Two years after his debut, Justin Gerlach is heading back to the Dakar Rally in 2027. This time, he’ll kick things up a notch by racing as a Malle Moto rider.

Gerlach is a Day 1 supporter of 131 Off-Road and our very first interview two months after his maiden Dakar in 2025. Malle Moto caught his interest there after he saw the riders in action, but he stressed his desire to improve before trying it himself.

The first Dakar was a battle from Bisha to Shubaytah, one in which Gerlach overcame a gearbox problem on the Chrono Stage that nearly ended his race and had to complete most stages well into the night. Still, he successfully achieved his goal of reaching the finish in 74th overall, 64th in Rally2, and 17th among rookies.

DUUST Rally Team fielded his bike at the 2025 Dakar, but he’ll be going solo as JG Racing Team in 2027.

“I would always love to come back to Dakar with them,” Gerlach told 131. “The whole team, the atmosphere, training before Dakar and especially having Konrad (Dąbrowski) around during the race helped me a lot to get through my first Dakar. Unfortunately, the budget doesn’t allow that again for 2027.”

The Original by Motul subcategory is obviously much harder than Rally2 since riders don’t have crewmen servicing their bikes for them, meaning they must fix everything themselves or with the help of fellow competitors. Gerlach already got a taste of the Malle Moto experience when he took part in the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge by himself. Lacking support from DUUST or any team, he arrived in Abu Dhabi with the oldest FIM machine—a 2016 KTM 450 Rally—and just three days to prep it.

Despite running as high as ninth in Rally2, a cable broke off his fuel pump selector switch and cost him time. This and getting his foot stuck between the exhaust and swing arm, which forced him to tear apart the former to remove the boot, led to him being “the one who always worked on the bike the longest”. Gerlach made it home 21st in Rally2 and fourth in Malle Moto.

For Dakar, he’ll be on a 2027 KTM 450 Rally since the newer model is easier to work with should things go wrong.

The bike and his Malle Moto setup will undergo a “proper test run” at the Fenix Rally in October. Once that’s wrapped up, Gerlach hopes to get a quick rebuild done before sending the KTM off to Saudi Arabia.

“I’m not a pro mechanic. I do know my way around bikes, together with my dad we have always worked on the bikes ourselves,” he explained. “I feel confident I can do all necessary maintenance and repairs myself that happen during two weeks of racing. But surely, when real bad comes together, at some point I might come to the end of my skills.”

Fenix is one of three rallies put on by RBI Sport, each of which Gerlach regularly enters, and the only desert event in that trio since it takes place in Tunisia. He finished fourth in Enduro at the Baja Europe in May followed by third at Rallye Breslau earlier this month. These and Fenix are his only rallies in 2026, but his Dakar preparation entails much more going on throughout the year. For example, he has spent hours riding at a motocross track since it improves his reaction time.

Off the bike, Gerlach started a new and more intense training regimen over the winter of lifting and running; the latter will include competing in the Berlin Marathon in September. He’s also read up on sports nutrition and tested different diets to understand how his body absorbs and uses energy.

While he’s still an amateur rider who has to afford the trip to Saudi Arabia, he won’t have to close his savings account and enter a years-long payment plan like last time. Instead, he was “able to build a partner network after my first Dakar that helped me to already cover some of my entry fee, which I’m really grateful for. Two years ago, I paid for nearly everything myself, something like that was not to imagine.”

Gerlach would also like to find a partner who can pay off the expenses for his media team such as registration, flights, lodging, and the service vehicle. As a result, figuring out the budget here remains a “huge question mark at the moment that we still need to work on.” Said media team consists of his best friends Jakob Buschermöhle and Leonard Hoeck, who co-created JG Racing and are taking holidays from work in January to be with him at the Dakar.

Buschermöhle and Hoeck are responsible for recording and posting race footage on social media, along with experimenting with other forms of content like vlogs and highlight reels. Even if they can’t assist their buddy with his bike, their contributions are crucial since the posts offer “behind-the-scenes views that people normally don’t get in this sport”. With Dakar taking place in remote parts of the Saudi desert, broadcasting for the average fan at home is a key aspect.

“We want to bring different insights from Dakar: on-track footage, work on the bike, Malle Moto atmosphere, but also fails, funny moments, struggles, and disappointing moments,” Gerlach said. “I’m sure it will not be easy for me, but I’m happy to show the reality to people, and not portray me as anyone that I’m not.

“I’m trying to bring both Jakob and Leonard with me because I’m convinced I’ll have the most intense two weeks of my life there, both on track as well as in the Malle Moto Camp. I feel like this race is not only about the pros that blast up front; it’s about the stories of us amateurs, literally fighting every day for the finish, that deserve to be brought out to the people.”

His father Hardin will also accompany him as in 2025. While the older Gerlach’s role isn’t set in stone yet and he obviously can’t help his son with the bike, it’s possible he joins another crew to keep him occupied during the day while Justin is racing. In the bivouac, he’ll be there to offer advice and provide company at dinner.

Dakar registrations closed on Friday, and the ASO will begin sending out acceptance—or rejection—letters on July 21. Gerlach has been on both sides of this, being turned down from the 2024 race before getting the thumbs-up a year later.

He finished third in the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship’s Junior Trophy for riders under the age of 25. After Dakar and Abu Dhabi, he ran the Rally-Raid Portugal and placed 20th for Rally2.

Featured image credit: RBI Media