It took a little longer than they had hoped, but Kamena Rally Team and their intrepid duo of Tomasz Białkowski and Dariusz Baśkiewicz will finally race the Dakar Rally in 2026.

The Polish team had hoped to race Dakar for the first time in 2024, which would have been the culmination of a two-year process to prepare. However, those plans were dropped since their Polaris RZR did not meet the FIA’s SSV regulations despite their best efforts to make it compliant (such as installing a restrictor to drop the Polaris 2.0 engine’s horsepower from 225 to 170).

In the meantime, they competed in the FIA European Baja Cup. Białkowski and Baśkiewicz respectively won the 2024 SSV titles for drivers and navigators, topping their class at the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura, Hungarian Baja, and Baja TT Sharish Gin. They also placed fourth in the overall standings.

After the EBC, Kamena went to Mexico to race the legendary Baja 1000. Although desert racing is a much different beast from rallies, Białkowski finished tenth in Pro UTV Forced Induction.

With a championship and one of the toughest off-road races in the world under their belts, the team will now head to Saudi Arabia for Dakar. They did not immediately reveal details like their car, but are glad to finally “connect all the dots and make it happen.”

Kamena also plans to return to the Baja 1000 in November, this time as a two-car effort.

Featured image credit: Kamena Rally Team