Sanjay Takale to race 2025 Dakar Classic

Sanjay Takale has partnered with Compagnie Saharienne to race a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78 at the 2025 Dakar Classic. He will be the first Indian to race the Dakar, Classic or Rally, as a car driver.

After growing up in motocross, Takale has competed in rallies since 2009 with focus on various national series in Asia like the Indiana and Malaysian championships. A regular in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, he won the Production class title in 2013. In 2018, he made his World Rally Championship-3 début at Rally Finland, finishing fourteenth in class and eventually repeating it at the 2019 edition. In 2022, he represented India at the FIA Motorsport Games and finished eighth in his first tarmac rally.

Takale is also a regular at the Asia Cross-Country Rally, winning the T2 category in an Isuzu D-Max in 2011. At the latest edition in August, he drove a Toyota Hilux Revo to a twenty-third overall and thirteenth in the T1D class.

Outside of racing, he is the chief advisory officer of aerpace, an Indian transportation company.

Maxime Raud will serve as his co-driver in the Land Cruiser.

“Known as one of the toughest mechanical events in the world, the race will be for Sanjay the ultimate opportunity to push back his limits,” reads a statement from Compagnie Saharienne.

“Under the colors of our structure, he will make his début in the historic category, with the ambition of learning from this new environment.”

Compagnie Saharienne is a French historic rally team that has provided technical support for Dakar Classic competitors since 2022. The team has a close partnership with four-time Dakar Rally-winning co-driver Mathieu Baumel, whose Mathieu Baumel Navigation School provides training for those hoping to navigate in regularity races like the Classic.

The 2025 Dakar Classic runs in tandem with the main Dakar Rally on 3–17 January.