Pune: Sanjay Takale has scripted history, becoming the first-ever Indian driver to finish the Dakar Rally. The 56-year-old competed in the Dakar Classic car class this year, driving a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78 with Maxime Raud as his navigator. He survived the gruelling two-week course to finish 18th overall and 10th in his class.
Takale, who has been racing professionally for over three decades and has collected more than 75 wins on home soil and abroad, including winning the Asia Pacific Rally Championship’s Production Cup in 2013, has now added yet another feather to his cap – becoming the first Indian to compete in, and finish, the Dakar Rally in a car.
He entered the Dakar Classic class, with technical support from French team Compagnie Saharienne. This class is reserved for vehicles manufactured before 2005, and competitors run on a separate route, better suited to the vehicles.
Unlike the other classes, where the goal is to complete each stage with the fastest time, Dakar Classic follows a regularity rally (more commonly known as Time-Speed-Distance or TSD) format. Here, the goal is to complete each stage in a specified time and at a specified average speed – something that brings its own unique challenges, especially in the tough terrain that the Dakar Rally is known for.
He was 37th overall at the end of Stage 1 and steadily made his way up the order. A top five finish in the final stage helped him finish P18 overall.
The 2025 Dakar Classic was held along with the main Dakar Rally from January 3 to 17. It was 47th edition of the iconic rally and sixth in Saudi Arabia. The route started at Bisha and crossed the Empty Quarter, and finished at Shubaytah on Jan 17.
The Race format consisted of 14 days of racing, divided into 12 stages. The marathon 48-hour “chrono” stage was 950km long. The five stages featured separate routes for cars and bikes following the mass start stage. This Dakar promises more navigation and Classic class ran with 94 cars. Takale drove a 722 number car, the only car from India in Dakar 2025.
Takale had been preparing for Dakar Rally for last few years by witnessing rallies in Mexico and Saudi Arabia. In his debut rally, Mr. Rajan Sayal was the team manager and guide.
The Dakar Spirit, which embodies the spirit of the marathon since its first event in 1979 where fellow competitors came to aid each other be it towing the vehicle to finish the stage or pulling out a stuck vehicle or helping an injured rider, this year at the start Takale spent a good 10-odd minutes pulling out his teammate’s car. He got the credit of this time from race control who waived the later arrival at the Dune Test finish TC. The Dune test of 14km saw many vehicles stuck and many missing the way, which entails penalties. Takale and Raud didn’t miss any. In addition they finished the Regularity Tests in 5th , 13th and 15th position .
The last RT was a mammoth 146 km with 175 + speed changes, 36 secret time controls to come home with just 48 penalties needs to be applauded for consistency.
Here is commentary of the key final stages:
Stage 9: Sanjay Takale and Maxime Raud celebrated Sankranti with a top-class performance. The Special Stage was split into 4 RT and one Dune Test at the finish of the special. He finished 12th in class and was 15th overall in his class.
Stage 11: The penultimate stage of the Dakar was truncated for the Classics due to a delayed start on account of fog which meant the helicopters could not get airborne in case of emergency. On the menu were 3 NT and one RT. After the first NT the days run was called off. Takale finished 10th overall in the stage. Next day, it was a very short section of 33 km followed by the podium ceremonies.
“I was looking forward to push in the final stage but one can’t fight the weather. I am happy with my performance and obviously delighted with another top 10 result.
