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Dakar Rally


Rally Racing Automotive Africa

Dakar Rally
Event

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Official Site: Dakar.com
Wikipedia: Dakar Rally

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Dakar Rally is the common name for the rally race formerly known as the Paris-Dakar Rally. The longtime Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal route has changed several times since 1980, and following the cancellation of the 2008 event due to threats of terrorism the route was moved to a completely different continent: South America.

History

The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Dakar Rally page on 15 February 2019, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

The race originated in December 1977, a year after Thierry Sabine got lost in the Ténéré desert whilst competing in the Abidjan-Nice rally and decided that the desert would be a good location for a regular rally. 182 vehicles took the start of the inaugural rally in Paris, with 74 surviving the 10,000-kilometre (6,200 mi) trip to the Senegalese capital of Dakar. Cyril Neveu holds the distinction of being the event's first winner, riding a Yamaha motorcycle. The event rapidly grew in popularity, with 216 vehicles taking the start in 1980 and 291 in 1981. Neveu won the event for a second time in 1980, Hubert Auriol taking honours in 1981 for BMW. By this stage, the rally had already begun to attract the participation of famous names from elsewhere in motorsport, such as Henri Pescarolo and Jacky Ickx.

Now boasting 382 competitors, more than double the amount that took the start in 1979, Neveu won the event for a third time in 1982, this time riding a Honda motorcycle, while victory in the car class went to the Marreau brothers, driving a privately entered Renault 20, whose buccaneering exploits seemed to perfectly capture the spirit of the early years of the rally. Auriol captured his second bikes class victory in 1983, the first year that Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi competed in the rally, beginning an association that would last all the way until 2009.

At the behest of 1983 car class winner Jacky Ickx, Porsche entered the Dakar in 1984, with the total number of entries now at 427. The German marque won the event at their first attempt courtesy of René Metge, who had previously won in the car category in 1981, whilst Ickx finished sixth. Gaston Rahier meanwhile continued BMW's success in the motorcycle category with back-to-back wins in 1984 and 1985, the year of Mitsubishi's first victory of 12 in the car category, Patrick Zaniroli taking the spoils. The 1986 event, won by Metge and Neveu, was marred by the death of event founder Sabine in a helicopter crash, his father Gilbert taking over organisation of the rally.

Security concerns

The mid-2000s saw the Dakar Rally reach the height of its popularity. The entry list by 2004 increased to 595, up from 358 in 2001, with a record 688 competitors starting in 2005. Alongside Mitsubishi and Nissan, Volkswagen now boasted a full factory effort, while Schlesser's Ford-powered buggies and BMWs of the German X-raid team proved thorns in the side of the big budget works teams. The 2004 route was from Clermont-Ferrand to Dakar, and was the year Peterhansel emulated Hubert Auriol's feat of winning the rally on both two wheels and four. The Frenchman defended his title in 2005, when the rally began for the first time in Barcelona. In the bikes category, KTM continued their success with Nani Roma in 2004, who switched to the car category the following year, and Cyril Despres in 2005.

The 2006 event moved to Lisbon. Nissan pulled out having failed to provide effective opposition to Mitsubishi, who took a sixth consecutive victory, this time with former skiing champion Luc Alphand after Peterhansel committed a series of errors late in the rally. Peterhansel made amends in 2007, however, taking his third title in the car category for Mitsubishi after a close contest with Alphand after the increasingly competitive Volkswagens retired with mechanical problems. In what would be the final African event of the Dakar, Despres took his second title in the bikes category, having conceded victory in 2006 to Marc Coma after suffering an injury.

The 2008 event, due to depart Lisbon as per the previous two years, was cancelled on 4 January 2008 amid fears of terrorist attacks in Mauritania, causing serious doubts over the future of the rally. Chile and Argentina offered to host subsequent events, an offer later accepted by the ASO. The ASO also decided to establish the Dakar Series competition, whose first event was the 2008 Central Europe Rally, located in Hungary and Romania, which acted as a replacement for the cancelled 2008 edition of the Dakar.


Multimedia

DateMedia or Collection Name & DetailsFiles
8 January 2008Analysts Debate Economic Effects of Dakar Rally Cancellation
Jade Heilmann for Voice of America News

Article Page
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Article Index

DateArticleAuthor/Source
30 Decemeber 2001Gil Takkes Early Lead in Paris to Dakar RallyVOA Sports
4 January 2002Japanese Driver Wins Opening Half of Dakar Rally Marathon StageVOA Sports
6 January 2002Masuoka Wins Stage 9 of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
13 January 2002Masuoka Looks Certain to Win First Dakar Rally TitleVOA Sports
3 January 2003Dakar Rally : Peterhansel in Lead After Second StageVoice of America
4 January 2003Dakar Rally: Masuoka Wins 3rd Stage; Peterhansel Overall LeaderVoice of America
10 January 2003Dakar Rally Champ Shinozuka Seriously Injured in Race AccidentVoice of America
11 November 2004New Route of Paris-Dakar Rally UnveiledVOA Sports
30 December 2004Dakar Rally Gets Underway FridayVoice of America
31 December 2004Gordon Becomes First American to Win Car Category Stage in Dakar RallyVoice of America
6 January 2005Peterhansel Wins 7th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
10 January 2005Peterhansel Captures 10th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
11 January 2005Second Motorcyclist Dies at Dakar RallyVoice of America
12 January 2005Stage 12 of Dakar Rally Cancelled as Drivers Mourn Meoni's DeathVOA Sports
14 January 2005Vatanen Wins 14th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
16 January 2005De Villiers Captures Penultimate Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
31 December 2005Sainz Leads Dakar RallyVOA Sports
5 January 2006Magnaldi Takes 6th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
9 January 2006Automobilismo, Parigi-Dakar: Andy Caldecott è morto in un incidente in Mauritania Wikinotizie
9 January 2006Muere un piloto en el Rally Lisboa Dakar Wikinoticias
11 January 2006Giniel de Villiers Wins 11th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
13 January 2006Alphand, Coma Lead Dakar RallyVOA Sports
14 January 2006Tragedy Strikes Penultimate Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
1 January 2007Parte la sfida nel deserto del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
5 January 2007Dakar Rally Kicks Off SaturdayVOA Sports
6 January 2007Annual Off-Road Desert Competition, Dakar Rally, Starts SaturdayPhuong Tran
6 January 2007Prima tappa del Rally Dakar 2007 Wikinotizie
7 January 2007Annual Dakar Rally Starts in Lisbon Phuong Tran
7 January 2007Seconda tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
8 January 2007Terza tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
9 January 2007Un'altra vittima della Dakar, muore il motociclista Symons Wikinotizie
10 January 2007Carlos Sainz Increases Lead in Dakar RallyVOA Sports
10 January 2007Quinta tappa del Rally Dakar 2007 Wikinotizie
11 January 2007Sesta tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
11 January 2007Spain's Viladoms Captures First Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
12 January 2007Settima tappa del Rally Dakar 2007 Wikinotizie
14 January 2007Ottava tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
15 January 2007Nona tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
16 January 2007Decima tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
17 January 2007Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah Captures 10th Stage Victory in Dakar RallyVOA Sports
17 January 2007Security Concerns Force Cancellation of Dakar Rally's 11th StageVOA News
17 January 2007Undicesima tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
18 January 2007Dodicesima tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
18 January 2007Two Spaniards Win 12th Stage of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
19 January 2007Defending Champion Knocked Out of Dakar Motorcycle RallyVOA Sports
19 January 2007Tredicesima tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
20 January 2007Peterhansel Closing in On Another Dakar Rally TitleVOA Sports
20 January 2007Quattordicesima tappa Rally Dakar, muore il motociclista Eric Aubijoux Wikinotizie
21 January 2007Quindicesima e ultima tappa del Rally Dakar Wikinotizie
21 January 2007Two Frenchmen Win Auto, Motorcycle Dakar RallyNico Colombant
3 January 2008French Citizens Warned Ahead of Dakar RallyVOA Sports
4 January 2008Dakar Rally Canceled Due to Terrorism ThreatsVOA Sports
4 January 2008Rischio terrorismo: annullata la Dakar 2008 Wikinotizie
4 January 2008Se suspende la versión 2008 del rally Lisboa-Dakar por problemas de seguridad Wikinoticias
5 January 20082008 Dakar Rally cancelled over terrorist threatWikinews
8 January 2008Analysts Debate Economic Effects of Dakar Rally Cancellation Jade Heilmann
11 February 2008El Dakar 2009 será en Argentina y Chile Wikinoticias
31 December 2008El rally Dakar ya se palpita en Buenos Aires Wikinoticias
2 January 2009Dakar Rally Gets Underway in South AmericaVOA Sports
4 January 2009Los españoles Sainz y Coma están al frente en el Rally Dakar Wikinoticias
31 December 2009Drivers, Motorcycle Riders Make Final Preparations for Dakar RallyVoice of America
2 January 2011Spaniard Sainz Wins Opening Stage Of Dakar RallyVOA Breaking News
2 January 2011В Аргентине стартовало ралли «Дакар 2011» Викиновости
15 January 2011Qatar’s Al-Attiyah and Spain’s Coma Win 2011 Dakar RallyVOA Breaking News
30 December 2011Рали „Дакар” по БНТ1 и БНТ2 УикиНовини
1 January 2012Largó el Rally Dakar 2012 en Mar del PlataWikinoticias
22 December 2013Bringing The Dakar Rally To The World Geoff Maxted, DriveWrite Automotive
19 January 2016Ekipa De Rooy ostvarila pobedu na trci Dakar 2016 uz pomoć Goodyearovih pneumatika Викивести
4 January 2019Penthouse World Media and Penthouse Clubs Global Licensing Partner to Sponsor Olga Rouckova for Dakar RallyPenthouse





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