The dunes were already protagonists in the last Dakar rally and will be so again, more than ever, in the 2024 edition. ASO, the French organizer of the test, presented the event this afternoon through a virtual ceremony. For the fifth consecutive year, Saudi Arabia hosts the toughest rally on the planet, which precisely seeks to recover part of the essence lost with its abandonment of Africa 15 years ago. “A good Dakar is a hard Dakar,” they told us, and the organization has gotten the message,” explains David Castera, director of the event. As they did last year, it was the participants who asked for greater complexity and new challenges in the journey through Saudi geography.
In total, in 2024 there will be 7,891 kilometers of route, of which 4,727 will be timed. Although the Middle Eastern country no longer represents a novelty for the drivers, 60% of the stages will be new to the test. The ruins of the historic city of Al Ula will kick off the rally on January 5, and the shores of the Red Sea in Yanbu will close on the 19th after 13 stages and a prologue, which will not count towards the classification general. The person in charge of the rally estimates that there have never been so many dunes on the menu of a competition that dates back to 1978 and has since visited 30 countries on four different continents.
Once again, the Rub al Khali desert, the feared empty quadrant in the southeast of the country, will be the main protagonist of the race with a 48-hour marathon stage that will close the first week of competition. “This format adds a little salt and pepper to the race. It will be one of the stellar stages,” warns Carlos Sainz, who is looking for his fourth Touareg. This novelty, named Chrono 48h, will force participants to stop suddenly at dusk and sleep in the middle of the desert in the bivouac closest to their position. There they will spend the entire night under the stars, without coverage or assistance, completely disconnected from reality. Only when they complete the 584 kilometers of the time trial, divided into stages 6A and 6B, will they know how they arrive at the rest day in Riyadh, scheduled for the 13th, before facing the second week of the race.
Castera recalled in the presentation of the rally that the first stages are very complex, and also highlighted the penultimate stage, where there may be some final surprise. The rocky terrain that has already ruined the test for more than one favorite will have its share of prominence and, in addition to the dunes, there will be, as in recent editions, several navigation traps scattered along the route. Stage 4 with a semi-marathon regime (only two hours of assistance) will also be delicate and, in general, high mileages have been sought to demand the maximum from both the drivers and their machines.
119 Spaniards among the 778 registered
The provisional registration figures include 778 competitors, of which 119 will be Spanish, the second most represented nationality in the rally out of a total of 72. Carlos Sainz, Nani Roma, Laia Sanz, Cristina Gutiérrez, Joan Barreda and Tosha Schareina will be the main ones national figures of the edition, all with ambitious goals and aspirations to win in their respective categories. 46 women will take part in the start in Al Ula, just 6% of the total participants, a figure that underlines the enormous gender gap that professional sports in general and, specifically, the world of motorsport continues to suffer.
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