MOTORSPORT: Dakar’s new sands of time

Originally it began in Europe and charged into Africa. Then, when terrorism threatened, it was driven to South America for a decade. Now the Dakar Rally is about to begin a third life in the Middle East.

Once Christmas is out of the way and the new year ushered in, more than 550 competitors from 62 countries will assemble for the 42nd running of the toughest motorsport event on earth – for cars, motorcycles, trucks, quads and side-by-sides.

Starting on January 5, it retains the name Dakar, the capital of Senegal, which for the first three decades was the finishing point, but this time the entire event will be within Saudi Arabia, the largest country in the Middle East.

The course is 7500km, with 5000km of competition in 12 stages - five of them longer than 450km.

And three quarters of the rally will be over sand, but there will be mountains, canyons and wadis (ravines) as well.

Australia has four entrants this time, all on motorcycles – the most prominent being two-time and reigning two-wheel Dakar champion Toby Price.

Heading the KTM riders again in the face of huge effort from Honda, Price says that the event’s move to Saudi Arabia is “something new and a fresh place to explore, which is what Dakar is all about”.

And of the course he says: “They say that one kilometre in the sand is like three on hardpack terrain. When you consider that the 2019 Dakar was entirely in Peru, over 10 days, the 2020 version is 12 days and a lot longer … it’s likely to be a damn tough one.”

The car division will be a battle between Toyota and MINI.

The latter has ‘Mr Dakar’, French 13-time winner (on two and four wheels) Stephane Peterhansel, competing with his wife Andrea alongside him for the first time, as well as Spanish rally great and another Dakar winner, Carlos Sainz.

The Japanese manufacturer’s leading South African-built Hiluxes will be driven by two other Dakar victors - Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, a desert racing specialist, and South African ace Giniel de Villiers.

Toyota also is giving Spanish Formula 1 great and 24 Hours of Le Mans sports car winner Fernando Alonso his Dakar debut.

Alonso will have multiple Dakar motorcycle winner Marc Comba as his co-driver.

The event will start from Jeddah on the coast of the Red Sea and finish in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on January 17.

2020 Targa Tasmania will be longest in history

Next year’s Targa Tasmania will be the longest in the almost three-decade history of Australia’s premier tarmac rally, with one-third more competition.

Organisers have announced that the April 27 to May 2 event will have 626 kilometres of timed competitive running over 38 stages, compared with 473km in 33 stages this year.

The greatly-revised course will introduce two new stages at Golden Valley and Poatina in the island state’s north on the opening day and the Rinadeena stage between Queenstown and Strahan on the west coast has been reinstated on the third day for the first time since 2014.

“It will return Targa Tasmania back to the days of a genuine endurance rally, where simply finishing will again be seen as a major achievement,” Targa Australia chief executive Mark Perry said.

“This is the essence of the event and it is important to recognise this as we head towards our 30th anniversary celebrations in 2021.

“Competitors will be delighted with the new course and the new challenge of the event, and we know we need to constantly keep the event fresh to ensure its ongoing success.”

Launceston will be the event base for the first half of the week before two overnight stops at Strahan and then two in the capital Hobart.

Some particularly tough stages south of Hobart will be repeated on the final day.