Dakar Rally announces longer 14-stage route for 2023

The 45th edition of the Dakar will kick off with a short Prologue from the shores of the Red Sea on December 31, with the results determining the starting order for the first full stage on New Year’s Day.

The rally will travel eastwards from there on, with three stages – including the marathon – taking place in Saudi’s gruelling sand desert popularly known as Empty Quarter.

The action will conclude on January 15 in Dammam on the east coast of the country, with the exact schedule – including the now-traditional rest day – to be announced later.

No information was provided about the distance competitors will cover the course of two weeks travelling from one end of Saudi Arabia to the other, but the ASO said that 70 percent of the route will be new compared to the last two years.

It will be the first time the Dakar has run to 14 stages since 2018, when Peru, Argentina and Bolivia jointly hosted the event in South America.

The route was cut to just 10 stages in 2019 when Peru became the sole host nation, after Chile withdrew from participation at the last minute and talks with other Latin nations came to nought.

The ASO was able to bump the number of stages up to 12 when it moved the Dakar to the Middle East in 2020, but this was still fewer than what competitors were accustomed to in South America.

Sunday’s announcement also confirms that the Dakar will take place entirely in Saudi Arabia for the third year in succession, despite the nation’s clause for exclusivity in the contract having expired after the inaugural running of the event in the Arab country in 2020.

External factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic have previously forced the ASO to confine the Dakar to Saudi Arabia, although it has repeatedly expressed its desire to make the rally a multi-country event again.

Other changes

The ASO also announced a slew of regulatory changes for the 2023 Dakar Rally that will…