Starting in Bisha in the southwest of the country, the Dakar, the most famous of the rally-raids, will trace a loop through Saudi Arabia to end on January 17 in Shubaytah, in the desert dunes of the Empty Quarter, on the border with the United Arab Emirates. On this course consisting of a prologue and 12 stages, with more than 5,000 kilometers of special stages (timed sections), the competitors will have to face from the second day the dreaded “48 hours chrono” inaugurated last year, which forces the drivers to sleep in the desert without assistance.
“It's the rally of maturity“, its director David Castera told AFP, “with a real level of difficulty, it's a real, tough Dakar, which will push everyone out of their limits, out of their comfort zone“.
As for the cars, will this ninth Dakar finally be the right one for the nine-time world rally champion, Sébastien Loeb? Driving this year a Dacia Sandrider, a team which is making its debut on the Dakar, the 50-year-old Alsatian hopes to climb onto the highest step of the podium which has so often slipped away from him so narrowly (3rd in 2019 and 2024, 2nd in 2017, 2022 and 2023).
“We know that a first Dakar with a new car is always tricky, but from what we have seen so far it has gone rather well, so we can be optimistic“, he told AFP.
Differentiated routes
The Frenchman was able to showcase his new car in competition in October at the Morocco rally-raid, where he came second, 5 minutes behind his Dacia teammate Nasser al-Attiyah. For his 21st Dakar, the Qatari veteran will race with the goal of a sixth title in his sights. But watch out for the indestructible Carlos Sainz, winner of the last edition. The 62-year-old Spaniard, still sharp, is aiming for a fifth Dakar at the wheel of a Ford Raptor.
In motorbikes, bib number 1 and reigning world rally-raid champion, the Botswanan Ross Branch, who came 2nd in the previous edition, leaves with the label of favorite on his Hero. However, he should have a lot to do with the winner of the previous edition, Ricky Brabec, or the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren.
For the 47th edition of the famous rally-raid, created in 1979 between Paris and Dakar and which left Africa for South America in 2009, 800 competitors – a quarter of which are French – are competing in the different categories. On 45% of the mileage of the specials, the routes for motorcycles and cars have been differentiated in order to reduce the risk of collisions but also to complicate the navigation of cars, which will not be able to follow the tracks of the faster motorcycles.
Mystery contract
The Dakar Rally pitched its tent in Saudi Arabia in 2020 under a contract whose value was not revealed but which sparked controversy due to the ultra-conservative kingdom's human rights failings.
The rooting of the Dakar on Saudi soil, at least until the end of the 2020 decade, responds to Riyadh's global strategy of converting its barrels of petrodollars into soft power, by bringing sporting competitions and foreign champions to its soil. The culmination of this policy, Saudi Arabia has just been awarded the organization of the 2034 Football World Cup.
