“I was living in Dubai doing a training programme at a consulting firm and I used to go to the race track for open track days,” she says. “I entered the Ducati Cup in the UAE and the superstock series in Bahrain, and did that for a season. Then close to the end I had an accident and had to go back to Saudi. That was when lockdown happened and I didn’t go back to the race track on bikes. So what was available in Saudi? With the Dakar Rally and the FIA Cross-Country Baja World Cup being here I veered off-road.”
So far, so very promising. Akeel was a class winner in her first cross-country rallies in 2021 and finished eighth in the lightweight prototype T3 category on her Dakar debut in January 2022. This season, joined once again by experienced co-driver Sergio Lafuente, she has raced a Can-Am Maverick X3 for German team South Racing and finished as Baja World Cup runner-up in the T3 category. The final round took place in Dubai last weekend, where Akeel and Lafuente finished second in a series that has taken in events in Russia (just before the Ukraine invasion), Jordan, Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal and Saudi Arabia.
Now the pair are gearing up for their second attack together on Dakar, which starts with a prologue on December 31 and finishes on January 15, after a total distance of 5312 miles, nearly 3000 of which will be against the clock. The fact one four-day section of the route takes place in what is known as Saudi’s ‘Empty Quarter’ offers a clue to just how remote you become as you race through the desert dunes, among 365 entries.
The Dakar has long since transcended its geographical description, moving first for 10 years to South America because of security concerns in its home region, and now since 2020 in Saudi where the deserts carry a closer comparison to the event’s North African roots. So what it’s like to compete on the Dakar?
“It’s a great feeling, but you know what it is more than anything?” answers Akeel. “It’s actually really humbling because in the stage you realise just how many things have to go in your favour for your performance to succeed. It’s not just what you do as a driver. So many elements are out of your hands. Something can come up, like a rock out of nowhere, and if you don’t download that information and process it you can have a problem. Then again, sometimes you get caught off guard and still you get away with it.