SAUDI ARABIA: When it comes to endurance races in motor sport, nothing can quite compete with the annual Dakar Rally which starts its 45th edition on the shores of the Red Sea on Saturday.
This year’s event stretches 8,549 km over 15 days of racing, including a four-day excursion into the as yet unexplored desert dunes of the vast Rub’ Al-Khali, or Empty Quarter. “Be Afraid’ seems to be the message of the route for the 2023 Dakar,” said organizers when they revealed the course at the start of December.
The warning does not appear to have put anyone off: More than 800 riders, drivers and co-drivers will set off in an array of motorcycles, cars, quads, trucks and light vehicles when the race begins on Saturday.
Among them some well-known names, including nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb (BRX) who is relishing the prospect of competing in his sixth Dakar. “It’s 14 stages, it’s very long, a proper endurance rally,” he said. “We need to find the right pace to get to the finish with as few mistakes as possible.” The Frenchman, who has just won the 2022 edition of the Extreme E, has a tough battle in front of him if he is to improve on his three podium finishes and chalk up that first win.