MOTORSPORT: Aussies in form for Dakar

Australian rally-raid competitor Peter Jerie will return to the Dakar for the fifth time in the new year as a South American champion – and with Australia's top co-driver, Dale Moscatt, making his Dakar debut alongside him.

Jerie has been declared the winner of the Dakar Series, which predominantly is a training ground for South American competitors for the torturous two-week Dakar Rally each January.

Jerie was born in the Czech Republic and has his Australian base on NSW's Central Coast. His business interests in Europe include soccer website livescore.com. He won Paraguay's Desafio Guarani and was third in Argentina's Desafio Ruta 40, while Peru's Desafio Inca was cancelled (Desafio means challenge).

The Paraguay success, by almost 3½ hours in extremely muddy conditions, was the biggest of Jerie's career.

He and a French navigator Laurent Lichtleuchter crewed a Toyota Hilux run by German-based South Racing and also topped the points in the related South American Codesur Championship.

The Dakar Series was run by the Mas Eventos organisation with the blessing of the French-based Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), which is known for running events including the Le Mans 24-Hour sports car race and the Tour de France cycling classic. ASO has staged the Dakar Rally in Europe and Africa, and since 2009 in South America.

Next January's Dakar will travel through Argentina and Bolivia after Chile opted out and Peru withdrew, despite forming an integral part of the marathon course for cars, bikes, quads and trucks.

Jerie did three Dakars in the middle of last decade without finishing and dropped out on the seventh stage last year before his first finish this year – in 42nd place, with a best daily result of 26th on the ninth stage.

"It was great to race in South America this year and, together with Laurent and the team, we had some really good results in some very tough events," Jerie said.

"It was also great preparation for me for the Dakar 2016.

"I would have loved to race in Peru, as the dunes and the country are fantastic.

"Laurent will be moving on to the official Toyota Autobody T2 team for Dakar and I will be racing [again in a South Racing Toyota Hilux] with Dale Moscatt, who is a great co-driver and active in WRC and the Asia-Pacific region."

Moscatt, of Sydney, was co-driver to Victorian Scott Pedder when they won last year's Australian Rally Championship, and together conducted a four-event WRC2 campaign this year.

He also partnered Cody Crocker to the 2005 ARC title in a Subaru and has competed in half a dozen of the now-defunct Australasian Safaris.

Before heading to South America in late December he has two rallies in China with Queenslander Chris Atkinson in a VW Golf 7 and the Alpine Rally in Victoria's Gippsland alongside South Australian Jack Monkhouse in a Datsun 180B at the end of this month.

The Dakar will be quite different from traditional rallying for Moscatt because there is no reconnaissance of the stages but satellite navigation and GPS are used.

Jerie and Moscatt appear to be the only Australians headed for next year's Dakar on four wheels, with Geoff Olholm of Cairns still recovering from severe back injuries suffered this year and Bruce Garland no longer competing, although motorcycle star Toby Price will be back as a KTM factory rider after his stunning podium last January.

"I've known Peter a long time – we did a rally together in Canberra 12 years ago and we had been going to do a Dakar in a truck a few years ago, but it didn't end up happening," Moscatt said.

"It will be a change. It's an unknown. There's a lot to learn. I'm doing plenty of research.

"I enjoy long endurance rallies.

"We'll be given a road book each night for the next day's stage and you need to put in three or four hours of preparation on it.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge."