Dakar Rally is an annual international rally race in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom is hosting this prestigious competition for a period of ten years, starting in 2020. The rally is organized by the Ministry of Sport in coordination with the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation. The rally's track runs through multiple cities and provinces across the Kingdom. It traditionally commences in January and continues for two consecutive weeks. The Kingdom is the first Asian country to host this prestigious event on its territory.
On January 5, 2020, the Dakar Rally 2020 started from the coastal town of Jeddah and headed north, passing through al-Madinah al-Munawwarah and Tabuk. It then turned southeast across the Empty Quarter Desert to finish in Riyadh Province, on the podium of Qiddiya.
The Dakar Rally 2020 consisted of twelve stages spanning thousands of km. Around 342 male and female drivers from sixty-eight countries around the world competed in it. The participants' vehicles were divided into five categories: quad bikes, side-by-side lightweight vehicles, trucks, motorcycles, and desert-specific cars.
Dakar Rally 2021
On January 3, 2021, the Dakar Rally took off on Saudi territory for the second year. The race started and ended in Jeddah, with a prologue stage of eleven km, then proceeded south across several cities and governorates before heading to the center and north of the Kingdom, through Riyadh and Hail Governorates, then passed through Tabuk Province, to finish back again in Jeddah.
In 2021, The Dakar Rally crossed ten Saudi towns on a route of up to 7,600 km. The race included twelve normal stages:
- Stage one: Jeddah - Bisha.
- Stage two: Bisha - Wadi Al-Dawasir.
- Stage three: Wadi Al-Dawasir.
- Stage four: Wadi Al-Dawasir - Riyadh.
- Stage five: Riyadh - Qaisumah.
- Stage six: Hail.
- Stage seven: Hail - Sakaka.
- Stage eight: Sakaka - Neom.
- Stage nine: Neom.
- Stage ten: Neom - al-Ula.
- Stage eleven: al-Ula - Yanbu.
- Stage twelve: Yanbu - Jeddah.
Around five hundred professional drivers of varied nationalities competed in the 2021 race within six categories: cars, bikes, quad bikes, SSV light prototypes, and trucks, in addition to a new category that first participated in the rally, Dakar Classics.
Dakar Rally 2022
The forty-fourth edition of the Dakar Rally started, for the third consecutive year in the Kingdom, as the Future of Dakar on January 1, 2022, the largest edition hosted by the Kingdom in terms of the number of participants, amounting to 650 of seventy nationalities, and lasting for two weeks, in several Saudi regions.
The 2022 rally course comprised one prologue stage and twelve regular stages that included five circular stages and one marathon stage for the competitors. The competitors had to cover a total distance of 8,375 km, of which 4,258 km were special timed stages. The event attracted 578 vehicles across various racing categories, including the Dakar Classics.
The Dakar Rally 2022 schedule includes several Saudi cities in twelve stages:
- Stage one Hail: 1,128 km.
- Special stage: 352 km.
- Stage two: Hail – al-Urtawiya: 568 km – Special Stage: 338 km.
- Stage three: Al-Urtawiya – al-Qaisumah: 555 km – Special Stage: 368 km.
- Stage four: Al-Qaisumah – Riyadh: 707 km – Special Stage: 465 km.
- Stage five: Riyadh: 637 km - Special Stage: 421 km.
- Stage six: Riyadh: 562 km - Special Stage: 348 km.
- Stage seven: Riyadh - al-Dawadimi, 701 km - special stage 402 km.
- Stage eight, al-Dawadimi - Wadi al-Dawasir, 830 km, special stage: 395 km.
- Stage nine, Wadi al-Dawasir, 491 km, special stage: 287 km.
- Stage ten: Wadi al-Dawasir – Bisha: 759 km, special stage: 375 km.
- Stage eleven: Bisha - Bisha: 501 km, special stage: 346 km.
- Stage twelve: Bisha - Jeddah: 680 km, special stage: 164 km.
The launch of the Dakar Rally for the first time
Dakar Rally, named after its finishing line in Dakar, took off for the first time in 1978, specifically from Paris, France. It traveled through several countries in Africa until it reached its final destination in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. On April 25, 2019, the Ministry of Sport (previously the General Sports Authority) announced that the Kingdom would host the Dakar Rally for ten years starting in 2020.
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