Just under a month to go until the end of the year 2021 and the 2022 motorsport season is now just around the corner. Today ASO, promoter of the Dakar, unveiled the route of the edition which will start on January 1st with the Prologue and will end on the 14th after 12 stages and a day of rest. The 44th edition will also be held entirely in Saudi Arabia.
Competitors from all main categories will cover a distance of 8,375 km during that period, 4,258 km of which will be timed in the form of special stages and the remaining distance will be the transfer sections.
The rally will begin on January 1st with a short 19km prologue in Jeddah that will help determine the starting order for the next day’s opening leg in Ha’il.
From there the rally will head to Al Artawiyah for the first part of the Marathon Leg, where competitors will not be able to receive external assistance from their crews.
The second part of the Marathon Leg includes a 554km run up to Al Qaisumah, before competitors leave for the capital Riyadh, which will serve as the venue for both the fifth and sixth legs, as well as the half-rally rest day.
For the second part of the event, the rally will pass through Al Dawadimi, Wadi Ad-Dawasir and Bisha before returning to Jeddah on the last day. The fourth stage will be the longest in terms of competitive distance, with participants traveling 465km between Al Qaisumah and Riyadh.
“I tried to have a balanced course,” Dakar Rally director David Castera told the Spanish edition of Motorsport.com. “I saved the most complicated for the end, stage 11 for me is the most complicated, with many dunes. The key will be navigation “.
The 2022 edition of the Dakar is also the first round of the new FIA World Cross-Country Rally Championship, already announced by ASO at the beginning of 2021. For the first time in the history of the Dakar, the drivers who will retire due to mechanical failures or accidents will be able to return to the race the following day, as already happens in almost all the stages of the WRC.
The heavy penalties in terms of time will prevent the riders who re-enter the race from fighting for the overall victory of the event, but not for stage victories and scoring points valid for the World Championship.
Explaining the reasons for the change, Castera said: “Last year we did it with the amateurs, but this year we will also do it with the top riders because it is a World Cup rule.”
“We also do it so that they can continue with a very large penalty and still score points. For the world championship you can earn points at the end of the race and also at each stage. With this, we want to maintain interest in the championship until the end.” .
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We also remind you that the exclusivity clause between ASO and Saudi Arabia expired at the end of the first edition in the Middle East, therefore in 2020, but the promoters of the event have not yet been able to expand to other countries due to different reasons. including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Castera said he was very satisfied with this year’s path, but that he was working to prepare a future Dakar that could include more nations, something that hasn’t happened since 2018.
“With everything that has happened in the last couple of years, we’ve put it off, but it’s still on our mind,” he said. “Saudi Arabia will remain the main country [nei prossimi anni], but we are working to expand outside the country. “
“I’m not too sad because we have the ingredients, we have 60-70% of a new route. The idea is to get out of Saudi Arabia, we are still working on it, it will take another two years, but as we are now it is difficult to cross the border. Is a dream”.
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