PARIS (AFP) - Factory Toyota driver Henk Lategan beat Ford rival Mattias Ekstrom to take victory in Prologue at the start of the 2025 Dakar Rally.
The 47th edition of the world’s biggest cross-country rally kicked off with a short 29km special in Bisha in the south west region of Saudi Arabia, with a total of 64 cars lining up in the Ultimate category.
While all eyes were on Ford and Dacia as they made their full-fledged debuts in Dakar, incumbent Toyota stole the limelight by scoring a narrow win with its proven Hilux T1+.
Representing the South African division of Toyota Gazoo Racing, Lategan completed the prologue in 15m28.06s on his return to Dakar after a one-year hiatus, beating the Ford Raptor of former DTM and World Rallycross champion Mattias Ekstrom by just 1.3s.
Both drivers eclipsed the early benchmark set by Dacia newcomer Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was first to take the starting line and set a time of 15m48.4s in the lead Sandrider.
Debutant Rokas Baciuska put in a solid effort in a customer Toyota entered by Overdrive, finishing fourth and just a second adrift of Al-Attiyah after a test that featured a mix of dirt track, gravel and sand.
Brian Baragwanath rounded up the top five for Century Racing, while nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb finished sixth for Dacia.