Dakar Rally winners Toby Price and Sam Sunderland will switch from the motorcycle category to cars to contest the 2025 edition together in January.
The pair will be aboard an Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux T1+ for the gruelling Saudi Arabian rally raid from 3-17 January.
Price, who won Dakar in 2016 and 2019, will have Sunderland as his co-driver after the Australian was left without a ride as KTM did not renew his contract for 2025.
He said on social media: “I am excited to announce that we are going to Dakar in January. Super excited for this chance, we are going to be with Overdrive and going to jump in a T1+ car and see what we can do.
“The other good news is I’ll be teaming up with a good mate Sammy Sunderland, who will sit beside me and see what we can come up with. It’s going to be super exciting and a lot of hard work for us.”
Price and Sunderland are looking to join Hubert Auriol, Stephane Peterhansel and Nani Roma as the only individuals to have won the Dakar in both a car and bike.
Briton Sunderland, who retired from motorcycle racing in August having won Dakar in 2017 and 2022, said: “Me and Pricey are heading to Dakar. Even to say it out loud sounds pretty wild.
#4 Red Bull GASGAS Factory: Sam Sunderland
Photo by: GasGas Factory Racing
“I remember the days in Dakar, we’d sit in the camp after a long, rough day on the bike chatting about how nice it would be sat in a car.
“It always seemed pretty far-fetched but here we are. Super grateful for all the boys that have put some effort into getting this across the line, it’s a massive help for us and something that I’m really grateful for and hopefully we can do it justice.”
Toyota won the Dakar in 2022 and 2023 with Nasser Al-Attiyah, now part of the Prodrive-run Dacia Sandriders team.
The works Toyota Gazoo Racing roster for 2025 is likely to comprise Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon and Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz, who contested the recent Rallye du Maroc that concluded the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship season.
Defending Dakar winner Carlos Sainz Sr will drive for Ford, having won the 2024 edition with Audi, as the Blue Oval enters its new Raptor T1+.
