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.
