But that hasn’t stopped Sainz’s rivals also choosing to blood new cars over the 5,115 kilometres (3,178 miles) of specials mapped out over 12 stages between Bisha and Shubaytah.
Five-time winner Nasser al-Attiyah of Qatar and France’s nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will be piloting Dacia Sandriders, while Spain’s one-time Dakar winner Nani Roma will also be in a Ford.
One notable absentee from the action, however, will be France’s ‘Mr Dakar’, 14-time champion Stephane Peterhansel, who hung up his keys last year.
‘Rally of maturity’
In the bike section, two-time winner Ricky Brabec (Honda) will be back to defend his title, with the American’s main rival likely to be Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero), second last year.
A 434-strong colourful caravan made up of cars, bikes, quads and trucks sets out from Bisha with an opening prologue on Friday.
Twelve stages then await the 778 competitors from 72 countries, with a January 17 finish in Shubaytah, on the border of the United Arab Emirates.
This year’s route includes a second 48-hour stage in the Empty Quarter, a vast sea of sand with dunes as far as the eye can see.
Introduced last year, organisers said the concept of the stage, during which competitors have to bivouac on the sand and are not allowed outside help, was simple: “Juggling the twin challenges of endurance and performance while blasting through a thousand kilometres of desert in two days.”
“It’s the rally of maturity,” race director David Castera told AFP. “There’s a real level of difficulty, it’s a real, tough Dakar, which will push everyone beyond their limits, beyond their comfort zone.”
The 47th running of the event may be called the Dakar, but the last time the Senegalese capital actually hosted the finish was way back in 2007 – the security situation in Mauritania forced the 2008 cancellation.
It moved then to South America until finding a new home in Saudi Arabia since 2020.
