Find out all you need to know for the start of the 2022 Dakar Rally

Where and when is the Dakar Rally?

The Dakar Rally was first organised in 1979 and became a rally race over tough tracks between Paris and Senegal. However, due to problems in Mauritania, the race was cancelled in 2008 and from 2009 the organizers decided to host the race in South America. However, since 2020, the race has been held entirely in Saudi Arabia.

The start of this edition is in Jeddah, where the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix took place a month ago. The first stage is divided into two parts: 1A and 1B. 1A is a big opener for cars, as the 1029km route to Ha'il is the second-longest of the entire race. On Monday, January 2, 1B will be held.

There will be a total of 12 stages (13 races as the first stage is split up) divided over 14 days. The rest day is on Sunday 8 January after six stages. The final and all-decisive race is on Saturday 14 January. The 12th stage from Bisha to Jeddah will then take place.

Who will be competing in 2021?

The reigning champions of last year will also be at the start this year. Kevin Benavides will start with number #1 in the motorcycles, Stephane Peterhansel with number #200 in the cars, Dmitry Sotnikov with #500 in the trucks, Manuel Andujar with #170 in the Quads and Josef Machacek with #300 in the Light Prototypes.

In total there are seven different classes: Motorcycles, Quads, Cars, Light Prototype, SSV, Truck and Classics. The classics will run shorter distances than the normal versions because those cars probably won't survive the original distances.

The three men to always keep an eye on are Stephane Peterhansel, Nasser Al-Attiya and Carlos Sainz snr. These three men always keep it exciting in the car championship and have already shared fourteen Dakar titles among themselves in the engine category. Sainz and Al-Attiya have won three each, while living legend Peterhansel has already won eight titles in the car category, having already won six on the bike.

Where can you follow the Dakar Rally?

As in previous years, GPblog will provide you with the latest news about the Dakar Rally. This year we will be bringing you up to date results of the day, the intermediate rankings after that day and of course you can also read the latest news and interviews with the participants here.

In the United Kingdom, the TV rights for the Dakar Rally are owned by EuroSport. They will broadcast some updates about the race during the day on Eurosport.