FIM Bajas World Cup star Alex McInnes will finally make his Dakar Rally debut in 2027.

McInnes currently leads the BWC standings after three races. He won the season-opening Saudi Baja and Jordan Baja, then was hampered by a crash at the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura that relegated him to eighth among points-earning riders. Despite this, he still holds a 12-point advantage over Abdulhalim Al-Mogeera.

This weekend would’ve been a chance to rebound had the Baja Aragón not been postponed due to wildfires in Spain. As a result, his next shot at expanding his points lead will be either at Qatar in October or whenever the scheduled Aragón round is if it’s within the next three months.

Until then, he still has plenty to celebrate upon getting his acceptance letter from the ASO.

“It’s been a long road just to get to the point of being accepted to compete in this race, but we’re here,” said McInnes on Saturday. “It’s a lot of work ahead but super motivated to get out there and race all 8,390 kilometres across the two weeks.

“The next months leading up to Dakar will be crazy, still fitting in racing, working with existing sponsors and working on new partnerships for the race, whilst training on and off the bike as much as possible.”

McInnes has run two World Rally-Raid Championship races, finishing sixth in Rally2 at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge before retiring from the 2025 edition due to a myriad of mechanical issues. He did the latter as a Malle Moto rider. While his years of success at the baja level were more than enough to sway the ASO in his favor, the Dubai-based Briton will likely return to the ADDC in November as a dress rehearsal for Dakar.

He finished runner-up in the 2025 BWC’s Junior Trophy for riders under 25.

Featured image credit: Irina Petrichei