Dakar organizer ASO has released the list of start numbers for the 42nd edition of the legendary desert rally. 271 teams have already been confirmed for the 2021 edition, including 16 Dutch registrations.
The Dakar Rally will be held in Saudi Arabia for the second time in January. On January 3, motorcyclist Ricky Brabec will start in Jeddah with start number 1, after the Honda driver was the first American to win the rally last year. A total of 108 motorcyclists are currently on the start list, including two Dutchmen: Paul Spierings is at the start with number 25, Olaf Harmsen is starting his second Dakar participation with start number 115.
Cars and SSVs
With the 20 quads there is again no Dutchman on the list, but with the 70 already confirmed cars we do find a number of well-known names. Bernhard ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul (306) will once again hunt for a top classification with their Toyota Hilux. Erik van Loon also returns together with navigator Sébastien Delaunay in a Hilux (313). The Coronel brothers can once again put their trusted start number 347 on “The Beast”.
This year, two entirely Dutch teams will be at the start of the SSVs. Kees Koolen and Jurgen van den Goorbergh will form a team again in the SSV with start number 416. Gert-Jan van der Valk and Branco de Lange make their debut with start number 454 in the Dakar Rally. In total there are 38 SSVs on the list. Defending champion Casey Currie and multiple Dakar winner Cyril Despres are missing for the time being.
Trucks
Four-time winner Eduard Nikolaev is the big absentee in the trucks, while it was already announced that Team De Rooy will not travel to Saudi Arabia either. Nevertheless, 35 trucks are already assured of participating in the Dakar Rally. Nine trucks come from the Netherlands.
Martin van den Brink and son Mitchel defend the honor of Mammoet Rallysport, while Gert Huzink and Pascal de Baar again appear at the start on behalf of the Riwald team. William de Groot and Richard de Groot will also be there in 2021, while Maurik van den Heuvel will return to the rally with a brand new truck after skipping it for a year in 2020.
New on the list of participants is the Dutch Dust Warriors. William van Groningen and Alexander Koot will embark on the Dakar adventure for the first time with an IVECO and a DAF respectively.
On Wednesday 25 November, organizer ASO will hold its official Dakar presentation and more will be known about the route and the participants, among other things. View a (provisional) list of the Dutch participants below. View the full list of published bib numbers here.