Dakar Rally Releases New Route After Abandoning Saudi Arabia Due To Ongoing War

From Portugal to Morocco, the rally is heading back to Europe and Africa.

By: Jonathon Klein

Nov 2, at 12:11pm ET

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The U.S./Iran war remains a persistent thorn around the world for a variety of reasons. Your gas is more expensive. Your groceries are more expensive. Basically, anything that needs transportation is more expensive. And it's also hit a number of sporting events meant to take place in the Middle East region of the globe, as Iran's proxies and itself have hit infrastructure and civilian targets, making the area unsuitable and unsafe to hold the events, with the Dakar Rally being the most recent sporting event to make a beeline for the door.

Last week, the organizers of the event relayed that it would be leaving Saudi Arabia, the locale where the famous race has taken place for the past six years, for a safer spot, likely in Europe and Africa, to hold the 2027 event set to take place this upcoming January. And the rumors were that it would return to its original roots, i.e., Paris to Dakar. That, however, wasn't the case, though we are returning slightly to the off-road race's past, as the organizers just released the full route, and we're absolutely going back to Europe to Africa.

How's Portugal to Morocco sound?

According to the Dakar organizer's press release, "Faced with a difficult situation that has led to its exceptional relocation for the 2027 edition, the Dakar is benefiting from a form of solidarity inherited from its history, particularly from Portugal and Morocco, which have agreed to open their territories to the event once again. The long-standing ties forged with these countries have been maintained by the wider rally-raid community, which has continued to gather there, notably for the W2RC rounds held in recent years."

Now, the race will, supposedly, return to Saudi Arabia next year. That is, if this idiotic and stupid war is over at that point and hasn't spilled over into more countries by then—which it very well could, given how long the Russia/Ukraine war has dragged on. However, the route that the organizers have put together in short order looks like a bunch of fun, and again, gets Dakar back to how it began and out of the Kingdom, which has a not-so-great track record when it comes to human rights crimes and murdering journalists...

The route will begin in Algarve, Portugal, then travel down the eastern spine of Morocco, terminating its southern expansion near Refuge, Morocco, before heading north up the western spine of the country, and finally ending in Marrakech. In total, there are some 4,341 km of special stages, which translates to nearly 2,700 miles over the course of just over a week.

What do you think?

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Speaking upon the release of the new route, David Castera, Dakar Director, said that over 350 competitors have already signed on for the revised route. I point that out as many had already sent over their machines to Saudi Arabia, so the cost of transport now from the Kingdom to Europe is going to be an additional cost, something I hope the organizers are helping with. That's unclear.

The Dakar Rally will now take place starting January 9th, and I'm looking forward to watching the whole thing unfold at what has to be one of the greatest races of all time.