What 778 Names Reveal About the 2026 Dakar – And Where the German-Speaking World Lines Up

There is one document in motorsport that is more honest than any press release: the entry list. No marketing, no promises – just names, nations, numbers. Whoever stands here has signed. Has paid. Has committed to two weeks of desert, sleep deprivation and uncertainty long before the first roadbook is ever opened.

For the 2026 Dakar, that document holds 778 people in roughly 431 vehicles from 26 nations. We didn't skim it – we read every single line of the official ASO lists. And the longer you stare at those names, the clearer it becomes: an entry list isn't a table. It's a map of dreams. Here's what it tells us.

France was already there before the desert came

Let's start with the uncomfortable truth for everyone who isn't French: at heart, the Dakar remains a French adventure. 189 of the 778 competitors travel on a French passport – almost one in four. That isn't coincidence, it's DNA. Thierry Sabine invented this rally in 1978 as a romantic act of self-overreach, and that gene has been inherited ever since.

Behind France it gets more revealing. Spain fields 109 competitors, Italy 70 – both countries with dense rally cultures and a short road to North Africa, the historic training ground of desert racers. But the real climber on the list is the Netherlands, with 55 people. A flat country without a serious dune for miles – and yet fourth overall.

The answer lives in the truck category. Read the names van den Brink, de Groot, Huzink and it clicks: the Netherlands are the secret heavy-truck superpower of the Dakar. The same pattern holds for Czechia (35 competitors), the land of Loprais and Tatra. The nations ranking is, in truth, a disguised map of automotive subcultures.

The real premier class isn't the one you think

When television tells the story of the Dakar, it shows factory cars: Toyota, Ford, Dacia, million-euro budgets, Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah. The "Ultimate" category is the shop window – 73 vehicles, plenty of fame, even more money.

But the shop window isn't the business. Look at sheer numbers and a very different class rules: the Dakar Classic, with 97 vehicles and 214 people – the largest category in the entire rally. More people than the premier class. More stories. More genuine adventure.

The Classic is where the Dakar rediscovers itself. Here you'll find Range Rover Classics, Mitsubishi Pajeros, Porsche 911s and venerable Toyota Land Cruisers crossing the sand – machines older than some factory drivers. And behind the wheel sit not paid professionals, but people who often financed, built and suffered through their project themselves. Which is exactly why the German-speaking world is so present right here.

The German-speaking world in the desert: 39 names

Across all categories, 39 competitors come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland – and a striking number of them race in the Classic, the home of the meticulous. Here they are, by race number, with driver and co-driver:

Bikes

- #64 🇨🇭 Alexandre Vaudan (KTM)

- #67 🇨🇭 Dennis Mildenberger (KTM)

- #96 🇦🇹 Tobias Ebster (Hero)

- #101 🇩🇪 Maxi Schek (KTM)

- #134 🇩🇪 Markus Hertlein (Honda)

Ultimate (Cars)

- #201 Yazeed Al Rajhi 🇸🇦 / Timo Gottschalk 🇩🇪 (Toyota)

- #223 Lucas Moraes 🇧🇷 / **Dennis Zenz** 🇩🇪 (Dacia)

- #229 Daniel Schröder 🇩🇪 / Henry Carl Köhne 🇿🇦 (Volkswagen)

- #256 Jürgen Schröder 🇩🇪 / Stuart Gregory 🇿🇦 (Volkswagen)

Challenger (T3)

- #332 Vic Flip 🇦🇹 / Stefan Henken 🇩🇪 (Can-Am)

- #351** Alexandre Pesci 🇨🇭 / Stephan Kühni 🇨🇭 (Taurus)

SSV (T4)

- #416 Kyle Chaney 🇩🇪 / Jacob Argubright 🇺🇸 (Can-Am)

Stock (T2)

- #505 Peter Hamza 🇭🇺 / Andras Kalmar 🇦🇹 (Nissan)

Trucks

- #628 Mathias Behringer 🇩🇪 / Michael Helminger 🇫🇷 / Philipp Rettig 🇩🇪 (MAN)

- #650 Jürgen Hellgeth 🇩🇪 / Andreas Hellgeth (Mercedes)

Classic

- #708 Jörg Sand 🇩🇪 / Onno den Boer 🇳🇱 (Mercedes)

- #717 Mathieu Kurzen 🇨🇭 / Sébastien Dubois 🇫🇷 (Nissan)

- #727 Peter Brabeck-Letmathe / Jean-Michel Gayte 🇫🇷 (Mitsubishi)

- #741 Daniel Vetter 🇨🇭 / Anton Frutiger 🇨🇭 (Toyota)

- #742 Christophe Chabeuf 🇫🇷 / Thierry Fresard 🇨🇭 (Toyota)

- #744 Stephane Gutzwiller 🇨🇭 / Hilde De Sutter 🇧🇪 (Toyota)

- #763 Maximilian Loder 🇩🇪 / Laurence Loder 🇩🇪 (Puch)

- #765 Ulrich Schmidt 🇩🇪 / Brigitte Reitbauer 🇩🇪 (Mercedes)

- #778 Sladjan Miljic 🇨🇭 / Marcel Adelmann 🇩🇪 (Lada Niva)

- #918 Robert Thiele 🇩🇪 / Jan Holtz 🇩🇪 / Daniel Schatz 🇩🇪 (Mercedes)

- #919 Stefan Gehrmann 🇩🇪 / Sebastian Gatz 🇩🇪 (Mercedes)

- #923 Alexander Schmidt 🇩🇪 / Daniel Lörtscher 🇨🇭 / Jan Dippel 🇩🇪 (Mercedes)

One crew stands out: Daniel Vetter and Anton Frutiger (#741) form the only all-Swiss pairing in the field. And with the Puch G of the Loder family (#763), the Mercedes truck trio around Robert Thiele (#918) and veteran Peter Brabeck-Letmathe (#727), the German-speaking contingent shows exactly what the Classic rewards: experience, preparation, a cool head.

The true hero of the Dakar is called "the privateer"

Here's the point that never makes a headline: the Dakar isn't carried by factory teams – it's carried by privateers. The works cars are the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself is made of people who take this madness on voluntarily, and at their own expense.

That's the second story the list whispers: rally-raid is democratising. Alongside Classic and Challenger there's now the SSV class (43 vehicles) and even "Mission 1000" – a bold testbed for electric and hydrogen powertrains. Eight vehicles that look like a footnote today and could be the main story in ten years.

TimeOut Racing: international in the cockpit, Swiss in the precision

That's exactly where preparation decides between finishing and going home early – and exactly where TimeOut Racing comes in. We are not a Swiss team. We are an international team with Swiss roots and Swiss precision. Our own entry proves it: under race number 720, a Toyota HDJ 80 lines up in the Classic with the crew Juraj Sebalj / Dusan Bucan – evidence that talent knows no passport, but care is an attitude.

That attitude is simple: you don't win the Dakar in one heroic stage, but in the hundred small decisions before it. Which spare parts you pack. How you set up the suspension. How calm you stay when something jams at three in the morning. For anyone who dreams of standing on this entry list themselves, the Classic is the most realistic way into the greatest motorsport adventure on earth – whatever passport sits in the glovebox.

Frequently asked questions about the 2026 Dakar

How many competitors are in the 2026 Dakar?

Around 431 vehicles with roughly 778 people from 26 nations, spread across eight categories.

Which nation has the most competitors?

France, with 189 people, ahead of Spain (109), Italy (70) and the Netherlands (55).

How many competitors come from the German-speaking world?

39 – 24 from Germany, 11 from Switzerland and 4 from Austria, concentrated in the Dakar Classic.

Why is the Dakar Classic so popular?

With 97 vehicles it's the largest category. It rewards preparation and experience over factory budgets – the most honest and accessible route to the start.

The sand forgets nothing

The 2026 Dakar entry list is more than an enumeration. It's a promise made by 778 people to take on the toughest challenge in motorsport – 39 of them from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. When the dust rises in January, we'll see who turns a name on paper into a story in the sand.

Dreaming of your own Dakar – or want to know how a Classic project really works? Talk to the TimeOut Racing team

Data basis: official ASO entry lists (Dakar Classic "Authorized Crew List", as of 02 Jan 2026; other categories provisional, as of 13 Nov). Placeholder entry #267 removed. Co-drivers in the provisional classes may still change.