Rebecca Busi will return to the Dakar Rally in 2026 after missing this year’s edition due to lack of funding. She will drive the X-raid Fenic with Sergio Lafuente returning as her navigator. It will be Busi’s debut in the Challenger class.

2025 was supposed to be Busi’s third Dakar Rally, competing in SSV with South Racing. However, her primary sponsor backed out just weeks before the race and kept her on the sidelines.

She was sponsored by OnlyFans in 2023 and 2024, and her SSV raced in the World Rally-Raid Championship under the OnlyFans Racing banner during those two seasons. Busi finished third in the 2024 SSV standings with a best finish of second in Portugal. The OF partnership ended at season’s end as well.

With no ride, Busi did not appear in any W2RC races in 2025.

“I am incredibly proud to join the X-raid family for their prototype project and to drive the factory X-raid Fenic SxS,” said Busi. “This is a huge step in my career and the perfect environment to push my limits even further.

“The Challenger category is new to me, and we haven’t raced the car yet, only tested it, but we will compete at the Jeddah Baja before the Dakar. I am ready to fight for the results the team expects. I am training intensively here in Chile with the Cornejo family and I feel the constant support of my family in Italy; they are the reason why I am here.”

The Fenic T3 was developed by X-raid in 2024 as the successor to their Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo. It is larger and more durable than the Yamaha but still uses the same 1000cc Sidewinder engine and five-speed sequential transmission. Annett Quandt and Maria Luís Gameiro debuted the Fenic at the 2024 Jeddah Rally, respectively finishing fourth and sixth in class. Quandt placed 11th in Challenger at the Fenic’s maiden Dakar in January.

Lafuente rejoins X-raid after previously racing the 2016 Dakar Rally in their Mini All4 Racing with Nazareno López.

Featured image credit: Edoardo Bauer / Edophoto / DPPI