Kevin Gallas has come a long way from when his bike nearly drowned in his rally debut. Ten months after trying the discipline for the first time, he chased down Jean-Loup Lepan and Gautier Paulin to win the Africa Eco Race.

While still fairly new to the rally world, the 2018 SuperEnduro Junior World Champion has been gradually getting more comfortable. He finished fifth at the Carta Rallye last April before winning the Addax Rally seven months later, though the AER is an entirely different beast since it’s longer than those races combined. As such, he set fairly realistic expectations for himself, figuring he’d be pleased with a good finish.

He certainly didn’t expect to be a contender, especially after breaking his left hand, but that’s exactly what happened. After a delayed start because bad weather canceled the first two days of racing, he was already the third fastest bike in Stage 2 behind teammate Alessandro Botturi and Lepan.

Before long, it became apparent the bike overall would be a battle between single and multi cylinders. While the latter are obviously more powerful, bearing over 650 cubic centimeters in engine displacement compared to the former’s 450cc, Lepan and Thomas Marini shocked their counterparts by running ahead.

Although both are new to the AER, Lepan is a Dakar Rally and W2RC veteran who looked right at home even against bikes much stronger than what he’s taken on while Marini’s squared off against them in amateur European rallies. Behind them, Gallas got by Paulin and capitalized on defending winner Jacopo Cerutti’s early mistakes to lead the Over 650cc class.

However, Gallas was right on their tail. He even briefly took the overall lead for the first time by winning Stage 7, but the battle was so close that he lost it the next day.

Marini dropped out with a mechanical issue in Stage 9, leaving Lepan to fend off an onslaught of multi-cylinder riders led by Gallas. Lepan held a nearly 19-minute advantage going into the tenth leg, but it was erased entirely when he got lost and his wheel and mousse came apart. Paulin won the stage with Gallas in fourth, both respectively finishing 54:18 and and 45:33 ahead of Lepan.

With Lepan down to third, the overall became a duel of the Ténérés as Paulin led Gallas by 1:25 going into the final timed stage. Paulin had the savvy—having won the 2024 AER as a driver—and more good fortune than his teammate Alessandro Botturi last year when he lost the win on the last day. However, Gallas pulled off a navigating masterclass to beat Paulin by 41 seconds in total.

“Honestly, I am lost for words. It has not quite sunk in yet, but wow, we did it,” said Gallas. “I cannot believe I have won the AER on my first attempt. It seems crazy. This was only my third rally raid, so it feels really good.

“The battle with Gautier was incredible. What a legend he is, and I can’t believe I was racing against him like this.”

Paulin settled for second, which he couldn’t complain about because getting to “[fight] for the win when I have not had much rally raid experience was incredible.” Lepan naturally won the 450cc class and was 43 minutes of Mike Wiedemann, himself a Dakar alum, to prevent Yamaha from sweeping the bike overall podium.

Cerutti rounded out the top five ahead of yet another Dakar regular and Yamaha rider António Maio followed by Botturi. Maio, who usually runs Dakar and the W2RC on a WR450F, was beset by problems on his Ténéré that ranged from running out of fuel multiple times in Stage 7 to clutch issues a day later.

“Honestly, I had no idea what the result would be,” Gallas continued. “I just pushed as hard as I could with my bad hand, so to secure this result for the team and Yamaha is amazing. I want to thank everyone involved in this project. The bike has been amazing, and the support of the team and everyone at Yamaha has been incredible.”

The only Quad, Alexis Varagne’s AER debut began with a crash but he was able to make it to Dakar in his home country of Senegal. Elsewhere in the rider realm were a set of electric bikes, with Cyril Forget routinely being the fastest on his Arctic Leopard; although the e-bikes weren’t classified in the final results, they took part in the final finish.

Like Lepan and Maio, car winner David Gérard possessed Dakar Rally experience with his last action in 2010. However, his navigator Pascal Delacour was especially Dakar-familiar: he was one of eight people who ran both this year’s Dakar and the AER.

The AER pushed its dates back for 2026 so that it’d no longer run at the same time as the Dakar Rally. While both races are two weeks long, Delacour and some navigators were willing to try pulling double duty. This meant a one-week turnaround, though Delacour actually got a fortnight since he and Jean-Luc Ceccaldi crashed out just four days into Dakar.

With that, he traded his and Ceccaldi’s MD Optimus for another Optimus piloted by Gérard. They weren’t particularly eye-grabbing as they failed to win a stage, and it wasn’t because of a performance disparity either. The 2WD Optimus of Pol van Pollaert and Anthony Pes—the latter also racing Dakar in January—was a daily contender that claimed two stages despite taking on T1+ and T1.1 machines like Christian Femont’s Mini.

However, what they lacked in stage victories was compensated with consistency. Gérard stuck around in the top three for the entire rally before van Pollaert lost two hours in Stage 9 due to a power steering failure. Femont won that leg to pull ahead, then relinquished the lead to Gérard the next day after a poor showing of his own.

Femont never recovered and ended up losing even more time in Stage 11, dropping him an hour and a half behind Gérard. He still salvaged a comfortable win in T1+ by an hour on Tomáš Ouředníček, who had the closest stage victory of the race when he beat Femont in Stage 6 by eight seconds before navigation errors and running out of gas sank him.

Besides Delacour, other navigators to attempt both Dakar and the AER included Maurizio Gerini (ninth in T1), Loïc Minaudier (seventh in T1), and Marek Sýkora (won T3 with Martin Benko). Jérémy Athimon and Jan Rosa took part in the Historic class, while Tomáš Tomeček was doing the double as a service truck driver; Rosa was coming off winning Dakar in Challenger. Ouředníček had contemplated racing both but opted for the AER in the end.

Magdalena Zając, another Dakarian-turned-Eco Racer, rounded out the top ten after becoming the second woman to win an AER stage.

Martijn van den Broek was the top UTV across the three categories (T3, T4, SSV), taking the lead in the closing stages. He hadn’t even planned on returning to the AER until QFF Racing called about a last-minute withdrawal.

“I’m so glad we did this and that all our partners had faith in us,” van den Broek commented.

Rainbow Truck Team repeated in T5 with a dominant performance courtesy of Gerrit Zuurmond. It wasn’t all perfect as the MAN’s flexplate broke in Stage 10, though they managed to get a replacement in for the final stretch.

Truck Team Müller wasn’t as fortunate. In Stage 2, the truck ran into trouble with the tire inflation system. After the rest day, the turbo started to malfunction. While Martin Roeterdink still finished second in class, these issues stacked up to where he was over 33 hours behind Zuurmond.

Cédric Feryn won the Open class, salvaging an otherwise disastrous AER for his team. Although Stage 1 was canceled due to snow, his father Pascal’s engine blew on the liaison to the bivouac and ended his race before it even began. When racing finally began in Stage 2, Koen Wauters began encountering a problem with the fuel pressure; while he eventually resolved it and even racked up a T1.1 stage win, he somersaulted his Hilux off a broken dune in Stage 7.

With Cédric’s Land Cruiser the last one standing, he just hoped to bring it home safely and give the “Ferynists” something to celebrate. Of course, nothing comes easy in rally raid. In Stage 8, he began losing power due to an electronics issue that was exacerbated by the heat, and it persisted over the next two days. Fortunately, the car complied just long enough to get him to Lac Rose.

“I’m disappointed about what happened to me, but I am incredibly proud of my son,” Pascal proclaimed at the finish. “That is my meat and blood. Those guys are 30 years old. I was 40 when I first stood on stage here. If you see what those guys have done over the past two weeks, it’s fantastic.”

At least Pascal’s Hilux was still intact. Kacem Hamsas wasn’t as fortunate as his SMG Buggy caught fire in Stage 6 and couldn’t be extinguished, leaving him to stand and watch it burn.

Early stage wins didn’t seem to help Pierre Lafay or Nicolas Delencre either. The former was one of the top drivers before exiting in Stage 9, while the latter won two stages but withdrew for electrical problems that killed the engine. Roman Starikovich also bowed out after three stages because of the motor.

In their Africa Eco Race Historic debut, Madpanda Motorsport won with Jorge Pérez Companc.

Stage winners

Stage	Auto	Total Time	Moto	Total Time
Prologue	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage 1	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Stage 2	Nicolas Delencre	2:20:19	Alessandro Botturi	2:24:04
Stage 3	Pol van Pollaert	5:05:27	Thomas Marini	4:53:26
Stage 4	Nicolas Delencre	4:45:30	Jacopo Cerutti	5:14:32
Stage 5	Guy Housset	3:07:04	Kevin Gallas	3:19:46
Stage 6	Christian Femont	1:05:56	Gautier Paulin	1:11:23
Stage 7	Pol van Pollaert	5:24:25	Kevin Gallas	5:53:58
Stage 8	Christian Femont	5:07:41	Gautier Paulin	4:57:32
Stage 9	Christian Femont	4:27:32	Jean-Loup Lepan	4:16:23
Stage 10	Andrea Schiumarini	4:34:40	Gautier Paulin	4:41:42
Stage 11	Magdalena Zając	1:13:35	Jean-Loup Lepan	1:12:53
Stage 12	Andrea Schiumarini	12:58*	David Frétigné	12:20*

Bike results

450cc

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	3	176	Jean-Loup Lepan	RC Assistance	39:40:13	Leader
2	9	94	Valentin Sertilhanges	Horizon Moto 95	42:38:19	+ 2:58:06
3	10	80	Roman Krejčí	Bo!Beton Racing	43:35:05	+ 3:54:52
4	11	95	Amaury Baratin	Horizon Moto 95	44:44:23	+ 5:04:10
5	14	50	Hans Kristian Dovland	Dovland	45:54:24	+ 6:14:11
6	15	150	Matthew Gird	Northeast Racing	46:34:46	+ 6:54:33
7	16	92	Stephan Savelkouls	Memo Tours	46:39:01	+ 6:58:48
8	17	12	David Frétigné	David Frétigné Honda Off Road Center	47:05:52	+ 7:25:39
9	18	40	Stefano Dogliotti	Kove Italia	47:18:46	+ 7:38:33
10	19	121	Sebastiano Antonello	Sebastiano Antonello	47:54:19	+ 8:14:06
11	20	184	Noa Sainct	Team DAK’CAR	47:55:12	+ 8:14:59
12	21	128	Max Bianucci	Bianucci	48:12:50	+ 8:32:37
13	23	28	Boris Wolters	City2Roues Racing	48:26:35	+ 8:46:22
14	24	64	Dominique Robin	Honda Xperience	48:49:09	+ 9:08:56
15	26	61	Jim Moisa	Enduro Normandie	48:%7:06	+ 9:16:53
16	27	44	Gad Nachmani	Club Aventura Touareg	49:19:30	+ 9:39:17
17	28	89	Thierry Traccan	David Frétigné Honda Off Road Center	49:34:54	+ 9:54:41
18	29	34	James Simonin	Adventure World	50:01:12	+ 10:20:59
19	30	143	Kévin Durand	Dream 2 Raid	50:03:52	+ 10:23:39
20	31	88	Cédric Jacques	Razorback Team	50:09:14	+ 10:29:01
21	33	96	Lejon Fokkema	Memo Tours	50:57:56	+ 11:17:43
22	35	66	Hille Dalstra	Fryslan	52:21:27	+ 12:41:14
23	36	86	Carlos de Juan	Dubon Racing	53:24:36	+ 13:45:08
24	37	41	Mike Bächler	S3 Rally Team	53:25:21	+ 13:44:23
25	38	67	Philippe Heraud	Philippe Heraud	55:10:44	+ 15:30:31
26	39	60	Alex Yon	Enduro Normandie	55:32:41	+ 15:52:28
27	40	112	Stefhan Wilhemsson	All In Travel	55:49:39	+ 16:09:26
28	41	114	Thomas Barea Fernandez	RTC	57:41:20	+ 18:01:07
29	42	76	Hugh de Belloy	QDR	58:36:42	+ 18:56:29
30	43	35	Mark Johnston	Johnston Moto	60:10:01	+ 20:29:48
31	44	75	Kai Fröhlich	Memo Tours	62:01:15	+ 22:21:02
32	45	19	Luca Seppele	Kove Italia	62:25:40	+ 22:45:27
33	46	53	Sylvain Martignoni	S3 Rally Team	62:49:24	+ 23:09:11
34	47	91	Benoit Dalle Palle	Razorback Team	63:05:39	+ 23:25:26
35	48	120	Anders Berglund	Anders Berglund	63:58:27	+ 24:18:14
36	52	168	Jean-Christophe Meangeart	Genay Racing	67:53:11	+ 28:12:58
37	53	25	Jan Winkler	Oakleaf Engineering	70:01:52	+ 30:21:39
38	54	33	Martin Camp	AMSOIL – Martin Camp	70:26:47	+ 30:46:34
39	56	155	Benjamin Cerovic	Benj Off Road	78:40:31	+ 39:00:18
40	57	115	Rémi Sailland	Dunes and Dude	79:38:43	+ 39:58:30
41	58	90	Joachim Hellsten	A4+	83:12:36	+ 43:32:23
42	62	87	Magnus Holsen Aasberg	A4+	100:50:11	+ 61:09:58
43	63	32	Joanny Dussurgey	Dream Big	108:08:30	+ 68:28:17
44	64	42	Thomas Fathke	Wiedemann Motorsports	109:02:49	+ 69:22:36
45	67	144	Michael Riebel	Wiedemann Motorsports	118:19:22	+ 78:39:09
46	69	18	Frédéric Richter	Fred Moot Adventures	119:36:33	+ 79:56:20
DNF	DNF	14	Daniel Di Giusto	Wiedemann Motorsports	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	15	Christian Punginelli	RC Motorsport	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	26	Stéphane Stragliati	SRT	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	30	Thomas Marini	Solarys Factory Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	31	Gerben Lieverdink	Memo Tours	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	36	Achraf Zoulati	Fédération Royale Marocaine de Motocyclisme	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	38	Paolo Caprioni	Solarys Factory Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	39	Ludovic Pennant	Team Rêv’2Roues	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	43	Luca Perna	Solarys Factory Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	45	Sébastien Petitpas	Honda Xperience	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	51	Franck Garriga	Francky Goes to Dakar	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	55	Patrik Šiška	Wolverine Racing Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	59	Marc Joineau	Team DAK’CAR	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	72	Carmelo Palmer	Calabria Adventure	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	73	Massimo Ferrari	RS Moto	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	77	Ricardo Iglesias Cartón	Pedregà Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	98	Robert Van Pelt Sr.	Memo Tours	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	99	Robert Van Pelt Jr.	Memo Tours	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	151	Mark Frater	Go Glass	DNF	N/A

Over 450cc

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	22	13	Alexandre Azinhais	Club Aventura Touareg	48:18:03	Leader
2	32	123	Fabio Lottero	Club Aventura Touareg	50:29:42	+ 2:11:39
3	34	122	Andrea Vignone	Motosystem #BeCrazy Reparto Corse	52:10:23	+ 3:52:20
4	50	23	Tommaso Bettini	Rally Team Azzurrorosa	67:35:19	+ 19:17:16
5	51	20	Mirco Bettini	Rally Team Azzurrorosa	67:52:20	+ 19:34:17
6	65	62	Giuseppe Pozzo	GPC Team Pozzo	111:00:12	+ 62:42:09
DNF	DNF	22	Didier Martin	Le P’Tit Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	125	Jean Codaccioni	Capo Racing Club	DNF	N/A

Over 650cc

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	1	171	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	39:24:05	Leader
2	2	21	Gautier Paulin	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	39:24:46	+ 00:41
3	4	191	Mike Wiedemann	Wiedemann Motorsports	40:07:22	+ 43:17
4	5	1	Jacopo Cerutti	Aprilia Racing GCorse	41:02:30	+ 1:38:25
5	6	109	António Maio	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	41:06:20	+ 1:42:15
6	7	2	Alessandro Botturi	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	41:10:57	+ 1:46:52
7	8	6	Marco Menichini	Aprilia Racing GCorse	41:#7:38	+ 5:24:22
8	12	124	Nicolas Charlier	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	44:48:27	+ 5:43:39
9	13	106	Bertrand Gavard	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	45:07:44	+ 9:25:07
10	25	17	Matteo Bottino	Kove Italia	48:49:12	+ 26:50:45
11	49	110	Francesco Montanari	Aprilia Racing GCorse	66:14:50	+ 38:00:42
12	55	7	Bruno Da Costa	Honda Xperience	77:24:47	+ 46:10:58
13	59	111	Timur Urakov	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	85:35:03	+ 46:18:11
14	60	56	Jean-Christophe Menard	Honda Xperience	85:42:16	+ 59:37:25
15	61	69	Alex Raoux	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	99:01:30	+ 77:44:57
16	66	183	Anthony Neves	Girondin	117:09:02	+ 77:44:57
17	70	11	Samuel Chamoin	Dubois Moto Thome	123:09:29	+ 83:45:24
DNF	DNF	29	Nicolas Michaux	Michaux	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	68	David Barrot	Honda Xperience	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	71	Yann Duprey	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	174	Kevin Gallas	Ténéré Yamaha Rally Team	DNF	N/A

Electric

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	100	Cyril Forget	CFR Endurance	197:53:40	Leader
2	127	Willy Jobard	Team Powersportcenter	200:39:51	+ 2:46:11
3	126	Maarten Buitenhuis	Team Powersportcenter	215:45:00	+ 17:51:20

Quad

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	68	97	Alexis Varagne	Team Sénégal	118:51:59	Leader

Auto results

T1

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	1	201	David Gérard	Pascal Delacour	Nominoe Aventures / Les Fous du Volant / MD Rallye	T1.2	39:13:24	Leader
2	2	215	Christian Femont	Gregg Docx	Desert Foxx Racing	T1+	40:42:43	+ 1:29:19
3	3	200	Vincent Vroninks	Dave Berghmans	Desert Lions Rally Team	T1.1	41:02:29	+ 1:49:05
4	4	205	Pol van Pollaert	Anthony Pes	Desert Foxx Racing	T1.2	41:13;09	+ 1:59:45
5	5	207	Tomáš Ouředníček	Lukáš Barták	Toyota Gazoo Racing Czech	T1+	41:40:37	+ 2:27:13
6	7	232	Philippe Lambilliotte	François Bégun	Config Racing	T1.2	42:24:17	+ 3:10:53
7	9	230	Guy Housset	Loïc Minaudier	HL Racing	T1.2	43:04:34	+ 3:51:10
8	10	206	Magdalena Zając	Błażej Czekan	Proxcars TME Rally Team	T1.1	43:09:47	+ 3:56:23
9	12	236	Andrea Schiumarini	Maurizio Gerini	R Team	T1.2	43:25:24	+ 4:12:00
10	26	202	Imre Varga	Jószef Toma	Varga Racing Team	T1.1	80:37:11	+ 41:23:47
DNF	DNF	218	Nicolas Delencre	Jonathan Lurquin	Config Racing	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	222	Pascal Feryn	Kurt Keysers	Feryn Rally Raid Team	T1.1	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	225	Kacem Hamsas	Paul Duramé	Hamsas Team	T1.2	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	233	Koen Wauters	Tom de Leeuw	Feryn Rally Raid Team	T1.1	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	235	Roman Starikovich	Bert Heskes	Autolife Team	T1.1	DNF	N/A

T3

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	8	299	Martin Benko	Marek Sýkora	Norwit Racing	42:44:22	Leader
2	16	253	Jérôme Cambier	Marion Andrieu	Jérôme Cambier	49:30:36	+ 6:46:14

T4

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	6	275	Martijn van den Broek	Mike Daas	Van Ham Racing / QFF Racing	41:56:38	Leader
2	11	271	Sander Derikx	Rob Buursen	QFF Racing	43:22:53	+ 1:26:15
3	15	256	Hans Den Ouden	Dirk Goris	Art of Speed	47:48:11	+ 5:51:33
4	17	252	Nicusor Duică	Nicoleta Duică	N&N Racing	49:43:16	+ 7:46:38
5	18	250	Enrico Gaspari	Paolo Ceci	HRT Technology Sabelt	49:50:18	+ 7:53:40
6	19	270	Marcel van Berlo	Olaf Harmsen	QFF Racing	49:52:26	+ 7:55:48
7	20	266	Olivier Goullioud	Thomas Gaidella	Zitoun Racing	50:38:44	+ 8:42:06
8	24	273	William Grarre	Vincent Ferri	TRC	55:31:35	+ 13:34:57
DNF	DNF	255	Souad Mouktadiri	Anthony Imbert	MS Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	272	Bob Herber	Gijs Bessem	QFF Racing	DNF	N/A

SSV

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	13	285	Eric Bernard	Damien Derocq	Vendée Team	44:20:56	Leader
2	14	279	Philippe Champigné	Bruno Robin	Team Adventure 79	46:14:38	+ 1:53:42
3	21	260	Jean-François Le Corre	Anette Fjeld	Koberi Beer Racing	51:16:47	+ 6:55:51
4	22	254	Marian Andreev	Costin Fântână	MC Racing Romania	52:11:16	+ 7:50:20
5	23	277	Nicolas Davin	Jean Sembel	Vulcan	55:27:42	+ 11:06:46
6	27	258	Călin Camărășan	Ferry Fodor	Ace of Spades Racing	85:00:22	+ 40:39:26
DNF	DNF	251	Pierre Lafay	Stéphane Denecheau	Team Gazzafond	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	265	Christophe Tesson	Marc Jourdan	Team Sixty Five	DNF	N/A

T5

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Mechanic	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	25	400	Gerrit Zuurmond	Tjeerd van Ballegooij	Klaas Kwakkel	Rainbow Truck Team	61:18:21	Leader
2	28	410	Martin Roeterdink	Roy Korenromp	Geralt Van’t Blik	Truck Team Müller	95:03:36	+ 33:45:15
3	29	405	Mike Panhuijzen	Pieter Kuypers	Eric Jan Hartjes	Greenteam Panhuijzen	102:09:04	+ 40:50:43
4	31	407	Franck Coquidé	Daniel Penkala	Jean-François Delaval	RT2R	116:58:38	+ 55:40:17
DNF	DNF	482	Noël Essers	Frits Driesmans	Davy Vanden Boer	Art of Speed	DNF	N/A

Open

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Total Time	Margin
1	30	210	Cédric Feryn	Bjorn Burgelman	Feryn Rally Raid Team	107:31:53	Leader
2	32	243	Hide Hirohashi	Mami Masuda	Équipe Sugawara	125:33:53	+ 18:02:00
3	33	244	Yoshimasa Sugawara	Naoko Matsumoto	Équipe Sugawara	136:53:23	+ 29:21:30
DNF	DNF	208	Éric Coquidé	Christophe Benjamin	RT2R	DNF	N/A

Featured image credit: Yamaha Racing