RALLY DAKAR 2025

The Dakar, turned into a game of chess: the prologue, the first move

The 2025 Dakar will be different from all those seen so far in Saudi Arabia. It will have the usual ingredients... and one innovative one: strategy. A factor that has already marked the first kilometres of the race in the prologue.

MARCA has gathered the opinions of three Spanish co-drivers from the three leading teams who, logically, do not reveal what their strategy will be for the first three days of the race - we will see that directly on the track - but they do explain the chess game that will mark the Dakar... and not only at its start.

The prologue... and what it means... This implies that even from a prologue like today's, a priori almost inconsequential... there have been different paths. While Sainz has preferred to give himself time to start in front tomorrow and, under normal conditions, lose time, other favourites have opted for the opposite path.

All because the Dakar prologue has special rules for the starting order. To determine this, a group is formed with all the drivers who are within 110% of the winner's time, in today's case, the first 28. To these must be added the platinum and gold drivers (those with the best FIA ranking) who have had some problem and have not been able to make the cut (today, only Gillaume de Mevius, who suffered a puncture).

From here, the positions of all of them are reversed (so that De Mevius would open the track and Sainz would be sixth), although the first 10 in the prologue still have the option of choosing their position. In the case of tomorrow's stage, it is unlikely - or at least that is what the Ford team thinks - that anyone will be able to open the track or start in the first places...

Panic to open the 48-hour stage... All these calculations have one ultimate goal: to avoid starting in front in the 48-hour stage, the first great moment of the Dakar 2025. Sunday is the first key day and nobody wants to take a chance. "That's clear," says Lucas Cruz, Carlos Sainz's Dakar success partner, firmly. Because that day, in addition to having 900 kilometers ahead of them to cover in two days, the cars will take a different route to that of the motorcycles. That is, without their tracks as a guide.

Starting out in front on a stage on dirt and stones like the second stage is a big handicap: "You have the advantage that, as there are no tracks, there are none that confuse you. But normally you are slower and if the stage is easy to navigate, those behind you confirm the lines better and catch up with you." And there you can go for minutes that, at a pace, are difficult to make up for.

This same situation will be repeated at the end of the Dakar, on a different terrain - the dunes of the Empty Quarter - and there everything is a problem if you are in the lead: "In the dunes you can tell what the other side is like just by the shape of the crest left by the car in front," so going wide is also a big handicap.

"We'll have to play the lottery a bit"... Pablo Moreno, Cristina Gutiérrez's navigator, likes this initial challenge: "It's going to test us all, cars and drivers. It makes the start very difficult for us and it will be decisive for the rest of the race," says the newcomer in the premier class. "The prologue itself is key because you have to see in which starting position you want to start the first stage and from there, play with the strategy for the second" ... which is not so simple, because there are more factors than the starting position: "You also have to think that if you start too far back you might not make it to the camp you had planned [there will be six different ones] if you have any problems.

"You will have to play the lottery a bit after the prologue, because you never know if your choice is going to be the right one." However, the Madrid native warns that not everything is over before the rest day: "Let's not forget that at the end, with all the wear and tear, the Empty Quarter awaits us" ... but that will be another story that will come later.

"They can crucify you from behind" ... Armand Monleón(image above), co-driver of Lucas Moraes in the official Toyota team, points out other elements of difficulty in the feared 48-hour stage: "In that and in the marathon you expect quite a few stones and there it can be easy to go over the pace and make a mistake." That will be another type of strategy, once the stage has started: "You have to walk that fine line between losing the race and being ahead."

The Catalan points out more chess moves that could occur in the stage prior to the 48 hours: "If you remember, Loeb skipped a waypoint to lose time last year. These things will also have to be assessed in order not to come out ahead on day 2, because whoever does so... will be crucified from behind." What seems certain is that in these first three days of the race there are surprises awaiting us...

Loeb does not like strategy..."I think we are going to see more strategy than before... and I don't know if it will be good or bad for the race, we will see in the next few days," says a doubtful David Castera in response to questions from MARCA. The Frenchman still has memories of a past edition where the race was decided too early in favour of the winner in the mind.

"But I think it is a balanced Dakar, because there is a lot of talk about the first week but there are also some things in the second. Let no one think that the race will be over on the rest day," he adds.

His compatriot, Sébastien Loeb, was also the most explicit when asked by this newspaper. We asked him if he likes this game of strategy and he wasted no time in saying a resounding 'no'. "I prefer to push and have everyone in the same situations and for the driver and the car to make the difference, but that's how things are this year and yes, it seems that it will be a somewhat different Dakar."

Enrique Naranjo