The Dakar Rally, right now taking place in Argentine and Chile, has four different categories; Cars, trucks, motorcycles and quads. Cars, bikes and quads are all what one expects, but the truck category isn't what is usually expected. Trucks in the Dakar aren't pickup trucks, but rather a bit larger. What we would class as SUVs or trucks (BMW X5, VW Touareg, Hummer, etc) are all in the car class. No, when the Dakar says trucks, it means trucks.
Here in the US we'd call them "rigs", most likely. Built by companies well known to Europe, the truck class vehicles come mostly from Kamaz, Tatra, MAN and Mercedes. These are very large full size diesel rigs capable of surprising speed over rough terrain.
Everything about the Dakar Rally is larger than life and there's a reason it's the ultimate overland rally race. Here's a little sample of trucks in the Dakar from Morocco, back when the rally was still in northern Africa.
