Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Rather than be in Saudi Arabia on his Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica in January 2025, Vincent Biau will be in the Maghreb on a Suzuki V-Strom 800DE. He has opted to enter the Africa Eco Race instead of the Dakar Rally, making his début in the former, as a solo Malle Moto rider.

Biau finished fifty-eighth in Rally2 and fifteenth in the Original by Motul subcategory at the 2024 Dakar Rally in January. It was his maiden start in the event after qualifying with a tenth at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where he was also the best performing Malle Moto rider. Under Original by Motul/Malle Moto rules, he was forbidden from receiving assistance from a crew and had to work on his bike by himself or with the help of other competitors. This ultimately shifted his strategy when he crashed and broke his ankle and ribs across the first two legs, forcing him to ride more conservatively to the end.

He announced in May that he will not return for his second Dakar in 2025.

Later that month, he entered the Hellas Rally Raid in Greece on his Suzuki 800DE where he finished forty-ninth overall, seventh in the M6 class for two-cylinder motorcycles, and ninth in Malle Moto. The race proved to be relatively smooth sailing compared to Dakar, save for when he was attacked by a be during the fifth leg and a malfunctioning roadbook on the last day.

The Suzuki 800DE is an adventure bike that he acquired over the spring. It features a 776cc dual overhead camshaft parallel twin engine, significantly stronger than the traditional 450cc of a rally bike, along with 220 millimetres in front and rear suspension travel. Adventure bikes are typically not used for rallies though certain events permit them in a separate category, often called Trail or MaxiTrail. The FIM Bajas World Cup introduced the Trail class for 2024 for motorcycles over 600cc. An Aprilia Tuareg 660 won the latest Africa Eco Race in January ahead of two Yamaha Ténéré 700s.

The Olympic Games are regarded as the pinnacle of sport. The Dakar Rally is regarded as the pinnacle of off-road motorsport.

While reading a roadbook and driving through deserts don’t have the same physical demands as swimming a hundred metres or navigating down mountain slopes, that hasn’t stopped the world’s best athletes from trying their hand at the iconic rally raid.

Nasser Al-Attiyah is far and away the most notable example. When the five-time Dakar winner and twice World Rally-Raid Champion isn’t blowing away the field with his driving prowess, he is blowing away targets with his shotgun in skeet shooting. The Qatari made his Olympic début at Atlanta in 1996, where he finished fifteenth, followed by a sixth at Sydney 2000, narrowly missing out on a medal at Athens 2004, and fifteenth at Beijing 2008. He finally broke through to win bronze at the 2012 London Games while a thirty-first in Rio in 2016 was his latest appearance. Al-Attiyah hoped to return for the ongoing Paris Olympics but did not make the final cut.

Before becoming the co-driver for Rebecca Busi in the W2RC, Sergio Lafuente raced the Dakar on a Quad with three stage wins and a pair of fifth-place finishes in 2012 and 2014 and is also a three-time Desafío Ruta 40 champion. Way before that, he finished twenty-sixth in the men’s light-heavyweight class at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics for Uruguay.

On the winter side, Andorra’s Albert Llovera was the youngest Olympian at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo at the age of seventeen, where he placed forty-eighth in downhill alpine skiing but retired from the slalom and giant slalom events. The following year, however, his ski career came to an end due to an accident that resulted in a serious spinal cord injury. Still, his injury did not stop him from trying new things like competing in the World Rally Championship and eventually the Dakar in 2007. Llovera has raced a truck at Dakar since 2016, finishing seventeenth in class at the latest rally in January.

In January before the start of the American off-road racing season, Brock Heger was asked if he would consider tackling the Dakar Rally someday, to which he responded, “I wouldn’t say no.”

Almost seven months later, he can confirm that he did not say no.

On Monday, Polaris announced Heger and defending SSV winner Xavier de Soultrait will comprise the line-up for Sébastien Loeb Racing at the 2025 Dakar Rally. Heger will have his Polaris Factory Racing colleague Max Eddy Jr. as his co-driver while Martin Bonnet returns to Soultrait’s right side.

Heger is one of the top off-road racers in America today with success in both short course and desert racing. Since 2021, he has claimed a title of some form on an annual basis starting with Championship Off-Road’s Pro Lite crown followed by its Pro Stock SxS the year after. He then won the 2023 SCORE International Pro UTV Open championship with Polaris Factory Racing, which included being the fastest UTV outright at the Baja 500 and Baja 400.

He returned to PFR for the 2024 desert season, continuing his momentum by winning his class at King of the Hammers‘ UTV Hammers Championship and Toyo Tires Desert Challenge. Heger is currently third in SCORE’s Pro UTV Open points halfway through that series’ season with a second at San Felipe and twelfth in the Baja 500.

Orlando Terranova figured his Dakar Rally career was wrapped up after 2023, even if it ended on a disappointing note. However, it might not be over for him just yet.

Speaking with Carburando Radio on Thursday, Terranova admitted he might not be opposed to returning to the race in 2026, provided his heart and mind are willing to commit to it.

“I decided last year to stop after eighteen Dakars,” he began. “I’m still in contact with all the drivers and follow them closely, but I’m looking for motivation to return in 2026.

“Last year, I felt like I was going with the flow and not on motivation. If there is something that I am clear about in life, it’s that things have to be done when you really want to. I’m not doing it to prove anything to anyone or have a figure of anything. I do it because I feel like it.”

2023 marked Terranova’s seventeenth Dakar and fifteenth on four wheels. Racing a Prodrive Hunter for Bahrain Raid Xtreme, he notched a third in Stage #3 but retired the next day after hurting his lower back on a hard landing. It was his second Dakar in the Hunter after finishing a career-best fourth in 2022 with a stage win.

Nikita Mazepin did not have much rust to shake off in his cross-country rally return over the weekend, finishing second overall and winning his class at the Denis Davydov Baja.

Piloting a Can-Am Maverick X3 for 99 Racing, Mazepin set the fastest times through the first stage on Saturday as he led Andrey Boksha by 1:17. However, his grip on the overall lead slipped the next day when Timur Shigabutdinov beat him by nineteen seconds. A thirteenth on the third section dropped him to second outright behind winner Alexey Kuznetsov, though he managed to salvage a win on the fourth and final leg with 1:25 over Andrey Novikov.

His runner-up won him the N2 category for side-by-side vehicles (equivalent to the FIA’s Challenger/T3 and SSV/T4 divisions). Shigabutdinov and Novikov joined him on the class podium; Novikov had scored a third in T3 at Russia’s premier Silk Way Rally in July.

“Rally is a great way for me to stay in shape and test my off-road driving skills,” said Mazepin before the race.

The Denis Davydov Baja was Mazepin’s first rally raid of 2024 and fourth as a whole. He broke into the discipline in 2022 by competing at the Ladoga Trophy and Silk Way, winning the latter in T3 despite being new to it. Scheduling obligations prevented him from racing the 2023 Silk Way, and his only race that year was a second at the Baja Astrakhan. Mazepin has expressed interest in racing the Dakar Rally someday as a longtime fan of the sport.

Polaris Off-Road Vehicles unveiled the 2025 Polaris RZR Pro family on Thursday, making upgrades to their long-running lineup with emphasis on driver comfort by redesigning the interior. Shipping will begin in August 2025.

The flagship RZR Pro R, the racing version of which has enjoyed tremendous success in recent years as the top UTV brand in SCORE International today and the reigning Dakar Rally SSV winner, introduces dual retractor harness system to better help the passenger adjust their seating. The Pro R Ultimate trim also has a new subwoofer system with front and rear speakers courtesy of Rockford Fosgate as well as heating and ventilation within the seats.

All Pro models, including the RZR Pro S (formerly called Turbo R) and RZR Pro XP, have a new dashboard, upgraded seating that better moulds to the passenger’s form, and fresh cabin air intakes that Polaris hopes to patent. Their doors now include a double latch and door seal model, while the RZR fang headlight has returned.

The performance has naturally received a round of upgrades as is tradition for new production vehicles, though they generally remain the same. For example, the 2025 Pro R still uses the 225-horsepower ProStar Fury 2.0 engine, which is the same as those used by Polaris Factory Racing in SCORE and Sébastien Loeb Racing in rally raids. The Pro S and Pro XP both use a 181-hp turbocharged motor, while the latter has adopted the Pro S’ transmission and lower gear to help it go uphill.

“With the 2025 RZR Pro lineup, we’re continuing to improve the rider experience and push the boundaries of style and performance,” commented Polaris general manager and vice president Reid Wilson. “This lineup is an example of our relentless attention to detail and our commitment to delivering the very best to our customers by enhancing every aspect of the RZR experience.”

Two years after making his début, Ottavio Missoni Jr. will tackle the Dakar Rally once more in 2025. This time, however, he will do so without a team to help him as he plans to compete in the Original by Motul class.

Missoni announced Friday that his application to run the 2025 edition was accepted by the Amaury Sport Organisation.

“I have always said that the satisfaction of being at the start, the thrill of riding, and the joy of finishing on the first try were such that only with the right motivation would I consider a second start,” he wrote. “A great proposal has appeared, an intriguing challenge, in the ‘Original’ category, more commonly called Malle Moto: it will be me with my toolbox and my tent, without any external assistance… And I accepted with great enthusiasm!

“I would therefore say the bar has been raised!”

His first and only Dakar to date took place in 2023, where he finished forty-seventh overall in the Rally2 category with a best daily outing of forty-fifth in Stage #9. His bike, a Honda CRF450, was prepared by RS Moto but he competed under the Lucky Explorer Gentlemen Team banner alongside Malle Moto rider Cesare Zacchetti. Founded in 2021, Lucky Explorer is a lifestyle brand by MV Agusta for off-road and adventure motorcycle riding, taking inspiration from the Lucky Explorer Cagiva Elefant programme that won the 1990 and 1994 Paris–Dakar Rallies with Ed Orioli.

Jatin Jain has run every World Rally-Raid Championship round in 2024 with the exception of the biggest one. That will change when the 2025 season begins as he has been accepted for his Dakar Rally début.

Jain has regularly vied for the Road to Dakar scholarship since his W2RC début at the 2023 Sonora Rally; the RtD awards the best performing rider at each select events with free registration for Dakar. The first Indian to race at Sonora, he finished eighteenth in the National Enduro class (independent of FIM sanction) and sixth in the Road to Dakar.

He increased his calendar for 2024 and has run all three of the non-Dakar rounds to date on a Kove 450 Rally. After finishing thirty-first in the Rally2 class at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, he improved to twenty-seventh at the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid.

His most recent start at the Desafío Ruta 40 in June proved to be a misadventure even before it began. Jain had arrived in Argentina to learn his return flights were cancelled, forcing him to rebook them, then had a rock knock the chain guide off his bike in Stage #1 and lose him time. A crash on the third day resulted in an engine failure that ended his race.

Despite the disappointing end, his efforts overall did not unnoticed by the Amaury Sport Organisation and he received his acceptance letter in late July.

Wyatt Miller might be only twelve years old, but he shined in his first ever foray into short course. Competing in Championship Off-Road‘s Dirt City Motorplex round last weekend, the micro sprint racer at recorded a pair of second-place finishes in both Pro SPEC races.

“Three spots better than I thought I could do,” Miller quipped on the podium after the Saturday event.

A fourth-generation racer of the great Earnhardt family and the reigning Tulsa Shootout winner, Miller started the Saturday race fifth. Dylan Parsons, Nick Visser, and Chris Van Den Elzen battled for the lead for much of the day, quickly building a gap over Miller and the field, before a caution bunched them back up.

Miller found a run in the second half and caught both Visser and Van Den Elzen. Parsons was too far away for Miller to catch him, but he staved off Van Den Elzen’s efforts to secure second.

Sunday saw similar events as Miller started midpack, got past Hunter VanZile for fourth, then had to close in on Visser, Parsons, and Van Den Elzen. Van Den Elzen was taken out of contention when Visser lost control in turn two and Van Den Elzen collided with him, causing the latter to suffer a flat tyre. Visser recovered, never losing the top spot despite the spin, and led the rest of the way while Miller battled Parsons before passing him on the inside with four laps remaining.

Daniel Ricciardo has been pleased with the turnaround he’s had during his 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship after a strong finish before the summer break.

Ricciardo scored his first points of season at the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, having an excellent race in the Sprint, finishing fourth. Another rough patch followed but since the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix, many feel that Ricciardo has been the better driver at Visa Cash App RB scoring points in Montreal, Austria and Spa. He also had good races in Spain and Hungary, with strategy and ultimately the pace of the car costing him.

Ricciardo spoke to F1TV about his season so far and the upwards trajectory that he is currently on: “I would have loved the whole first half [of the season] to have been strong – it wasn’t the case. I obviously had my struggles in the first kind of half of [this] half, and it was clear I needed to pick it up and find something.

“[When] I look back, since Montreal, the pressure probably started to build, [but] – other than Silverstone, which was a bit of an outlier – I feel like the races have been much more in line with what I’m capable of, and I feel like I’m leaving the weekend feeling much more content, fulfilled.

“It’s important I was able to do that, and [it] leaves me entering the break with much more of a spring in my step. Looking ahead, yeah, [I’m] excited. Excited to get back and get out there in Zandvoort.”

After a frustrating ten months, Eryk Goczał is finally atop a Challenger podium after dominating the Baja España Aragón in Spain.

Goczał set the fastest time among the fifty-seven Challenger entries across the Prologue and both timed stages, good for fourth overall in FIA World Baja Cup behind a trio of Ultimate cars. This sweep came despite some of the most stacked competition he’s faced to date that included 2023 FIA European Baja Cup class vice champion Ghislain de Mévius and the great Nasser Al-Attiyah, the latter running his maiden Challenger race and the thrice defending Baja Aragón outright winner.

The 2023 Dakar Rally SSV winner, Goczał graduated to Challenger ahead of the 2024 edition, winning a stage in his class début at the Rallye du Maroc before retiring with a mechanical failure the next day and being reprimanded for violating Moroccan law regarding starting a fire for help. He then dominated the first half of the 2024 Dakar before being disqualified midway for a noncompliant clutch. That was his last race to date before Aragón.

“In Baja Aragon I wanted to race against the best – especially the one best… and we did it,” wrote Goczał. “We defeated Nasser Al-Attiyah and I’m proud of it. These results show that step by step we are doing better and better and we are getting closer to fulfilling our dream, i.e. to the top class – T1. We still have a lot of work to do, we know where to improve, so we are already starting preparations for the next starts.”

While he came up short, de Mévius’ brother Guillaume de Mévius won the race in the FIA World Baja Cup ahead of Rokas Baciuška. It was Guillaume’s first Aragón win but the sixth for his new navigator Mathieu Baumel, who won his first five with Al-Attiyah. Baciuška, the World Rally-Raid Championship’s Challenger points leader, was running his third Baja in Ultimate with plans of moving up to the category full time in 2025.

After a decorated decade in rally raid, Sam Sunderland is hanging up his helmet. On Wednesday, Sunderland confirmed his retirement from professional bike racing, ending a career that saw him win the Dakar Rally twice and the inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship.

Sunderland had struggled with medical snags in recent years. His final rally, the Desafío Ruta 40 in June, ended after three stages due to blurred vision in his eyes. The same ailment forced him to exit the 2023 Rallye du Maroc, ending a disappointing campaign that was supposed to be his Dakar and W2RC title defence. His hopes of a Dakar repeat that year were crushed by broken shoulder after crashing on the Dakar’s first leg, when he broke his ankle in a testing accident the day before the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

“It is with gratitude, humility, a bit of sadness, but without regret, that I announce my retirement from motorcycle racing after having a career that I dreamed of once upon a time,” said Sunderland. “From winning two world championships to my two Dakar victories, it’s been an incredible run. I would like to thank everyone that has been a part of this chapter and I’m looking forward to staying close to the team and playing a part in supporting their race efforts in the future.”

A Briton who lives in Dubai, he broke into cross-country rally in 2009 after his motocross career was halted by injury. After excelling in the United Arab Emirates’ national championship and starring at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, he made his Dakar début in 2012. He notched his first stage win two years later as a member of Honda’s factory rally raid programme before joining KTM’s team later in 2014. In 2017, he became the first British competitor to win the Dakar.

Sunderland’s luck was up and down at the Dakar. He reached the end just four of eleven times, but those finishes saw him win in 2017 and 2022 and place third in 2019 and 2021. Following his 2022 victory, he retired from his two final Dakars, with the 2024 edition ending due to a mechanical issue in Stage #3.

Johan Kristoffersson has more than made up for the issues suffered at round 3 of the 2024 FIA World Rallycross Championship by dominating the action at round 4. The second day at the “Red Cauldron” in Nyirád, Hungary, belonged to no-one else but the Swedish driver and KMS – HORSE Powertrain, with teammate Ole Christian Veiby making it a one-two for the Swedish team.

The “Battle of Technologies” saw the electric cars secure victory in round 3 on Saturday, but in the final on Sunday, the internal combustion engine (ICE) cars were in a class of their own. After safely navigating the first corner, Kristoffersson set about establishing a dominant lead. Indeed, he finished an extraordinary 10.8 seconds ahead of his nearest rival, an age in rallycross terms. Veiby, meanwhile, made up for a lacklustre start by taking the joker lap on the first time of asking, enabling him to undercut his rivals and end up finishing 2nd behind his all-conquering teammate.

Klara Andersson, who won both of her heat races and came second in her semi-final, made a great start in the final, getting alongside and ahead of Kevin Hansen who started on the front row of the grid by the end of the first corner. Once all the cars had taken their joker laps, Andersson emerged ahead of 2019 world champion Timmy Hansen. As Veiby left them behind, Andersson and Hansen put on a great display for the fans, with with Hansen throwing everything at the CE Dealer Team driver. Andersson defended mightily and managed to secure another podium finish.

Hansen World RX Team must be wondering what’s going wrong for them. Both drivers demonstrated superb pace throughout the weekend and challenged for victories, including Kevin Hansen winning his second heat and his semi-final, but still a podium finish eludes them in 2024. The hero of Saturday, Niclas Grönholm, also faced disappointment as he was forced to retire in his semi-final when his rear left tyre came away from the wheel.

René Münnich finished 6th in the German’s first visit to an event final in 2024. He was aided in his appearance there by local hero Jankó Wieszt suffering a huge crash at the start of his semi-final. There was a racing incident coming together with Veiby that unfortunately span the Hungarian into a heavy impact with the wall. Anthony Pelfrene had no such contact, but missed out on a place in the final after a 4th place finish in his semi-final.

George Russell pulled of an impressive race at the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix to earn his third race victory but after the race the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team driver was disqualified due to his W15 being underweight.

Race Recap – The Action Before The DSQ

Charles Leclerc started on pole position and kept the lead off the line from pole. Sergio Pérez started on the front row but lost out to Lewis Hamilton on the start and fell further back throughout the race, ending the day in eighth as his Oracle Red Bull Racing future looks bleak.

While most of the field opted for a two-stop strategy, Russell took a gamble with a single pit stop on lap ten. It was a bold call, and he was nursing those hard tyres to the death as the race reached its climax. Hamilton was all over his teammate in the closing stages, but Russell held on and put in a defensive masterclass. It was a heart-stopping finish, with the Brit ultimately prevailing by half a second to claim his third Formula 1 victory.

There was a brilliant battle throughout the race from Hamilton down with Leclerc battling against the likes of Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen, Lando Norris and Russell in different stages of the race. Fernando Alonso also opted for a one stop, and was able to stay in the points while Esteban Ocon managed to overtake Daniel Ricciardo in the last few laps to take the final points position.

The DSQ Drama

Russell’s victory was excellent – an expertly driven Grand Prix. The Brit managed his hard tyres from lap 11 until the end for his third race win ahead of Hamilton, who seemingly had the victory secured at one point in the day.

Charles Leclerc admitted that the challenging conditions during qualifying for the 2024 Belgian Grand Prix played a part in Scuderia Ferrari inheriting pole position from Max Verstappen who has taken a 10-place grid penalty.

Leclerc qualified in second place behind Verstappen but will start on pole ahead of Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Pérez for the race on Sunday – the Monegasque driver has admitted that the position isn’t a true reflection of the pace they have in the SF-24.

Speaking to F1TV, Leclerc said: “Obviously with the tricky conditions we could do something above our expectations – it’s a good day for the team. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen whenever the rain is gone.”

He continued: “I think without this rain probably P5 was the position we were fighting for with the Mercedes especially. Obviously with the rain it helped us a little bit, but I’m not going to complain.”

Leclerc looked ahead to the race on Sunday, which is expected to be dry, and his main aim is to stay ahead on Lap One and then mount a challenge for his second race win of the 2024 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.