Jean-Luc Martineau might be one of the older competitors at the Dakar Rally or Classic in January, but it might be stretch to call him an elder statesman beyond his age. Although 75 years old and certainly familiar with cross-country rally, 2025 will be his first time competing at the Dakar Classic when he and Sébastien Dubois race a 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80.

Martineau and Dubois currently compete in the French Endurance TT Championship, a national off-road series that the former has won twice in 2016 and 2017. Despite his age and his day job as a real estate agent well behind him, Martineau keeps in shape by being a diver and traveling.

He began racing in 1971 as a tarmac rally driver, though his career there was short lived due to budget. Martineau made his rally raid debut at the 1998 Rallye du Tunisie before entering the national series in 2005.

While he’s certainly familiar with standard timed rallies, Martineau is opting for the regularity-based Dakar Classic since, as he explained to Actu Orléans, “It’s still 600 kilometers, and it’s more reasonable at my age.

“But this year, I don’t have the drive to finish for ranking. I’m just going for fun.”

Dubois arrives as the reigning winner of the Dakar Classic’s H3 class, wich he claimed as the navigator of a Toyota HDJ80 driven by Pascal Lebrun. Besides calling the shots for Martineau, Dubois is the team strategist in French Endurance TT, which he’s been involved with since 2000.

“He had already taken part in the Dakar last year, so he shared his experience with me a bit and I decided to take part this year with him,” Martineau explained.