The 2025 Pionniers Classic was one for the buggies as Rémy Chapot and his son Alexandre won the overall with their BMC buggy, beating the Hervé Cotel Porsche buggy of Gilles Florin.

The Florins initially struck first with Grégory ahead of Gilles in Stage 1. Grégory and his Fast & Speed buggy won the first three stages before Chapot claimed the fourth, then fell out of the picture on the fifth day.

Chapot won three stages in the second half to pull away handily. Gilles was second and the only driver within an hour of the leader; he had also finished runner-up at the Merzouga 1000 Classic in April, a sister classic rally to Pionniers.

Axel Berrier had a solid rebound in his second Pionniers. After being taken out of contention in 2024 by the gear linkage breaking on the first stage, the 2025 edition saw him post a top ten.

2025 was the first year in which the Pionniers Classic had special classes for a vintage truck, all-women teams, and rookies. Pierre Calgani claimed the truck division with his Mercedes 1936.

Dakar Classic regular Jaap Bolk, who raced in Merzouga, wanted to take part but couldn’t.

“I wish I was there too,” wrote Bolk, “but sorry my car is not ready yet. We hope to be there again at the next rally.”

Stage winners

Stage	Winner	Time
Stage 1	Grégory Florin	4:05:20
Stage 2	Grégory Florin	3:04:45
Stage 3	Grégory Florin	4:06:54
Stage 4	Rémy Chapot	3:58:50
Stage 5	Rémy Chapot	5:12:41
Stage 6	Gills Florin	4:09:36
Stage 7	Rémy Chapot	2:04:40

Overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Navigator	Vehicle	Category	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	203	Rémy Chapot	Alexandre Chapot	Buggy BMC	Desert One	Class 2	27:49:18	Leader
2	200	Gilles Florin	Paul Dagault	Buggy Cotel Porsche	Pionniers	C3.2E	28:13:37	+ 24:19
3	274	Alexandre Jonchere	Fabien Rouvre	Bowler Wildcat	Open	C3.4E	31:13:26	+ 3:24:08
4	208	Eric Fourmeaux	Thierry Delli Zotti	Jimco Buggy	Desert One	Class 1	32:28:17	+ 4:38:59
5	218	Luciano Montorfano	Elena Borroni	Nissan Terrano II	Classic	C2.4D	33:06:15	+ 5:16:57
6	222	Pascal Brochard	Vanessa Rizzi	Mitsubishi Pajero	Open	C2.4D	38:32:27	+ 10:43:09
7	204	Philippe Delahaye	Valérie Delahaye	Buggy BAT Racing	Desert One	Class 1	39:22:04	+ 11:32:46
8	265	Axel Berrier	Jeremy Athimon	Porsche 964 DKR	Pionniers	C2.4E	39:25:24	+ 11:36:06
9	233	Frank Delahaye	Katell Delahaye	Mitsubishi Pajero	Pionniers	C3.4E	40:51:42	+ 13:02:24
10	240	Valentina Casella	Monica Buonamano	Nissan Pathfinder	Classic	C2.4E	41:10:05	+ 13:20:47
11	269	Jean-Luc Butez	Emmanuel Rech	Nissan Navarra Pick-Up	Open	C2.4D	43:59:03	+ 16:09:45
12	212	Mathias Richard	Romane Richard	Range Rover Classic VSD	Pionniers	C2.4E	49:13:26	+ 21:24:08
13	202	Grégory Florin	Christophe Bouvet	Fast & Speed Buggy V8	Desert One	Class 1	49:45:56	+ 21:56:38
14	216	Mauricio Elia	André Leyh	Isuzu D-MAX	Open	C2.4D	52:34:06	+ 24:44:48
15	226	Filippo Colnaghi	Francesco Proietti	Nissan Patrol Y60	Classic	C2.4E	53:06:09	+ 25:16:51
16	300	Pierre Calgani	Richard Hecquet, Dominique Silvani	Mercedes-Benz SK 1935	Truck	C4	53:21:55	+ 25:32:37
17	229	Mathieu Pathenere	Benoit Szumacher	Sunhill Buggy	Pionniers	C3.2E	55:43:14	+ 27:53:56
18	243	Christian Petit	Marine Lescoulier	Volkswagen Beetle SCORE Proto	Desert One	Class 1	56:50:23	+ 29:01:05
19	238	Eric Biehler	Frank Bonnet	Mitsubishi Pajero	Classic	C2.4E	61:39:50	+ 33:50:32
20	302	Frédéric Verdaguer	Marie Jacques	Volkswagen Transporter T3	Truck	C4	108:57:37	+ 81:08:19
21	260	Pierre Gourragne	Lucas Gourragne	Nissan Pathfinder Dessoude	Classic	C2.4E	114:25:00	+ 86:35:42
22	214	Maurizio Traglio	Fabrizio Del Rosario	Nissan Patrol Y60	Classic	C2.4D	117:15:00	+ 89:25:42
DNF	206	Yannick Panagiotis	Valérie Panagiotis	Chevrolet Protruck	Open	C3.4E	DNF	N/A
DNF	210	Jean-Paul Reparat	Gaëlle Cremer	RMA Buggy 21	Desert One	Class 2	DNF	N/A
DNF	217	Claude Barre	Stephane Darbon	Mitsubishi Pajero DI-D	Pionniers	C3.4D	DNF	N/A
DNF	282	Graziano Pelanconi	Katell Pichon	Toyota Land Cruiser KDJ120	Raider	Raid	DNF	N/A
DNF	284	Patrick Kervorkian	Karen Ekambi	Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80	Raider	Raid	DNF	N/A

Featured image credit: MRDH Production