The 2024 Dakar Rally will be the fifth successive event to take place entirely in Saudi Arabia, but organiser ASO has laid out a route that will be vastly different to previous years.
One of the biggest highlights of this year’s challenge is a two-day ‘chrono stage’, where competitors will have until 4pm to cover as much ground as possible before halting at the next bivouac they come across. They will head out again the following morning at 7am in order to be the first to reach the finish line, covering a competitive distance of nearly 600km in the process. To add to the difficulty, no assistance from teams will be allowed overnight as per ‘marathon stage’ rules, meaning drivers will have to fend for themselves in case of any technical drama.
But perhaps of even bigger interest is five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah’s defection to Prodrive after a lengthy stint at Toyota. Al-Attiyah has always been a well-known quantity in cross-country rallying and the success he has enjoyed in Dakar since the rally moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020 has elevated him among the most successful drivers ever in this discipline. His move could well dictate the results of Toyota and Prodrive this year, as well those of rival entrants.
We look at the prospects of all major manufacturers competing in the 45th edition of the world’s most popular rally-raid.