The 2025 Dakar Rally, the world’s biggest off-road endurance event, kickstarted on Friday. There’s plenty of action to go around, with over 807 racers across the six categories: bikes, cars, challenger, SVV, trucks, and classic. Who are the Argentines set to participate and are any of them among the top candidates?

Bikes

The categories with the most entrants overall sees only four Argentine representatives. Brothers Kevin and Luciano Benavides are part of the Red Bull KTM factory team. Kevin won four stages in 2024, enough to see him finish fourth overall and could be in for a shot to the title.

The Benavides will go up defending champion Ricky Brabec from the United States and Chileans José Ignacio Cornejo and Pablo Quintanilla.

Also racing in the category are Juan Santiago Rostan and Benjamín Pascual, who races with an electric bike.

Cars

Juan Cruz Yacopini will be the only Argentine representative in the standard Cars category, racing a Toyota Hilux Overdrive. Having finished 18th in 2024, he’ll look to improve his standing in a category. 

Spanish Carlos Sainz, a five-time Dakar winner, will go up against Nasser Al Attiyah, who also has five crowns, with nine-time World Rally champion French Sébastien Loeb also in the mix to win it.

Challenger

After seeing the Quads class — where Argentina counts eight titles — scrapped, the Challenger sub-division of the Cars class is the category with the most Argentine representatives.

Argentine duo of Nicolás Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini, who finished up as World Rally-Raid Championship drivers runner up and co-drivers champion respectively, are among the leading candidates. 

Another Argentine duo, David Zille and Sebastián Cesana, are also in the mix, with Lisandro Sisterna, Facundo Jatón, Gastón Mattarucco, Bruno Jacomy, and Augusto Sanz all taking part as navigators.

You may also be interested in: Argentine becomes first woman to win World Rally-Raid Championship title

SSV

The Side-by-Side class, another subdivision of the Cars category, sees a familiar face make a return, with 2024 Quads winner Argentine Manuel Andújar debuting in a new format, alongside Bernardo Graue as co-driver. Jeremías González Ferioli and Pedro Gonzalo Rinaldi are the only other Argentine duo.

Fernando Matías Acosta, Anuar Osman and Santiago Hansen will be competing as navigators, and Diego Martínez as a driver. 

Defending champion Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait and Swiss runner up Jérôme de Sadeleer make a return for 2025 and are the leading candidates.

Classic

This is a special class including only cars similar to the ones that competed up until 1999 in the Dakar. The goal is not to reach the fastest time but to try and match a time previously established by the organizers, rewarding precision over speed. 

Jorge Pérez Companc will race alongside son Cristóbal, with Pablo Jatón, Ariel Jatón and Renato Delmasto in another team.