2024 Dakar Rally: 80 on Dakar Classic entry list

The fourth annual Dakar Classic, a side event to the main Dakar Rally that focuses on navigation and competing with rally vehicles built prior to 1999, will see a grid of eighty strong. Sixty-five of the entrants are in cars while the other fifteen race trucks.

Juan Morera and his wife Lidia Ruba hope to become the Classic’s first repeat winners as the reigning champions pilot a Porsche 959, switching from a Toyota Land Cruiser. The latter still has plenty of representation such as Carlos Santaolalla and Paolo Bedeschi, who joined Morera on the 2023 podium.

Barbora Holická and Lucie Engová, the latter the sister of ex-Formula One driver Tomáš Enge, will race a 1979 Citroën 2CV affectionately nicknamed “Duckar” for the rubber duck livery and Holická’s duck raising philanthropy. Nine-time Croatian Rally Champion Juraj Šebalj will take part in a Nissan Terrano.

Jorge Pérez Companc arrives at the Dakar with a decorated family pedigree. His father Gregorio was an Argentine entrepreneur and one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, while his brothers Luis and Pablo have respectively raced in the WRC and sports cars; his son Ezequiel, a GT racer by trade, also has some off-road experience in Extreme E.

Due to the caveat that vehicles must be produced prior to the turn of the millennium, many hold various unusual stories that one will not get from a new car. While most used to contest the original Paris–Dakar Rally or other related rallies, others come from just as unique backgrounds. Ignacio Corcuera, for example, will pilot a Mercedes Unimog 424 that used to be a city-owned snowplow and firefighter training truck before Corcuera turned it into a supply transport truck to Ukraine and eventual rally competitor. Fellow truck racer Alexandre Lemeray‘s MAN L90 will be powered by hydrogen.

Janus van Kasteren Sr., whose son won the 2023 Dakar Rally in the truck category, will race the legendary DAF 3300 nicknamed “The Bull” for Team de Rooy, whose owner Jan de Rooy piloted it in the 1985 edition.

Brothers Maximilian and Laurence Loder are driving a Puch 280GE modelled after their father Josef’s G-Wagen that also raced in 1985. Unlike Josef’s car, the younger Loders’ was previously a four-door model that they converted to make it resemble the original vehicle.

Various competitors previously took part in the main Dakar Rally. Daniel Albero Puig raced twice on a bike in 2019 and 2020 before transitioning to a car for the Classic, while Rafael Lesmes moves from racing a T3 in 2023 to a Classic truck in 2024. Others, much like their vehicles, go further back to the days of the Paris–Dakar like Hervé Solandt, who raced the Dakar in 1985 and will pilot a Range Rover owned by ten-time Dakar starter Raoul Raymondis; his co-driver Brice Laborie-Brondino is the son of 1988 competitor Philippe Laborie.

Fabrizia Pons, who won four World Rally Championship races in the 1980s as the co-driver for Michèle Mouton before entering four Dakars with Jutta Kleinschmidt, makes her Dakar Classic début alongside former bike racer Luciano Carcheri.

The Classic is split into four speed groups of H1 (low average speed), H2 (moderate), H3 (intermediate; 10 to fifteen percent faster than average), and H4 (high speed; twenty-five to thirty-five percent faster), along with three periods of A (pre-1986), B (1986 to 1996), and C (1996 onwards).

The race commences alongside the main Dakar Rally on 5 January.

2024 Dakar Classic entry list

Cars

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle	Group
700	Juan Morera	Lidia Ruba	Momabikes Raid Team	Porsche 959	H2.B
701	Paolo Bedeschi	Daniele Bottallo	Tecnosport	Toyota Land Cruiser BJ71	H3.B
702	Lorenzo Traglio	Rudy Briani	Tecnosport	Nissan Pathfinder	H3.C
703	Dirk van Rompuy	Christiaan Michel Goris	VR Racing by TH-Trucks Team	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H2.B
704	Pascal Lebrun	Sébastien Dubois	Team Cap179	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H2.B
705	Francisco Benavente	Rafael Benavente Del Rio	Recinsa Sport	Nissan Terrano	H2.B
708	Sebastiaan Klaassen	Puck Klaassen	Nantes Prestige Autos	Porsche Martiny	H2.A
709	Łukasz Zoll	Michal Zoll	DEXT P-Rally Team	Porsche 924	H2.A
710	Stefano Calzi	Umberto Fiori	Motortecnica Racing Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	H4.B
711	Asier Duarte Rodríguez	Luis Barbero Garcia	TH-Trucks Team	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H2.B
712	Barbora Holická	Lucie Engová	Czech Samurais	Citroën 2CV	H1.A
714	Ondřej Klymčiw	Josef Broz	Klymčiw Racing	Škoda 130 LR	H2.B
715	Joao Antonio de Almeida e Sousa Costa	Luís Miguel Gonçalves	TH-Trucks Team	UMM Alter	H2.B
716	Dominik Ben	Katarzyna Malicka	Coco Loco	Suzuki Vitara	H3.C
717	Maximilian Loder	Laurence Loder	Völkel Dakar Team	Puch 280GE	H2.A
718	Luciano Carcheri	Fabrizia Pons	Tecnosport	Isuzu VehiCROSS	H1.B
719	Filippo Colnaghi	Stefano Davide Fabiano	Tecnosport	Nissan Terrano	H2.B
720	Michel Blanc	Frédéric Benedetti	4lpine Retro	Renault 4L	H1.A
721	Vincent Gonzalez	Albert Casabona Vilaseca	TH-Trucks Team	Toyota Land Cruiser 90	H3.C
722	Andrea Belometti	Luigi Derossi	Desert Endurance Motorsport	Nissan Patrol	H3.C
723	François-Xavier Bourgois	Patrice Auzet	Team Boucou Assistance	Peugeot 504 Coupe	H3.A
724	Paulo Sergio da Silva Oliveira	Arcelio Couto	TH-Trucks Team	UMM Alter	H2.B
725	Pieter Peerlings	Sam Teugels	924 Turbo Team	Porsche 924	H3.A
727	Giulio Bertolli	Renato Rickler	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	H2.B
728	Juraj Šebalj	Ivan Vidaković	Tecnosport	Nissan Terrano II	H2.B
729	Lionel Guy	Johnny Mauduit	CapÔsuD	Land Rover Range Rover	H2.B
730	François Abrial	Cecile Abrial	Team SSP	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H2.B
731	Marcel Quiros	Joan Cairó i Ferrer	BXS Motorsport	Lada Niva	H1.B
732	Cameron Moore Ingraham Bacon	Monica Buonamano	Tecnosport	Nissan Terrano	H2.B
733	Panos Meyer	Martin Bendig-Kreutzer	Völkel Dakar Team	Mercedes 280GE	H2.A
734	Stefano Sinibaldi	Simona Morosi	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution	H3.C
735	Herve Solandt	Brice Laborie-Brondino	RSO	Land Rover Range Rover	H2.B
736	Michał Horodeński	Arkadiusz Sałaciński	Toyota Team Classic	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H3.B
737	Tomasz Staniszewski	Stanisław Postawka	P-Rally Team	Porsche 924	H2.A
738	Jaap Bolk	Marcel van Wort	Bolk Dakar Rally Team	Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution	H4.C
739	Daniel Albero Puig	Jose Luis Serra Roca	Team Un Diabético en el Dakar	Toyota Land Cruiser 90	H3.C
740	Matías Rodríguez Martín	Sandra Guasch Planells	BXS Motorsport	Lada Niva	H1.B
741	Damiano Lipani	Stefano Crementieri	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution	H3.C
742	Katherine Lovemore	Stephen Lovemore	Dreamy & The Pap Snoek	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H1.B
743	Thierry Valtat	Guillaume Gelée	La Compagnie Saharienne	Toyota HZJ78	H1.B
744	Andrew Graham	Gavin Neate	Allisport	Land Rover Defender 90	H2.A
745	Dominique Durand	Raphael Vial	Team SSP	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H2.B
746	Ugo Bullesi	Myriam Manzoni	Befuel Bombelli Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	H3.B
747	Teddy Delmonico	Florian Garnier	TFSL Racing	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ100	H4.C
748	Giuliano Bergo	Robert Blaas	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution	H3.C
749	Jorge Pérez Companc	Jose Maria Volta	Madpanda Motorsport	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H3.B
750	Mathieu Kurzen	Alexandre Fatio	Geco Classic Racing Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	H1.B
751	Stéphane Docher	Lionel Balandreaud	TFSL Racing	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H3.B
752	Georges Garcia	François Beziac	Chancellor Team New Zealand	Land Rover Discovery	H2.B
753	Adriaan Botma	Riaan Botma	Midstream Oil	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	H3.B
754	Sergi Fernández García	Pablo Benavente	Pedrega Team	Mitsubishi L200	H3.C
755	Jörg Sand	Patrick Diemer	Völkel Dakar Team	Mercedes 280GE	H2.A
756	Stefano Picasso	Gianluca Biondi	Desert Endurance Motorsport	Suzuki Vitara	H1.B
757	Daniel Vetter	Anton Frutiger	Desert Cruiser	Toyota KZJ73	H3.C
758	Frank Uwe Juergen Thiel	Hartmut Weigelt	Montana Racing	Toyota Land Cruiser LJ70	H2.B
759	Frédéric Larre	Jérémy Athimon	Nantes Prestige Autos	Porsche 959	H2.B
760	Olivier Delrieu	Christophe Chabeuf	La Compagnie Saharienne	Toyota HZJ78	H1.B
761	Marco Ernesto Leva	Alexia Giugni	R Team	Mitsubishi Pajero	H2.B
762	Jan Vins	Tomáš Hovorka	Enjoy Motorsport	Mitsubishi Pajero	H2.B
763	Giorgio Ciresola	Ziga Colja	Desert Endurance Motorsport	Toyota Land Cruiser 90	H3.C
764	Maxence Gublin	Anthony Sousa	Bolides Racing	Land Rover Defender 110	H2.B
765	Lorenzo Fluxá	Xavi Riba Font	LJS Racing Team	Toyota Land Cruiser 90	H2.B
766	Michaël Denis	Philippe Garabeuf	La Compagnie Saharienne	Toyota HZJ78	H1.B
767	Amadeo Roige Bragulat	Jorge Toral	Pedrega Team	Toyota KZJ73	H2.B
768	Carlos Santaolalla	Jan Rosa Viñas	Factory Tub	Toyota Land Cruiser	H2.B

Trucks

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Mechanic	Team	Vehicle	Group
900	Marco Giannecchini	Luca Macrini	Alexandre Manuel Azenha de Freitas	R Team	IVECO EuroCargo	H1T.B
901	Pierre-Louis Quemin	Olivier Guillory	Antoine Margall	Team SSP	Mercedes 2636	H2T.B
902	Frank Puchouau	Enric Segura	Dorian Bardeau	Team Boucou Competition	Renault Kerax	H2T.C
903	Janus van Kasteren Sr.	Toine Verkooijen	Herman Keijsers	Classic Team de Rooy	DAF 3300	H2T.B
904	Ermanno De Angelis	Annunziata Del Gaudio	Andreas Cadei	Desert Endurance Motorsport	IVECO ACM 80-17	H2T.B
905	Ignacio Corcuera	David Naveira	Fernando Garcia Sagasta	Euskadi 4×4	Mercedes Unimog 424	H1T.A
906	Corrado Pattono	Piermarco Acerni	Gianluca Ianni	Mototecnica Racing Team	MAN 18-285	H2T.C
907	Thomas Wolthaus	Bastian Klausing	Lina van de Mars	Völkel Dakar Team	Mercedes 2636	H1T.A
908	Christian Ruppert	Ursula Ruppert	Matias Ruppert	Ruppert Motorsport	Mercedes 1735 SK	H1T.B
910	Giuseppe Simonato	Alessio Bentivoglio	Angelo Fumagalli	Tecnosport	IVECO Magirus	H2T.B
911	Rafael Lesmes	Jose Luis Ruano Garcia	Tabatha Romon	Dakar Por La Vida	Mercedes 1844 AK	H1T.B
912	Daniel Schatz	Goerg Gattinger	Fabian Stauner	Völkel Dakar Team	Mercedes 2636	H1T.A
913	Jaime Martinez Canteli	Nekane Abin Bardeci	Santiago Díaz de Cerio	TH-Trucks Team	Mercedes 2636 A 6×6	H1T.B
915	Alexandre Lemeray	Fabien Lecaplain	Jean-Baptiste Lecot	Team HoleShot Compétition	MAN LL90	H1T.C
916	Jordi Ginesta	Yves Dumont	Marc Nicaut	Team HoleShot Compétition	Renault Kerax	H2T.C