●        Roger Grouwels finishes Dakar Rally for second year in a row

●        New partnership with Shiver Offroad sees team debut in ultra-competitive T1 class

●        Grouwels and Rudolf Meijer finish as best Dutch Ultimate entry in 41th position in class 

Maastricht, 18 January 2026 - For the second year in a row, Team RaceArt and Roger Grouwels have successfully completed the Dakar Rally. After a previous successful attempt in the SSV class, a new joint venture with Shiver Offroad saw Grouwels step up to the ultra-competitive T1 category and finish in a respectable 41th place.

This year’s edition of the world’s toughest desert rally was set to be Grouwels’ fourth since pivoting from circuit racing to off-road competition. With it came a new class, a new team and an entirely new challenge. Grouwels, along with returning navigator Rudolf Meijer, would form part of the newly established three-car Shiver Offroad operation, formed in partnership with Dakar veterans Michiel Becx and Janus van Kasteren.

As a result, Grouwels made the step up from the SSV category to the faster and even more competitive T1 class. Also known as the Ultimate category, this class is the fastest for cars and Dakar and features some of the world’s top rally drivers and manufacturer teams. On the crew side, Grouwels and Meijer could still rely on RaceArt’s team of dedicated mechanics, which travelled to Saudi Arabia to service and operate the #257 Century CR7.

Grouwels and Meijer embarked on the 13-stage rally with a similar approach to last year: picking consistency over outright speed in order to avoid crashes or significant mechanical troubles as much as possible.

Although car #257 did not suffer any major crashes across the rally, the long and demanding stages frequently threw up issues, with a significant number of punctures along the way. The biggest time loss came during the first of two marathon stages, where a clutch problem caused a delay of six hours but thankfully did not lead to the end of the rally.

Ultimately, Grouwels and Meijer completed the 13 stages in a time of 64 hours, 14 minutes and 30 seconds, resulting in 44th place in the Ultimate category as the best Dutch crew in the class.