2023 Dakar: “The Sand Diagonal”

With the 2023 Dakar Rally getting underway on December 31, let’s take a top-line squiz at what to expect from the grand-daddy of all rally races…

THE 2023 ROUTE…

Starting on a Sea Camp on the shores of the Red Sea and ending on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula – on the sands of the Arabian Gulf in Dammam – competitors in this year’s 45^th edition of the Dakar Rally will pack almost 5000km of specials into a prologue and 14 stages. The route will include a four-day adventure through the Empty Quarter, including the marathon stage, and is being billed as the toughest since the rally came to Saudi Arabia four years ago.

Using a new itinerary this time around, it’ll run from December 31, 2022, to January 15, 2023, and double as the first round of the FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship.

THE TERRAIN…

Try to wrap your meat pies around this 90-second snapshot of the majestic and incredibly varied Saudi Arabian terrain the 2023 Dakar Rally traverses.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THE 2023 EDITION…

An XXL bivouac starting with the “checks”
1 + 14 = 15 days of competition
3 days in the Empty Quarter
The “Explorers” rewarded
Random roadbooks: No copying!
Bikes: A bonus for opening a stage
A digital roadbook for everyone
Dakar Classic: Two new challenges
“Dakar Future”: A further step forward

Want more detail? Read more here as there’s have been some significant rules changes for the 2023 Dakar, a few of which should produce less yo-yo effect with the bikes’ results and more incentives to take stage wins.