Jan Brabec retiring from racing after 2025 Dakar Rally

After thirty-three years of racing, Jan Brabec will call it a career following the 2025 Dakar Rally. The 41-year-old plans to stay involved with the sport afterwards by turning his Strojrent Racing into a rider development and support programme.

“For me, this is pretty big news, and those who know me know that I don’t usually record videos,” began Brabec in a video posted to his social media on Sunday. “But now, I wanted to put this out there a little bit.

“With this eighth Dakar, I plan to end my racing career, which has lasted 33 years. Let’s move on and leave racing to the younger guys.

“But as for me, I don’t want to completely step away from the world of racing—I just won’t be physically holding the handlebars anymore. Instead, I want to run my own rally support team.

“Strojrent Racing will be a team supporting riders who want to make it to the Dakar Rally, whether they’re qualified or not. I’ll be taking care of their training, both on the bike and in navigation, that’s how it will be.

“Four tough months are ahead of me, but hopefully, after that, I’ll finally be able to rest from holding the handlebars.”

Brabec first rode a BMX bike when he was four before beginning his competitive career in motocross three years later. Trained by those like Czech supercross pioneer Petr Kuchař and American star Jeremy McGrath, he went on to win ten Czech national championships in motocross and supercross. In 2007, Brabec represented his country at the Motocross des Nations alongside Michal Kadleček and Jiri Čepelák, finishing seventeenth.

In 2017, Brabec made his cross-country rally debut after befriending Czech truck racer Martin Macík Jr. Racing a bike for Macík’s Big Shock! Racing (now MM Technology), he finished thirty-ninth overall in his first Dakar Rally in 2018. Brabec has been a Dakar regular since, racing annually despite serious injuries prior to the 2019 and 2022 editions (a training accident in Tunisia that resulted in seven broken bones and internal bleeding following by a crash at the 2021 Baja España Aragón, respectively); even a left foot injury during the 2023 race did not stop him from reaching the finish.

His seventh and latest Dakar in January saw him finish fifteenth overall in the Rally2 class with a best run of sixth in Stage #5. While signed up to earn points for the World Rally-Raid Championship, his only other race to date was the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, where he finished third in class with top-five runs in every stage.

The 2025 Dakar Rally will take place on 3–17 January.