Dakar 2024 will follow an updated route and regulations

At the beginning of January, the most prestigious rally-raid in the world, the Dakar, starts in Saudi Arabia. The 2024 race route will stretch for almost 8 thousand km, of which almost 5 thousand km will be special stages. In total, more than 400 crews will take part in the Dakar. In the most prestigious class, SUVs, Nasser al-Attiyah – a five-time Dakar champion and winner of the previous two years – will try to win the race for the third time in a row, in which he will again be hindered by nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Lob. For the second year in a row, among the Dakar participants there will be no KAMAZ-Master team, which was not allowed to participate in the race due to the politically motivated position of the International Automobile Federation (FIA).

The 2024 version of the Dakar starts a little later than the usual date. The start of the race has been moved from the traditional December 31st to January 5th, which riders, usually deprived of the opportunity to celebrate the New Year culturally, are probably incredibly happy about. The 2024 Dakar, according to its organizers, will become even more difficult than before. However, they say this before almost every race. Be that as it may, the route will be almost two-thirds new compared to the 2023 raid. In Saudi Arabia, most of whose territory is desert, creating a new sandy path is not a problem. In total, the racers will cover 7,891 km, of which 4,727 km will be in special stages. The race starts in the city of Al-Ula and finishes on the Red Sea coast in Yanbu. There is a prologue, 12 stages and a rest day in the capital of the kingdom, Riyadh. It is expected that more than 400 crews will take off at the start. The widest representation is expected in the lightest class – 137 motorcyclists entered the Dakar. Next come SUVs – 72 crews, trucks – 46, all-terrain vehicles – 42 and ATVs – 10 (such a weak representation of ATVs again raises the question of the validity of their presence in the program). Another 80 crews in different classes will compete outside the main competition.

Of the innovations prepared by the race organizers, two should be noted. The first is the emergence of the Mission 1000 class for cars with hydrogen engines, as well as hybrids or “pure” electric vehicles. For this class there is a separate route with a length of only 1000 km and with very short, 100 km, special stages. According to the organizers, the new class is a kind of challenge for manufacturers, an opportunity to test their “products of the future” in really difficult conditions. The second is the appearance of a 48-hour “marathon” in the rally-raid schedule. True, this is not a non-stop marathon. The riders will have time to rest; the stage will simply be scored based on the sum of two days. A distinctive feature of the “marathon” is the presence at the intermediate finish of not one, but eight bivouacs at once, scattered at a considerable distance from each other and from the finishing point. According to the organizers, this gives riders the opportunity to vary their strategy: either save energy and equipment resources on the first day in order to shoot on the second, or immediately give it their all.

In the most prestigious class – SUVs – there is almost no doubt that the main fight, as a year ago, will be between the five-time Dakar winner Nasser al-Attiya and the nine-time world rally champion and three-time Dakar silver medalist Sebastien Lob. The Frenchman, who is starting the Dakar for the eighth time, is always missing something to add up his successful performances on special stages into an overall victory. Nasser al-Atiyah, on the other hand, has the knack of winning the Dakar by going slowly. Let’s say in the 2023 race the Qatari won only three stages, the Frenchman seven. But the first at the finish line was al-Atiyah. By the way, if he wins in 2024 (he, like Lob, will compete on a Prodrive Hunter), he will become the owner of a hat-trick (al-Attiyah, in addition to the 2023 race, also won the 2022 Dakar). Previously, only two riders had won the Dakar in the SUV class three times in a row: Ari Vattanen (1989–1991) and Pierre Latigue (1994–1996).

In the motorcycle class, as always, the circle of contenders for the title is extremely wide, and the outcome of their confrontation will depend on some of the smallest details. Let’s say, last year, Argentinean Kevin Benavidez overtook Australian Toby Price by as much as 43 seconds. Benavidez will try to repeat his success in the new race, but in addition to Price, he will have several more real competitors.

Finally, the truck class, the pride of Russian motorsport, will again be held without the legendary KAMAZ-Master team (it has won 19 Dakars). The KAMAZ team missed Dakar 2023 due to the politically motivated position of the FIA, which demanded that all Russian racers sign a political declaration condemning the events in Ukraine. The team management did not take such a step either a year ago or now. So the fight for the title, which has been greatly devalued in the absence of the strongest, as in 2023, will be between the teams playing for IVECO and the partner team of the Italian manufacturer Team de Rooy. By the way, it was the latter’s driver Janus van Casteren who won the race a year ago.

Alexander Petrov