The next edition of the Dakar off-road rally, in 2023, will feature more days of competition, more kilometers and more countries to host the event, the organization announced.
The 45th edition of the most publicized off-road competition starts on December 31 on the edge of the Red Sea (in a place yet to be confirmed, outside of Saudi Arabia) and will last until January 15, with 14 stages and a prologue (15 days of competition).
It will be more than two weeks of competition, something that has not happened since 2012, even in South America.
The stages will be longer than in this year’s edition (some exceed 450 kilometres), with a total of some 5,000 timed kilometres, compared to 4,258 this year.
More than 70% of the stages will be new, guarantees the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), the company that organizes the Dakar.
To increase competitiveness, the organization extended the use of electronic ‘roadbooks’ to all competitors, having created two versions of the route “in most specials”, A and B, which will be delivered randomly.
Thus, the competitors cannot limit themselves to following the marks of the route, under penalty of losing the ‘way points’ that have been assigned to them if they make a mistake in ‘their’ ‘roadbook’.
Another novelty is related to motorcycle competition, in which there will be time bonuses for stage winners, just like in cycling, to prevent riders from abandoning the fight for victory to get a more favorable starting position. in the next step
Source: Observadora
