The Dakar again in South America

Building on the success of the first edition of the Dakar in South America and their good relations with the Argentinian and Chilean governments, the organizers announced that the next edition would take place in these two countries once again, from January 2 to 17. .

The route of the event will still be revised, with a better distribution of stages between the two countries (only 4 last year in Chile, compared to 10 in Argentina), and the participants will be subject to a more selective selection. pushed, in order to avoid tragedies like that which occurred to French biker Pascal Terry, found dead on January 7, more than 56 hours after getting lost during the 2nd stage between Santa Rosa and Puerto Madryn.

The start and finish will still take place in Buenos Aires, but the immense playing field offered by these two countries should allow the organizers to offer a more sophisticated route, neither too difficult nor too easy. Especially since after this first experience with the 2009 Dakar, they now know the specificities of the different terrains.

“The general idea is to leave much further north and quickly from Buenos Aires to reach more open terrain, more accessible to the Dakar in terms of competition,” explained Etienne Lavigne, the boss of the race.

The Chilean Deputy Minister of Sports, Jaime Pizarro, declared himself delighted by the fact that the Dakar was returning to his country with a more equitable distribution of stages. He would also have promised a budget of 6 million dollars in total to host the 2010 edition, an increase of 300% compared to that allocated this year. The majority being assigned to the security of the rally firstly, he said.

Asked about a possible return of the Dakar to Africa, Yann Le Moenner, deputy general director of ASO, declared that “The genes of the Dakar are obviously in Africa, but, for the moment, it would not be reasonable to return to the continent. black ".