2025 probably feels a lot like 2024 for Jan Rosa. In January, he won the Dakar Classic as the navigator for Carlos Santaolalla. Eight months later, he won the RallyClassics Africa, one of the major events used as a dress rehearsal for the Classic.

Unlike last year, Santaolalla was not available for RallyClassics. Rosa instead teamed up with Dirk van Rompuy for the race, partnering with a rival who finished sixth overall in the 2025 Classic and fourth in H1.B behind the Santaolalla–Rosa duo.

Van Rompuy and Rosa were far and away the best team in their Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80. They recorded the fewest points in every stage, and had nearly a third of second-placed Antonio Rius Bragulat’s points.

Despite winning three stages, Rius couldn’t keep up with van Rompuy due to the points racked up. He settled for second as part of a Land Cruiser sandwich with his SEAT Toledo Marathon between van Rompuy and Carles Bracons Manonellas. SEAT Históricos primarily fielded cars in the Open class, where they were the only Post-2005 4×4 entries. Jordi Gené Guerrero led the SEAT party in that subclass.

Although RallyClassics Africa is a historic rally, the Open categories are for newer vehicles like the aforementioned SEATs and side-by-sides.

Amy Lerner, a former Dakar Classic driver who’s been dabbling in the latter as of late, leaped from finishing eighth for SSV in 2024 to winning the category. She and Sara Boessaert also claimed the MotorDona award as the best all-women team. Last year’s class victor Isaac Ciurana de Arcos was fourth.

Ali Oubassidi finished fifth in SSV in his RallyClassics debut and won an award for the best local team ahead of Brahim Ettaiek Laamim. A local adventure tour guide, Oubassidi was the first Moroccan to win a four-wheel category at the Rallye du Maroc when he claimed the Open SSV class in 2024.

Joan Cairó, who plans to race the Classic in the future, had his and Enric Perramon’s race overshadowed by a rollover in Stage 3.

“We’re closing out a third edition of which we couldn’t be more proud,” stated the organizers. “This event offers a unique format in Africa, difficult and challenging for the teams, with the aim of serving as a training ground for the Dakar Classic or the Africa Eco Race. Those who perform well in RallyClassics Africa will be prepared to win any event.”

Classic

Pre-1997

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Points	Margin
1	1	2	Dirk van Rompuy	Jan Rosa i Viñas	TH-Trucks Team	239	Leader
2	2	1	Antonio Rius Bragulat	Carles Jiménez Valls	SEAT Históricos	652	+ 413
3	3	4	Carles Bracons Manonellas	Jordi Bustins	Escudería Mediterránea	740	+ 501
4	4	6	Josef Unterholzner	Franco Gaioni	R Team	929	+ 690
5	5	3	Rafael Lesmes	Tabatha Romón	Dakar por la Vida / TH-Trucks Team	1,177	+ 938
6	10	10	Manuel Pérez Latre	Raúl Romero Galan	KMC	1,549	+ 1,310
7	11	9	Raúl Pascual Campanario	Marco Antonio Cabrera Márquez	Caninos al Dakar	1,779	+ 1,540
8	17	17	Marie Tourneur	Remy van Pommeren	Ralliart Off Road Classic	3,215	+ 2,976
9	18	11	Daniel Pycock	Francisco Gómez Espigares	Caninos al Dakar	3,505	+ 3,266
10	19	19	Davide Facchini	Luca Macrini	R Team	3,697	+ 3,458
11	20	5	Luis Pedrals Marot	Pol Molins	TH-Trucks Team	3,945	+ 3,706
12	24	16	Jean-Michel Villot	Raphael Bitschy	Ralliart Off Road Classic	6,027	+ 5,788
13	25	12	Paolo Fellin	Werner Gramm	Sikkens Motorsport / R Team	6,077	+ 5,838
14	26	14	Lorenzo Delladio	Guiliano Bergo	Sikkens Motorsport / R Team	7,003	+ 6,764
15	27	20	Alessandro de Meo	Claudio Pelizzeni	R Team	7,167	+ 6,928

Pre-2005

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Points	Margin
1	8	18	Evangelos Bersis	Katerina Rodoupoulo	R Team	1,491	Leader
2	12	23	Jose Solé Rocaspana	Albert Casabona	TH-Trucks Team	1,903	+ 412
3	21	7	Damiano Lipani	Maurizio Dominella	R Team	4,226	+ 2,735
4	28	21	Yann Thebault	Frédéric Murat	Pedregà Team	7,297	+ 5,806
5	29	15	Maarten Buitenhuis	Fleur Buitenhuis	Ralliart Off Road Classic	7,955	+ 6,464
6	31	24	Juan Carbonell Soler	Juan Carlos Pelaez Rodriguez	Carbonell Farma Team	9,638	+ 8,147
7	33	22	Enric Perramon Ferran	Joan Cairó i Ferrer	Pedregà Team	11,603	+ 10,112
8	34	25	Ramon Vidal	Roser Morera Riu	Escudería Costa Brava	12,612	+ 11,121

Open

Post-2005 4×4

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Points	Margin
1	6	101	Jordi Gené Guerrero	Aran Sol i Juanola	SEAT Históricos	1,300	Leader
2	7	105	Daniel Cuadrado Torres	Raquel Cecilia Jimena	SEAT Históricos	1,338	+ 38
3	14	112	Josep Capsada Frutos	Isidre López Badenas	SEAT Históricos	2,613	+ 1,313
4	30	113	Juan Pablo Cardama Frias	Marc Escoda Abella	SEAT Históricos	9,485	+ 8,185
5	35	103	Albert Fabrega Suriñach	Carles Sasplugas Vives	SEAT Históricos	13,201	+ 11,901
6	36	104	Ramiro Mansanet	Carles Sasplugas Vives	SEAT Históricos	21,223	+ 19,923

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Points	Margin
1	9	102	Amy Lerner	Sara Bossaert	AL Rally by Pedregà Team	1,545	Leader
2	13	108	Alfonso Gonzalez Reyes	Roberto Palacios	TH-Trucks Team	2,341	+ 796
3	15	109	Montserrat Colet Palau	Tere Armadans Vidal	KH-7 Sport	2,753	+ 1,208
4	16	106	Isaac Ciurana de Arcos	Silvia Simó Oliver	TH-Trucks Team	3,148	+ 1,603
5	22	110	Ali Oubassidi	Hanane Amraoui	Nour Rallye	4,414	+ 2,869
6	23	111	Brahim Ettaiek Laamim	Said Ahnana	Xaluca Maroc	4,810	+ 3,265
7	32	107	Rui Silva	Francisco Albuquerque	TH-Trucks Team	9,821	+ 8,276

Featured image credit: KH-7 Sport