On Friday, January 5, 354 crews comprising of 72 cars, 137 motorcycles and 10 quads, 78 Challenger cars and SSVs, and 46 trucks will line up to start Dakar 2024’s 157 km prologue through the Arabian Desert around the Saudi city Al-Ula. That sets the starting order for the next day’s first 532 km Arabian desert stage to Al Henakiyah before 4 727 km of racing and 7 891 km overall, to the finish at Yanbu on January 19.

Double reigning champion, Toyota Gazoo Racing has entered no less than five made-at-Kyalami Hallspeed Dakar Hiluxes, three of them driven by South Africans while the other two will be backed by international crews in Brazilian Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon, and American Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz. Among the notable other Hallspeed Hiluxes, expect Saudi home hero Yazeed Al Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk to be on the pace. Former Le Mans winner Frenchman Romain Dumas and Max Delfino are an interesting entry and never underestimate their compatriots, Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq.

Click here to watch the Dakar 2024 official presentation.

Among the biggest news at Dakar 2024 is Ford’s official return with a pair of NWR Pietermaritzburg-built, SA rally raid-developed M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Rangers. Spanish Dakar legend Nani Roma and Alex Haro Bravo will be aboard one of the Ranger bakkies while Czech privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka are another regular Dakar threat in their Ford Raptor.

Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loic Minaudier continue in their quest for that elusive T1.2 class win with their rear-driven Century Racing CR6-T. A fleet of ten privateer Century buggies are driven by crews from all around the world, headlined by Dutch twins Tim and Tom Coronel, and former bikers, Spanish lass Laia Sanz and Maurizio Gerini’s Astara version.

Last but not least among the South African cars, Red-Lined machines are also built alongside the Grand Prix Circuit at Kyalami. Red-Lined, whose cars won the amateur T1.1 class in 2023, has teamed up with Chinese T1.2 4×2 class winners Wei Han and Li Ma. They make their top class T1+ debut in a Red-Lined-based HanWei Motorsport entry.

Two other Red-Lined REVO+ T1+ cars are entered for teen lady 2023 Dakar SSV sensation Aliyyah Koloc and South African notes man Riaan Greyling, and Belgian rookie Stefan Carmans and Antonius van Tiel.

Qatari Dakar legend Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel will be looking to secure another win but have traded the keys of the Hilux for a Prodrive Hunter for the 2024 race.

If that’s not enough, that dynamic duo is backed by no less than nine-time World Rally Champion, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, still looking for his maiden Dakar win alongside Fabian Lurquin.

Audi Sport brings an unchanged team to its swansong Dakar aboard its trio of sophisticated petrol-electric hybrids. Mr. Dakar, Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel is looking for no less than a fifteenth Dakar win on both two and four wheels alongside Edouard Boulanger.

Spanish teammate, double former World Rally Champion, Carlos Sainz Snr is looking for his fourth Dakar victory with Cruz Lucas reading the notes. And never ignore Swedes Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist in the third Audi.

Related: SA built Toyota Hilux wins 2022 Dakar Rally with Al-Attiyah at the wheel

Other Dakar cars to keep an eye out for are any of the X-Raid Minis, notably Pole Krzysztof Holowczyc and Lukasz Kurzeja, and Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala and Paulo.

A fleet of MD buggies are chasing 4×2 honours led by the likes of Christian Lavieille and Valentin Sarreaud, and Simon Vitse and Frederic Lefebvre. A pair of Chinese BAIC entries for Guoyu Zhang and Zi Yunliang and Sha He, are also worth keeping an eye on.

The Dakar Challenger class Can-Am factory team has Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska and Oriol Vidal, Chilean Francisco Lopez Contardo and JP Latrach, and fast Spanish lass Cristina Gutierrez Herrero and Pablo Moreno in its line-up.

They face the Taurus-mounted Polish family Goczal, Eryk and Oriol Mena, Marek alongside Maciej Marton and Michal with Szymon Gospodarczyk.

Add American Red Bull Juniors, Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch racing a Taurus and Austin Jones and Gustavo Gugelmin in a Can-Am. And Chilean Yamaha X-Raid pair, Ignacio Casale and Alvaro Leon.

The SSVs see Can-Am crews, Portuguese João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro and Spanish crew Gerard Farres Guell and Diego Ortega up front and fighting Sebastien Loeb Polaris teams Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet, and Florent Vayssade and Nicolas Rey. Add Saudi home hero Yasir Seaidan and Adrien Metge’s Can-Am and Japan’s Shinsuke Umeda and Maurizio Dominella in another Polaris.

Dakar trucks for 2024

Dakar would however not be Dakar without the trucks, and 2024 is no exception.

Iveco is taking no chances on repeating its 2023 win with victors Janus van Kasteren, Darek Rodewald and Marcel Snijders back at the head of an armada of the Italian behemoths driven by among others, countrymen Mitchel and Martin van den Brink, and Richard de Groot, and Czech Martin Macik.

Tatra has Czech drivers Valtr Jaroslav and Martin Soltys at the helm, while countryman Ales Loprais pilots the lone Praga, and Teruhito Sugawara drives the only Hino in Dakar 2024.

Dutch drivers Gerrit Zuurmond and Pascal de Baar drive two MAN trucks, and Gert Huzink a Renault.

NEVs and the Dakar Classic

In addition to the full 4 727 km that the regular cars attack in anger, nine ‘next technology’ vehicles will race in the new alternative energies Dakar Mission 1000.

Catering for fully electric, hydrogen and hybrid cars, Mission 1000 races ten 100 km sections for a total of 1 000 km through the Dakar fortnight.

The Dakar Classic regularity rally once again caters for 20th-century Dakar vehicles running at their own pace through 3 586 km of timed sections and a total distance of 7 366 km.

“We have made sure that the fifth edition of Dakar in Saudi Arabia will be the toughest race since we have come to the Middle East,” race director David Castera warned.

“We will race 4,727 km and cover 7,891 km of special stages, including a new two-day ‘48h chrono’ marathon stage, where competitors must stop at the nearest of eight bivouacs at 16:00 and crews will have no contact with their teams. This one will be tough. Good luck to all competitors and teams!”