Next year’s Dakar Rally is scheduled for January 3-15. The start and end points of the route are planned in the city of Jeddah, but a large part of the distance will stretch along the Red Sea.
The organizers plan the competition for 12 days. The distance route is designed as a large circle. After the start in Jeddah, the athletes will go to the city of Haila, located northeast of the starting point. A rest is planned in Haila on January 9, but the road to the finish will lead along the Red Sea.
“We included almost all of Saudi Arabia on the route,” said race director David Castera. “The country is so big that we only used 50-100 kilometers from last year’s route.”
“In the competition, the participants will have to face different surfaces. We tried to save the dunes, some technical sections, as well as the fast stages.”
This year, two motorcyclists lost their lives in the race – Paulo Gonkalves from Portugal and Edwin Stravers from the Netherlands. For this reason, athletes will have to wear vests equipped with airbags next year. Athletes will also hear phonetic warnings in front of dangerous places. Dangerous parts of the route may not travel faster than 90 kilometers per hour.
Athletes will receive the track legend only the previous evening, but various types of information will be available in a digital version in time.
Kaster did not hide that the pandemic forced the rally to change plans. “We had planned the route in other countries as well, but this year’s plans had to be canceled,” said the organizer. “I think we will succeed in other years, because there are several countries nearby that have expressed a desire to take part in the rally. These include Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.”
Due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, it is expected that fewer participants will be seen in the competition next year.
The Dakar Rally began in 1979, when the distance had to be measured from the French capital Paris to Dakar. After ten years of cooperation with South American countries, the prestigious rally has moved to Saudi Arabia.
The previous Dakar Rally was won by Spaniard Carlos Sains. This year, the rally celebrated its 42nd birthday, with athletes covering a total of 7,500 kilometers.
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