Dakar Rally reveals full details of 2023 route
The ASO has found out the entire path for the 45th running of the Dakar Rally Live, less than a month ahead of its scheduled start on 31 December.
The entire rally-raid will take area in Saudi Arabia for a fourth year in succession, with tries to extend it to other nations within the Gulf having come to a nought.
However, the course has been extensively altered and elevated, with the rally jogging to fourteen tiers in 2023 in comparison to 12 this 12 months.
The action will begin from a dedicated Sea Camp at the west coast of Saudi Arabia, with a brief Prologue segment on New Year’s Eve finding out the starting order for the rally right.
Read More: Dakar Rally Race returns to Saudi Arabia for 2023 with a longer route
From there on competition will journey from the Red Sea to the east coast, overlaying a total distance of eight,549km (5312 miles). Of that total, 4,706km (2924 miles) might be timed within the form of unique stages.
The rally will traverse foremost towns AlUla, Ha’il and Riyadh over the route of 16 days, with the capital serving as the area for the mid-rally relaxation day on nine January.
Much of the second one 1/2 of the occasion will run adjacent to the east coast, with the town of Dammam closing the occasion on 15 January.
Competitors will spend a complete of four days in Empty Quarter, the aptly named sand desolate tract acknowledged for its gruelling climate and terrain.
“It is a direction that we have labored to make a bit more tough than in past years,” Dakar Rally director David Castera advised selected media together with Autosport.
“Week 1 may be just like the Dakar we have recognized up to now, with dunes, sand; fast, technical, with the particularity that there are numerous more kilometers, that is much greater than what we have known thus far.
“For the second week we completely changed the tempo. We cross from lengthy tiers in kilometers to short degrees in kilometers, but with many dunes, however it's going to exchange the configuration of the Dakar.
“There are more than 200km in line with day, which looks like not anything, however they are pure dunes. It's the primary time we've got finished one of these exceptional direction between the 2 weeks.”
The Empty Quarter may also play host to the Marathon tiers spanning Stage 11 and 12, where outside help from help crews could be absolutely banned - which means competitors will have to be self-sufficient in case of mechanical problems.
“There is not anything, we have located no animal, no man or woman, no footprints, no tracks,” Castera defined. “It's a complete void.
“It's exciting because of that, due to the fact they're actual dunes. The dunes we've got completed so far had been not very difficult due to the fact they are not very closed, now we are able to have a higher degree of problem.” How can I watch Dakar Rally 2023?
Dakar expects a total of 365 vehicles across all categories to line up for the start of the event. The vehicles division will be headlined with the aid of entries from Toyota, Audi and the Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme group.
