Aventure Girousse, one of the most prominent vintage rally raid outfits, will bring an armada of cars to the Africa Eco Race in January.

“I’ve wanted to do the Africa Race for a long time,” team owner Gilles Girousse told Christophe Cavens of Africa Race Mémories. “I’ve always admired Jean-Louis Schlesser, a man who took on the big teams, even the factory teams, on his own.”

Girousse will drive a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80 sporting a yellow-orange-red Araco livery, which he’s used in 2025 races like the Fenix Rally where he placed fifth in Car Limited. Jérémy Roiseux, whose father François is a Paris–Dakar Rally veteran, will be his navigator.

Serge Mogno, who won the 2022 Dakar Classic, is expected to take part in his own HDJ80 while Philippe Voisin is in an HDJ100 and Pierre Bourdeau in an HDJ61. Laurent Auboueix is slated to pilot a Citroën P4 whereas Vincent Tourneur has a Ralliart Mitsubishi Pajero.

Aventure Girousse is also preparing a Range Rover V8 for Jonathan and Élodie Metge, the children of AER co-founder René Metge, that is based on their dad’s 1981 Dakar winner. The Metges had previously partnered with Nantes Prestige Autos (who will also be at the AER) to build a Porsche 959 modeled after René’s 1985 victor, but couldn’t get the funding for it so they turned to Girousse for the more affordable Range Rover.

Auboueix and Girousse were teammates at the 2022 Classic, where they respectively finished 69th and 70th overall in Mercedes Koros. Tourneur was 63rd in the 2023 Classic with his Pajero T2.

All of them are sponsors of the L’Oasis L’Original Classic, a vintage rally put on by Girousse that usually takes place in Morocco but will move to Tunisia in 2026 in a new partnership with the Fenix Rally. Auboueix is a former winner of the race.

Girousse holds deep respect for the old days of rally raid. He wanted to race the Paris–Dakar growing up but never had the means to do so when he was younger, so he’s “making up for it now” by competing with vehicles from that era. In June, he finished sixth in Car Open at the Rallye Breslau (put on by the same company that oversees Fenix) with a Mercedes Proto.

“For historic rallies, as the name suggests, it’s the history that I like most,” he said to Cavens.

Even then, he noted that he’s never actually been to Dakar as a racer but has done so as a tourist. Naturally, since the AER permits vintage cars and follows the route that the old Dakar Rally took, he wants in.

Featured image credit: Aventure Girousse