Ahead of the Dakar Classic, organizers announced that 27 Dakar Classic teams will be part of the Iconic Classic Club Challenge while 14 navigators are approved for the Authentic Codriver Challenge.

The Iconic Classic Club Challenge is reserved for teams in vehicles that competed in the Paris–Dakar Rally between 1979 and 2005. Replicas are obviously forbidden.

For example, Hervé Diers’ Toyota Land Cruiser is a functioning food truck that raced the Dakar Rally in 2009 and 2014 whereas Julian Johan’s ran the 2004 edition with Jean-Jacques Ratet. The Mitsubishi Pajero of Peter Brabeck-Letmathe previously finished third in 1999 with Jutta Kleinschmidt. Kamena Rally Team’s Tomasz Białkowski is in the legendary DAF Bull while Vivien Bertrand races the DAF FAV CF 85, both with accurate Team de Rooy liveries.

The following teams will be part of the Iconic Classic Club Challenge:

• #706: Javier Velez and Gastón Mattarucco in a Toyota Land Cruiser
• #717: Mathieu Kurzen and Sébastien Dubois in a Nissan Terrano
• #722: Sanjay Takale and Maxime Raud in a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ100
• #725: Jean-Noël Gaviot and Yves Baud in a Porsche 911
• #727: Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and Jean-Michel Gayte in a Mitsubishi Pajero
• #728: Maxence Gublin and Anthony Sousa in a Land Rover Defender
• #730: Douglas Bensadoun and Zeki Cengiz Tanç in a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ100
• #742: Christophe Chabeuf and Thierry Fresard in a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ75
• #752: Yann Thebault and Frédéric Murat in a Toyota Land Cruiser KZJ95
• #755: Alain Maria and Vincent Brotons in a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ80
• #759: Hervé Diers and Alain Brousse in a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78
• #760: Stephan Lamarre and Alexandre Laroche in a Bowler Wildcat
• #761: Kim Matzen and Chris Kelly in a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78
• #766: Shammie Baridwan and Ignas Daunoravičius in a Toyota Land Cruiser HZJ78
• #769: Luis Antonio Pires and Mateu Riera in a Mitsubishi Pajero
• #773: Julian Johan and Mathieu Monplaisi in a Toyota Land Cruiser HDJ100
• #774: Stéphane Debair and Jean Bernard Matouillot in an Isuzu D-MAX
• #777: Lorenzo Fluxa and Sergi Fernandez in a Toyota Land Cruiser KZJ90
• #900: Nuno dos Santos, João Antonio Lota, and Albert Casabona in a Mercedes-Benz 2636
• #902: Tomasz Białkowski, Dariusz Baśkiewicz, and Adam Grodzki in a DAF Bull
• #907: Jérôme Pélichet, Michel Charret, and Ludovic Ecochard in a Mercedes-Benz DB 1935 AK
• #909: Olivier Guillory, Reynald Prive, and Jean Pascal Petrelli in a MAN F90
• #911: Michael Devillers and David Lhermelin in a Mercedes-Benz 1936 AK
• #913: Jaime Martinez, Nekane Abin, and Iker Etxebarria in a Mercedes-Benz 1936 AK
• #919: Stefan Gehrmann and Sebastian Gatz in a Mercedes-Benz 1735 AK
• #921: Jean-Philippe Beziat and Vincent Albira in a Mercedes-Benz DB 1935 AK
• #922: Vivien Bertrand, Franck Puchouau, and Jean-Pierre Grangeon in a DAF FAV CF 85

The Authentic Codriver Challenge is for teams whose navigators are relying solely on a stopwatch and a Tripmaster-style odomoter or tripmeter. These do not provide info like average speed, meaning the navigator has to calculate it on their own.

The following navigators are eligible:

• #724: Massimo Gabbrieleschi for Renato Rickler
• #732: Laurent Milbergue for Hervé Solandt
• #736: Serge Dumas for Gérard Mattiussi
• #737: Marcella Kirk for Helen Tait Wright
• #747: Daniel Lorenzini for Maxime Lorenzini
• #748: Thierry Emond for Sébastien Coran
• #751: Alessandro Iacovelli for Henry Favre
• #767: Jiří Kopřiva for Jan Vins
• #768: Petr Vána for Kateřina Vánová
• #771: Laurent Campos for Thierry Campos
• #905: Faisal Al-Suwayh for Ibrahim Al-Muhna
• #908: Angelo Fumagalli for Marino Mutti
• #910: Lourdes Puigmal for Dorian Bardeau

Another change approved by the officials before the start of the race on Saturday was to let four teams—the #704 of Porsche 924 of Tomasz Staniszewski, #718 BMW 325ix of François Abrial, #751 Mitsubishi Delica of Favre, and #771 Renault R18 of Campos—skip the Dune Test sections because their vehicles are too weak to traverse them.

Featured image credit: Aurélien Vialatte / ASO