings will lead a three-car team of new Glyn Hall developed Overdrive Gazoo Toyota Hiluxes based on the legendary South African Hiluxes but now built in Belgium. Not to be confused with the Kyalami built SVR Gazoo IMR machines, the next generation Overdrive cars are said to have a stiffer, lighter tubular chassis and reinforced transmission.
Not that the locally-built SVR Gazoo Hilux IMT Evos have anything less in their arsenal. In fact, the beige machines have now benefited fourteen years of direct Dakar development and many countless championship wins and arrive off yet another stunning winning streak. Saood Variawa and SA-based Frenchman Francois Cazalet clinched the South African Rally-Raid championship, while Argentine Juan Yacopini and Spaniard Dani Oliveras sealed the 2025 FIA World Baja Cup championship by even more recently beating the Overdrive cars to victory in the Dubai Baja.
If anything, the inter-team Gazoo Toyota Hilux battle will be among the highlights of Dakar 2026. Variawa and Cazalet, and Yacopini and Oliveras have Portuguese crew, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, South African Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena in a four-car team. Lategan and Cummings, Americans Seth Quintero and Andrew Short and former bike winner Toby Price and Armand Monleon will race the new Gazoo Hiluxes in a four-car Overdrive team
Several other privateer SVR Hiluxes include 2025 winners, home hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, Saudi compatriots, Shaikh Al Qassimi and Khalid Alkendi, and Khaled Alferaihi and Cándido Carrera, Brazilians Marcos Moraes and Fabio Pedroso and Frenchmen, Ronan Chabot, and Gilles Pillot.
Speaking about Frenchmen, nine time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb will be looking for his first Dakar win on his ninth attempt alongside Édouard Boulanger in their Dacia Sandrider. They will first need to beat Dacia teammates, five-time winner, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin, Brazilian Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz and Spanish lady star Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno.
Ford is another major Dakar 2026 factor with legendary Spanish four-time winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz, former car and bike winner Nani Roma and Álex Haro, German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist and US crew Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch on a strong four-Raptor line-up. They’re backed by Czech crew Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka and Kyrgyzstani duo Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov in two privateer Raptors.
Mini is back as ever with Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel, French couple Lionel and Lucie Baud Mini and girl crew, Portuguese Maria Gameiro and Rosa Romero among the John Cooper Works entries.
Looking at the rest of the South African cars, Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier and Spaniard Jesús Calleja and Eduardo Blanco complete the Century Factory squad. Tim Coronel is another strong CR7 entry. Father and daughter Martin and Aliyyah Koloc will race a pair of Kyalami-built Red-Lined REVO T1+s, with Chinese crews Wei Han and Li Ma and Po Tian and Simuren Ha in a pair of similar HWM Red-Lined cars. And Dave and Tessa Klaassen in a Red-Lined based DKR Evo.
Keep an eye on the buggies as always with Simon Vitse, Ronan Chabot and Christian Lavieille in three latest MD Optimus, and lady star Laia Sanz’s Ebro. The rebranded Dakar Stock class has attracted none other than Mr. Dakar, Stéphane Peterhansel and Michaël Metge, Lithuanian Challenger graduate Rokas Baciuska and Sara Price’s Land Rover Defenders to take on Miura Akira and Ronald Basso’s Toyota Land Cruiser 300 GR Sports and Al-Thunyyan in a Nissan Patrol.
Puck Klaassen and her G Rally can expect T3 Challenger competition from unrelated SA regular, Dutch driver Pim Klaassen, WRC legend Bruno Saby and double bike winner Kevin Benavides’ Taurus entries. Add Former F1 and Le Mans man Stéphane Sarrazin.
Also watch for quad refugees Alexandre Giroud, Pablo Copetti and Nicolas Cavigliasso as well as quick Saudi Yasir Seaidan amongst the large Challenger contingent.
Besides local navigators Dennis Murphy and Leander Pienaar, other T4 Side by Sides to watch include former multiple winner Francisco Lopez, former bikers Xavier de Soultrait and Hélder Rodrigues and two more former quad man Manuel Andujar Jeremías Gonzalez. Them, Factory Can-Am trio João Monteiro, Kyle Chaney, and Hunter Miller and Polaris man Brock Heger can all expect to have their work cut out by rookie multiple World Rallycross Champion, Johan Kristoffersson.
Last, but very much not least, the Dakar Trucks. Iveco has a huge entry including 2024 and 5 winner Martin Macik, Mitchel and Martin van den Brink, Claudio Bellina and Ben, Richard and William de Groot, Ales Loprais and Michal Valtr behind the wheel. They have Tatra trio Martin Soltys, Karel Posledni and Tomas Tomecek with South African Grant Ballington in his crew, Teruhito Sugawara’s Hino, Gert Huzink in a Renault, Alberto Herrero with Angolan Paulo Oliveira in his Scania, Tariq Al-Rammah’s Volvo Jordi Esteve’s DAF, and Jürgen Hellgeth’s Mercedes Unimog among their rivals.
With 5000 kilometres of racing on a total route of 8000 km, Dakar 2025 starts with the 23 km Prologue at Yanbu on Saturday 3 January 2026, before a 305 km loop there on Sunday. Then it’s a 400 km run to Al-Ula before a 422 km lap there on Tuesday. Wednesday brings the Marathon to the mid-desert no service refuge bivouacs before heading to Ha’il Thursday and on to Riyadh for the Saturday rest day.
Week 2 commences with a 462 km Sunday run to Wadi ad-Dawasir before a 481 km loop there on Monday and the 418 km to another desert refuge bivouac Tuesday evening. A dune-rich 371 km run to Bisha follows Wednesday before 347 km to Al Henakiyah Thursday and 310 km back to Yanbu on Friday, before a final 105 km run to the finish there on Saturday 17 January.
Issued on behalf of Dakar 2026 Cars Daily
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