Dakar Rally Announces 2025 Sprint Stage Calendar
The Dakar Rally has revealed the six events that will feature sprint stages in the 2025 edition of the grueling off-road competition. Notably, the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium has been reinstated on the sprint calendar, replacing Austria which drops off for the first time since 2021.
Five of the sprint stage locations remain the same from the 2024 schedule, with China and the United Arab Emirates continuing to host the Saturday sprints, along with the events in Saudi Arabia, Peru, and Qatar. The return of the sprint stage to the Dakar’s stop in Belgium comes at the expense of the Austrian round, which hosted the format in 2022 and 2023.
Having featured a sprint stage in every season since the format was introduced in 2021, the Dakar’s stop in Lima, Peru will once again include the shorter, more intense competition.
The Qatar and Saudi Arabia events were first added to the sprint calendar in 2023, and will continue to do so in 2025 as the number of 100km sprint stages increases from three to six.
The Dakar Rally has reported a rise in viewership figures for the sprint stage weekends compared to the traditional marathon event format, reinforcing the decision to maintain the sprint stage concept. It is expected that the current layout, with the sprint stage on Saturday preceding the main event, will remain in place for 2025.
The revisions to the 2025 calendar see the Chinese and United Arab Emirates sprint stages no longer back-to-back, while all three post-summer break sprint events are more spread out on the schedule.
2025 Dakar Rally Sprint Stage Calendar:
- China – 22 March
- United Arab Emirates – 3 May
- Belgium – 26 July
- Saudi Arabia – 18 October
- Peru – 8 November
- Qatar – 29 November
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