AliOubassidi.
Driver, mentor, son of the Sahara. The voice behind Desert Drive Academy from the first kilometre on.
He doesn't introduce himself as a guide. He introduces himself as a student of the dunes — taught each morning by a light that never lies. Ali Oubassidi has lived in the Erg Chebbi for thirty-five years. He learned to drive on sand before he ever learned to drive on tarmac. That — and only that — is the place from which everything below makes sense.
Born in Merzouga, on the edge of the Erg Chebbi, Ali grew up between the dunes and his father's mechanical workshop. The engine is not a mystery — it is a household grammar. The desert is not a landscape — it is a neighbour.
Very early, he accompanied caravans, read the winds, deciphered the colour of the sand. As a teenager, he took the wheel of the family 4x4s to fetch water, wood, guests. Driving in the desert became a daily gesture — never a performance.
“The sand reads like a face. The desert changes by the hour. You just have to know how to look at it.”
The rally years.
In the early 2020s, Ali turned what had been a mother tongue into a sporting discipline. He took the start line, climbed the podium — and brought the race back to those who had watched him grow up.
On his own dunes. The crowning of a trajectory that began at the family wheel.
Committed driving, locally prepared machinery, full roadbook navigation.
From the Drâa to the Erg Chebbi. A continuous reading of the terrain, no permanent assistance.
“The desert belongs to no one. It lends itself to those who take the time to listen to it.”
The Dakar line.
Dakar 2026 is not a stage. It is a verification. Fifteen days of desert run at more than 800 km a day, where every line of travel weighs an hour of race time.
Ali approaches the rally with the same rule as in the Academy: never rush the dune, never get ahead of the machinery. The race is a school — like everything else.
- Machine
- SSV · rally preparation
- Category
- T3 · Lightweight Prototype
- Crew
- Driver + navigator co-pilot
- Support
- Merzouga workshop + technical team
The teacher.
More than 1,200 drivers have passed through his sessions. None of them learnt the same thing — because none of them arrived with the same question.
Read the sand.
Identify hard dune, soft dune, knife-edge ridge. Anticipate traction. See the desert before you crush it.
Respect the machine.
Every 4x4 has a comfort window. Force it and you lose it. Know it and you double its range.
Transmit, do not show off.
A private session is not a baptism. You leave the dune carrying a skill — not just a photograph.
Receive, at the bivouac.
Ksar Bicha closes every expedition. Fire, tea, gnawa music. Transmission continues — by other means.
Press Archive
- 01Checkered FlagMotorsport · UK
“Ali Oubassidi confirmed for Dakar 2026”
Nov 2024 - 027NewsSport · Maroc
“Le pilote marocain Ali Oubassidi sur le podium du Rallye du Maroc”
Oct 2024 - 03TF1Magazine · France
“Reportage Sahara · Ali Oubassidi, mentor des dunes”
Mar 2024 - 04L'ÉquipeRallye-Raid
“Dakar 2026 · les nouveaux engagés”
Déc 2024 - 05Auto HebdoCourse
“Rallye du Maroc · retour sur le podium classe”
Oct 2024 - 06TripAdvisorTravelers' choice
“Ali and Youssef Oubassidi will make you miss Morocco”
2024
Learn the desert,with the one born in it.
Every session begins with a conversation. Not a form. Not a checkout. An intent — shared, calibrated, translated into a program.