Dakar 2020 - 7800 km in the kingdom of sand

ASO has unveiled the route for the first Dakar contested in Saudi Arabia next January. Sand will be very widely on the menu in the Saudi kingdom.

Published on 20/11/2019 à 12:20

⁰ View comments)

Dakar 2020 – 7800 km in the kingdom of sand

7800 km, including 5000 against the clock, portions offering dunes and sand (75% of the sections to cover) as far as the eye can see: the route of the Dakar 2020, contested for the first time in Saudi Arabia from January 5 to 17 , promises a new and competitive adventure for the competitors expected to depart from Jeddah.

© DPPI / E. Vargiolu

“The novelty of the 42nd edition comes from the desire to rebalance the forces present in favor of the less professionalized structures, indicates the organizer ASO.

The creation of new roadbooks written in color, distributed over several stages only a few minutes before the start of the special, precisely deprives the best-supported drivers of decisive help. »

The route, presented this morning in Paris at the Institut du Monde Arabe, will include 12 stages, the longest comprising 890 km (Wadi Al-Dawasir – Haradh), while the longest ES will be contested between Riyadh and Wadi Al-Dawasir with 546 km against the clock.

The sequence of the two stages Haradh – Shubaytah and Shubaytah – Haradh, organized on January 15 and 16, will make up the famous marathon stage of this 2020 edition.

351 vehicles, including 134 cars and SSVs, are registered on the various entry lists, where the favorites like the outgoing winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, but also the “rookie” will logically be observed. Fernando Alonso.

“I'm going to the Dakar with the idea of experiencing it, but above all with the idea of finishing it, explique l’Espagnol du Toyota Gazoo Racing. I know it will be very difficult. I think there is no more opposite than Formula 1 and the Dakar.

It's an interesting challenge, certainly impossible on paper, but I want to take it up, to learn. And the preparation that I carry out during these months enriches me as a pilot, which is one of my priorities when I face this type of challenge: to be better at the end of each of them. them. »

Discover all the information on the presentation of the Dakar 2020, in AUTO issue 2244hebdo, available next week in digital version and on newsstands.