The 2024 Dakar Rally is a

rally raid Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. The length of the event can be as short as 2–3 days for a cross-country baja to as long as 15 days with marathon ra ...

event held in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. It is the 46th edition of the

Dakar Rally The Dakar Rally (or simply "The Dakar"; formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally") is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal, ...

, organized by

Amaury Sport Organisation The Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) is part of the French media group Éditions Philippe Amaury. It organises the Tour de France and other cycling races, as well as golf, running, sailing and off-road motorsport events. The president of ASO is Je ...

(ASO), and the 5th time Saudi Arabia has hosted the event. The event takes place between 5 and 19 January 2024. For the third year running, the event is also the first round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship. The outline of the race route was presented on 3 June 2023. This year the route will start at

Al-'Ula Al-'Ula ( ar, ٱلْعُلَا '), is a city of the Medina Region in north-western Saudi Arabia. Historically located on the incense route, the city lies within the Governorate of 'Ula ( ar, مُحَافَظَة ٱلْعُلَا, Muḥāfathat A ...

, cross the

Empty Quarter The Rub' al KhaliOther standardized transliterations include: / . The ' is the assimilated Arabic definite article, ', which can also be transliterated as '. (; ar, ٱلرُّبْع ٱلْخَالِي (), the "Empty Quarter") is the sand des ...

, and will finish in

Yanbu Yanbu ( ar, ينبع, lit=Spring, translit=Yanbu'), also known simply as Yambu or Yenbo, is a city in the Al Madinah Province of western Saudi Arabia. It is approximately 300 kilometers northwest of Jeddah (at ). The population is 222,360 (2 ...

. Race format consists of a prologue and 12 stages, including a 48-hour marathon stage - dubbed as a '48h chrono stage', which would cover over 600km with a midnight halt. The new format marathon stage will include time limit for stopping at 4pm, and setting off the next day at 7am. The route will feature 60% new tracks when compared to the previous edition, comprising of 5,000 kilometres of special stages.

Timeline

* 3 June – 20 October 2023: Registrations * End of November 2023: Press conference * 1 December 2023: Scrutineering and vehicle loading in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

* 1 January 2024: Offloading vehicles in

* 5 January 2024: Starting podium and the Prologue Stage * 6 January 2024: Race start * 19 January 2024: Race finish and finish podium

Entry list

On 13 December 2023 ASO announced the list of competitors.

Number of entries

Vehicles and Categories

Competitor list

– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events.
– The first time starters - "rookies".
– Competitors that were not able to start the race.
– Competitors participating in "Original by Motul" — limited assistance marathon class.

Stages

The 2024 Dakar route was revealed on 20 November 2023, totaling , and consisting of special stages. The race features a new two-day marathon stage, where all participants will need to stop at the nearest bivouac after 4pm. There will be 8 bivouacs setup, with drivers having no contact with their teams, but allowed to work on other vehicles.https://enduro21.com/en/racing/latest/rally/2024-dakar-rally-route-confirmed-new-48hr-chrono-stage-in-the-empty-quarter

References

External links

Official website
{{Dakar Rally Dakar Rally Saudi Arabia sport-related lists