The race originated in December 1977, following Thierry Sabine getting lost in the Ténéré desert during the 1975 “Rallye Côte-Côte” and deciding the desert would be a suitable location for a regular rally. The race was inspired by the 1974 London–Sahara–Munich World Cup Rally, the first automobile race to cross the Sahara Desert twice. In 1971, Ginger Baker drove a Range Rover from Algeria to Lagos, Nigeria, a journey documented in a film replete with the challenging terrain later seen in the Dakar Rally.
The inaugural rally in 1978 saw 182 vehicles start, with Cyril Neveu winning on a Yamaha motorcycle. The event quickly grew in popularity, with 216 vehicles starting in 1980 and 291 in 1981. The 1981 race saw Formula 1 driver Jacky Ickx and actor Claude Brasseur compete in a Citroën CX, while Hubert Auriol took his second victory. In 1982, the number of racers doubled to 382, with Neveu winning again on a Honda motorcycle and the Marreau brothers taking victory in the car class with a Renault 20.
The 1987 rally marked the start of increased official factory participation, with Peugeot arriving and winning the event with Ari Vatanen. The 1988 event reached its zenith in terms of entry numbers, with 603 starters, though Vatanen was disqualified after his Peugeot was stolen and later found. Juha Kankkunen ultimately won that year. Peugeot and Vatanen returned to winning ways in 1989 and 1990, before Citroën took over, with Vatanen securing a third consecutive victory in 1991. Stéphane Peterhansel won his first title in the motorcycle category with Yamaha in 1991, beginning a period of dominance by the Frenchman.
The 1997 rally saw Kenjiro Shinozuka become the first non-European to win, while Peterhansel equalled Neveu's record of five motorcycle category wins. In 1998, Peterhansel went one better, taking his sixth victory. Jean-Louis Schlesser won in 1999 with a self-constructed buggy, backed by Renault, while Richard Sainct took BMW's first title in the bikes category since 1985. Schlesser and Sainct both defended their titles in 2000, traversing the route from Dakar to Cairo.
In 1986, Thierry Sabine, the event founder, was killed in a helicopter crash in Mali during a sandstorm, along with singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine and three others. In 1988, three Africans were killed in collisions with vehicles involved in the race, prompting criticism of the event’s impact on local populations. In 2006, Australian motorcyclist Andy Caldecott died after sustaining neck injuries in a crash, and a 10-year-old boy was killed by a car driven by Latvian Māris Saukāns. The 2008 rally was cancelled due to security concerns following the murder of four French tourists in Mauritania.
The 2008 event was cancelled due to security threats, and from 2009 to 2019 the rally was held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. In January 2020, Portuguese motorcycle rider Paulo Gonçalves died after suffering a heart attack due to a crash. Overall, 76 people, including 31 competitors, have died in the Dakar Rally.
The rally has spawned related events, such as the Africa Eco Race, launched in 2009 in response to the Dakar’s move to South America. Other similar events include the Budapest-Bamako rally and the Rallye des Pharaons. A new "Mission 1000" category was introduced in 2024 for vehicles using alternative power sources, such as electric or hydrogen.
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