After 13 Dakar Rallies and winning the Dakar Classic‘s H4 category in his debut, Erik Van Loon seems content with not returning to it in the near future.

He finished 31st overall and atop the H4 class, recording 8,297 total points.

“We achieved very good daily results. That wasn’t easy with an H4 compared to the H1, but we did it,” said Van Loon after the final stage. “I’m super happy with the class win. We had nearly 9,000 fewer points than Peter (van den Bosch), who came in second.

“This was likely the last time I come to the Dakar for now. Maybe I’ll do the Classic again someday, but this was a nice conclusion.”

Van Loon retired from racing the Dakar Rally itself after crashing out of the 2023 race. He had been doing the Rally since 2009 with his best finish being a fourth in 2015 in a Mini. While he has continued to do other rally raids, including rounds on the W2RC, Van Loon was fine with 2023 being his final attempt at Dakar.

When the 2024 Dakar rolled around, he watched from a distance in support of his wife Anja, who was competing in a truck as part of an all-woman crew. He had also elected to stay after his 2023 DNF to accompany her while she was making her Dakar debut.

Eventually, Van Loon decided to return to Saudi Arabia for 2025, racing in the adjacent Dakar Classic. He piloted an Audi Quattro S1 prepared by Auto Sport Veghel and Coen Donkers, a fellow Dutchman who specializes in building Audi replicas. 2007 Dakar Rally truck winner Hans Stacey, 2021 FIA World Endurance LMP2 Pro-Am Champion Frits van Eerd, and longtime Dakar truck racer van den Bosch also drove Quattros from ASV. The four were the only cars in the H4 class for cars with high average speed.

After testing the Audi in Morocco and doing the W2RC’s Rallye du Maroc—which is typically used as a dress rehearsal for those going to Dakar—in the new Can-Am Maverick R, Van Loon and navigator Hein Verschuuren were off to Saudi Arabia.

It took some getting used to. After all, the Classic is a regularity race determined by navigation rather than speed and time like the Rally. Van Loon also noted after the Prologue that opening the stage is much different here than in the regular Dakar. We’re told in advance how fast we have to drive over a certain section. Driving slower or faster leads to penalty points, so it’s not about being the faster driver, but who maintains speed the best.”

Regardless, he managed to avoid trouble and was routinely the best performing car in H4.

There were a few snags, though. He had to be towed to the bivouac at the end of Stage #3, a leg in which he had two flat tires, because his car suddenly came to a stop. A series of punctures two stages later forced him to skip a regularity test after urnning out of wheels. In Stage #8, the Audi got stuck in silt until his teammates came to help.

Still, he reached the end without further issue and cleared van den Bosch by 8,914 points. Meanwhile, Anja finished eighth in the Truck category.

“I want to sincerely thank Hein. We had two fantastic weeks together and shared a lot of laughs,” Van Loon commented. “Thanks to the Auto Sport Veghel team for the great car and service, all the sponsors and partners because without them, none of this would be possible. And of course, thanks to everyone supporting the team, the organizers, the fans, and the media. Thanks for another amazing edition of the Dakar.”

While his Dakar future seems to be over, he still intends to continue doing cross-country rallies with South Racing and the Maverick R. Van Loon had debuted South’s rally-spec Maverick R at the 2024 Morocco Desert Challenge, which he dominated before suffering a mechanical failure.

His next race is the FIA World Baja Cup-opening Saudi Baja at the end of January.

Featured image credit: Doni Castilho / FOTOP