The inaugural 2009 edition covered 4,628 kilometres over nine days, with 3,900 kilometres of timed special stages. Carlos Sainz won the car category, using the event as preparation for his successful Dakar Rally campaign the following January. In the truck category, Kamaz dominated through two-time Dakar winner Firdaus Kabirov.
From 2009 to 2011 the Silk Way Rally featured on ASO's Dakar Series before transitioning to the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies. The 2011 edition departed from Moscow's Red Square for the first time, a ceremonial start that attracted thousands of spectators. Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc won the car category that year ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel, while Aleš Loprais took the truck honours.
The 2012 race set off again from Red Square but severe storms in southern Russia forced the event to finish early at Gelendzhik. Boris Gadasin became the first Russian driver to win the car category, while Ayrat Mardeev claimed the truck title for Kamaz — later going on to win the 2015 Dakar Rally.
From 2016 the event grew into a multinational marathon through Russia, Kazakhstan, and China, covering more than 10,000 kilometres over seventeen days. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021 the Mongolian portion of the route was cut due to COVID-19 and bubonic plague outbreaks, limiting the race's geographic scope.
The Silk Way Rally has attracted significant scrutiny from Western investigative journalists. In 2023, a joint investigation by Bellingcat, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, and The Insider examined internal Silk Way Rally Association documents and concluded that the organisation was used to advance Russian soft power in Eurasia. The investigation identified the association's director, Bulat Yanborisov, as a GRU agent with ties to GRU Unit 29155, a unit linked to multiple overseas operations. Yanborisov denied GRU affiliation but acknowledged the rally's diplomatic significance.
A 2024 follow-up investigation by Der Spiegel, The Insider, and 60 Minutes identified GRU operative Alexander Mishkin — involved in the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal — as having used the 2016 and 2017 rallies to travel to China under cover as a mechanic. In June 2024 the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on the Silk Way Rally Association, Yanborisov, and his son Amir, describing the association as a Russian intelligence procurement network that used the rally's logistical infrastructure to acquire anti-drone and electronic warfare equipment for use in Ukraine.
The 2022 and 2023 editions were affected by the Russo-Ukrainian War, limiting foreign participation primarily to crews from Belarus, China, Turkmenistan, and other friendly states. Luc Alphand, appointed Silk Way Rally sports director in 2021, resigned following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Silk Way Rally follows standard rally raid regulations. Each crew — driver and navigator for cars, solo rider for motorcycles, driver-navigator-mechanic for trucks — must complete Selective Sections as defined in the Road Book while passing all mandatory waypoints. Road sections between specials run on public roads and must be completed within target times; failure to do so results in time penalties. Since 2012, any competitor failing to complete a special stage may continue with a 50-hour penalty, usable once per event.
Categories cover motorcycles (added in 2019), cars, and trucks, with further FIA-defined competition groups within each class.
The 2024 edition returned to a multinational format with Mongolia reinstated on the route. China, originally included as the final stretch to Khorgos, was dropped when the region deferred participation pending post-COVID economic recovery.
The 2025 edition, the fifteenth, ran from 10 to 23 July from Irkutsk through Ulaanbaatar to Gorno-Altaysk, covering 4,811 kilometres across Russia and Mongolia, including 2,402 kilometres of special stages. A notable result was the first victory by a truck running on alternative fuel — Anton Shibalov's KAMAZ-master, powered by a gas-diesel system. In the motorcycle class, Mongolian rider Murun Purevdorj claimed the first motorcycle victory by a Mongolian competitor.