ROUTE GUIDE

RACE SCHEDULE

Three days of scrutineering and documentation procedures will take place from December 28 to 30 in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon on the Western extremity of the Eurasian continent. Then, the 28th Paris-Dakar Rally will kick off on December 31, New Year’s Eve, when the entrants will embark on the first special stage (SS) that will take them 83 kms south to Portimao on the Mediterranean coast.
The next morning, on January 1, the contingent will head off east on the second SS of 115 km, after which they will enter Spain, winding up in Malaga via a liaison stage. Crossing the Mediterranean by ferry from Malaga, they will make African landfall at Nador in Morocco. Compared to the European stages of recent years, this will be a relatively compact route.

January 2nd will finally see the start of the African leg from Nador. The first day is a mountainous route that will take the vehicles south to Er Rachidia, while on the 3rd dunes make an early appearance on the way to Ouarzazate.

The course to Tan Tan on the 4th is a classic section of the Dakar Rally, and the difficulty starts to gradually increase. Then, on the 5th, the vehicles leave Morocco and enter Mauritania where the desert battle starts in earnest from the section that takes them to Zouerat in the northwest. That day will be a high-speed stage. Next, the route to Atar could be a familiar one for veterans of the rally. However, complacency is to be avoided at all costs! The last section of the first half of the rally is the route on the 7th to Nouakchott on the Atlantic coast. While Atar has been the venue for the rest day in many past rallies, for the first time the capital of Mauritania will serve as the rest day stop.

After the rest day, on the 8th, the rally enters its second half. The drive to Kiffa on the southern edge of Mauritania, at 874 kms, is the longest of the Rally, and includes the rally’s longest SS of 599 kms. Considering the difficulty of the terrain to be traversed, this must be the peak of this year’s rally. Those who succeed in passing this test will head south the following day to Kayes in Mali. The participants will have now put the dunes behind them. After calling in at Bamako, the capital of Mali, on the 11th, the rally goes to Labe in Guinea on the 12th. This is the sixth country the rally traverses. Labe is a marathon bivouac, which means no assistance. Then, the rally goes north to Senegal and makes the final bivouac in Tambacounda. On the 14th the crews will finally reach Dakar. Then, on the 15th, at the conclusion of the final SS at the salt lake Lac Rose near Dakar, the finish ceremony will be held.