Plans to bring Dakar Rally back home

Plans are underway to return the famous Dakar Rally to Africa, a decade after the last race was held on the continent because of security problems in Mauritania, Etienne Lavigne, the Director of Amaury Sport Organisation, which organises the competition, has said.

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“We already have some avenues open, notably in Algeria, Angola and Namibia, where we’ve had very high-level talks with for several months,” Lavigne told news agency AFP.

Since the 2008 cancellation, the rally has been held in South America with the 2019 edition set to be held exclusively in Peru – the first time it has been confined to one country in its 41 year history.

Worsening economic conditions in Argentina and Chile, coupled with general difficulties hosting rally, are behind the push to return the race to Africa.

“If we can no longer host it in South America, we must find countries that have a topography that can offer up 10-12 days of competition,” Lavigne told AFP.

“This can be found elsewhere provided you have a little bit of time to anticipate it, ” he added.

Next year’s race in Peru will take place between January 6-17.

It will be a looping 10-stage rally-route mapped around the Peruvian deserts, with organisers admitting it “promises to be one of the sandiest in the history of the rally”.

The rally’s first edition was held in 1978 with competitors racing from Paris in France to Senegal’s capital, Dakar.