45th edition of the Dakar Rally takes place in the dunes of Saudi Arabia | Other Sports | Sports

The dakar rally will celebrate its 45 years of existence on the dunes of Saudi Arabia, with innovative and retro cars and with a background marked by security risks and political criticism of Riyadh.

On December 26, 1978, Thierry Sabine gave the first start from Trocadero, in Paris, 182 vehicles in the direction of the capital of Senegal. This December 31, one of the toughest resistance tests will leave from the shores of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia.

Dakar Rally reveals ‘unprecedented’ itinerary for 2023

After 29 years in Africa and 11 in South America to escape the terrorist threat, the rally-raid formerly known as Paris-Dakar takes place since 2020 on a third continent.

A sign that, despite the passage of time, this test continues to have an unparalleled appeal, with 170 entrants competing for the first time alongside veteran drivers and co-driverswith at least ten Dakar editions on their counters.

Fifteen days and 8,549 kilometers of competition to cross the Saudi scenery from west to east, with more than 800 drivers and co-drivers on motorcycles, cars, quads, trucks and light vehicles.

“The Dakar Saudi Arabia 2023″, as Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal, president of the Saudi Automobile Federation, calls it, is “the most important and most demanding competition in the world in motor sport”a competition that “reflects our ambitions and is part of the transformation of the journey of the kingdom”.

But this competition is still in the sights of many.

shadows on the horizon

Thus, humanitarian organizations denounce the “policy of ‘sportwashing’” of the leading economic power in the Arab world, which use Formula 1, football or boxing competitions to divert attentionespecially on the problem of violation of fundamental rights.

“Sports fans should not blindly believe the image fabricated and presented by the Saudi government through these events,” says Joey Shea, an expert on Saudi Arabia for Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The NGO documented “Widespread violations of human rights in the kingdomincluding arbitrary arrests of peaceful dissidents and humanitarian activists, some of whom have been sentenced to prison terms of several decades simply for posting on social media,” he said.

another shadow: the burst two days before the 2022 edition of the car of French driver Philippe Boutron, seriously injured. An “accident” according to Riyadh, an explosion caused by an improvised device, according to French investigators

Security has been reinforced, the organizer of the Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) has assured. Checkpoints, demining units and police patrols near the base camp prove it.

‘Extraordinary sensations’

The race, the first stage of the world rally-raid championship, will begin in the west, at ‘Sea Camp’ with timed specials of more than 400 km, before entering the second week in the ‘heart’ of the Dakar: an incursion in an ocean of dunes in the Rub al-Jali desert, also known as the ‘Empty Quadrant’.

The finish will be a special in the east on January 15bordering the sea, recalling the once traditional arrival at Lake Rosa in Dakar, “a nod to history”, according to the director of the Dakar David Castera.

“The Dakar as a whole is going to be difficult”predicts Sébastien Loeb (BRX), winner of the last edition of Extreme E, with “long specials in the dunes”, “extraordinary sensations with the cars we currently have”, but that to drive them the drivers will have to be “hyper-focused ”.

For the French, the objective will be to dethrone the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), quadruple rally winneralso in battle with the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Mini) and the other French star of the discipline, Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi).

In section motorcyclesthe British sam sunderland (GasGas) will defend his crown of the threat posed by the Australian Daniel Sanders (GasGas), the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda), the Austrian Matthias Walkner (KTM) and the Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Honda). (D)