Dakar Rally
Encyclopedia
The Dakar Rally is an annual rally raid
Rally raid
Rally raid, also known as cross country rallying is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. Each day may require traveling up to . The length of the event can be 3–15 days...

 type of off-road automobile race
Off-road racing
Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles compete in races through off-road environments.-North America:...

, organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...

. Most events since the inception in 1978 were from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France, to Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

, but due to security threats in Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

 which led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally
2008 Dakar Rally
The 2008 Dakar Rally would have been the 30th running of the annual off-road race. The rally was to start in Lisbon, Portugal on 5 January 2008, running through Europe and Africa until the finish in Dakar, Senegal on 20 January...

, the 2009 Dakar Rally
2009 Dakar Rally
The 2009 Dakar Rally was the 30th running of the Dakar Rally. In addition to motorcycle, automobile, and truck categories, a separate quad class was added for the first time. The race began on January 3, 2009, and took place across Argentina and Chile...

 was run in South America (Argentina and Chile), the first time the race took place outside of Europe and Africa. It has stayed in South America from 2009 to the present (2011). The race is open to amateur and professional entries. Amateurs typically make up about eighty percent of the participants.

Despite its name it is an off-road endurance race, called a rally-raid
Rally raid
Rally raid, also known as cross country rallying is a form of long distance off-road racing that takes place over several days. Each day may require traveling up to . The length of the event can be 3–15 days...

 rather than a conventional rally – the terrain the competitors traverse is much tougher and the vehicles used are true off-road vehicles rather than the modified on-road vehicles used in rallies. Most of the competitive special sections are off-road, crossing dunes, mud, camel grass, rocks and erg
Erg (landform)
An erg is a broad, flat area of desert covered with wind-swept sand with little or no vegetative cover. The term takes its name from the Arabic word ʿarq , meaning "dune field"...

 among others. The distances of each stage covered vary from short distances up to 800–900 km (497.1–559.2 ) per day.

History and route

The race originated in 1978, a year after racer Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine was a French wrangler, motorcycle racer, and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar....

 got lost in the desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 and decided that it would be a good location for a regular rally. Originally, the rally was from Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France, to Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

, Senegal, interrupted by a transfer across the Mediterranean. However, due to politics and other factors, the course, including origin and destination, has varied over the years. Dakar has been the destination city on all but four occasions during the period the rally was held in Africa (i.e., prior to 2009). The event started from Paris every year from 1979 to 1994, and also in 1998 and 2001. In 1994 the rally both began and ended in Paris but, due to complaints by the mayor, the finish had to be moved from the Champs-Élysées
Champs-Élysées
The Avenue des Champs-Élysées is a prestigious avenue in Paris, France. With its cinemas, cafés, luxury specialty shops and clipped horse-chestnut trees, the Avenue des Champs-Élysées is one of the most famous streets and one of the most expensive strip of real estate in the world. The name is...

 to Euro Disney. This also caused the organisation to lay out the rally through different locations in following years.

Complete list of routes

  • 1979–1980: Paris–Dakar
  • 1981–1988: Paris–Algiers
    Algiers
    ' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

    –Dakar
  • 1989: Paris–Tunis
    Tunis
    Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

    –Dakar
  • 1990–1991: Paris–Tripoli
    Tripoli
    Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

    –Dakar
  • 1992: Paris–Cape Town
    Cape Town
    Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

  • 1993: Paris–Dakar
  • 1994: Paris–Dakar–Paris
  • 1995–1996: Granada
    Granada
    Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

    –Dakar
  • 1997: Dakar–Agadez
    Agadez
    -Sources:* Aboubacar Adamou. "Agadez et sa région. Contribution à l'étude du Sahel et du Sahara nigériens", Études nigériennes, n°44, , 358 p.* Julien Brachet. Migrations transsahariennes. Vers un désert cosmopolite et morcelé . Paris: Le Croquant, , 324 p. ISBN : 978-2-91496865-2.*. Saudi Aaramco...

    –Dakar
  • 1998: Paris–Granada–Dakar
  • 1999: Granada
    Granada
    Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

    –Dakar
  • 2000: Dakar–Cairo
    Cairo
    Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

  • 2001: Paris–Dakar
  • 2002: Arras–Madrid
    Madrid
    Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

    –Dakar
  • 2003: Marseille
    Marseille
    Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

    Sharm el-Sheikh
    Sharm el-Sheikh
    Sharm el-Sheikh is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, Egypt, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 35,000...

  • 2004: Clermont-Ferrand
    Clermont-Ferrand
    Clermont-Ferrand is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of 140,700 . Its metropolitan area had 409,558 inhabitants at the 1999 census. It is the prefecture of the Puy-de-Dôme department...

    –Dakar
  • 2005: Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

    –Dakar
  • 2006–2008: Lisbon
    Lisbon
    Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

    –Dakar
  • 2009: Buenos Aires
    Buenos Aires
    Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

    Valparaíso
    Valparaíso
    Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

    –Buenos Aires
  • 2010: Buenos Aires-Antofagasta
    Antofagasta
    Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...

    -Buenos Aires
  • 2011: Buenos Aires-Arica
    Arica
    Arica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...

    -Buenos Aires
  • 2012: Mar del Plata
    Mar del Plata
    Mar del Plata is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, south of Buenos Aires. Mar del Plata is the second largest city of Buenos Aires Province. The name "Mar del Plata" had apparently the sense of "sea of the Río de la Plata region" or "adjoining sea to the Río de la Plata"...

    -Copiapo
    Copiapó
    Copiapó is a city in northern Chile, located about 40 miles east of the coastal town of Caldera. Founded on December 8, 1744, it is the capital of Copiapó Province and Atacama Region....

    -Lima
    Lima
    Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...



Until the 2008 terrorist attacks, more recent rallies passed through Morocco, Western Sahara and on to the grasslands and deserts of Mauritania. The segments running through Atar
Atar, Mauritania
Atar is a town in northwestern Mauritania, the capital of the Adrar Region and the main settlement on the Adrar Plateau. It is home to an airport, a museum and a historic mosque, constructed in 1674...

 and the sand dunes and canyons of Mauritania's Adrar Region may be the most challenging in all off-road racing
Off-road racing
Off-road racing is a format of racing where various classes of specially modified vehicles compete in races through off-road environments.-North America:...

. It was the Mauritania terrorist attacks that led to the demise of the classic Dakar.

In 1992, Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol is a former French racing driver and former director of the Paris-Dakar Rally. Auriol was the first racer to win the Dakar in both bikes and automobiles....

 won the Dakar in an automobile after having previously won the motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

 competition on two occasions, making him the first driver to win on both two and four wheels. Later on, Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

 managed to do the same. In 2001, Jutta Kleinschmidt
Jutta Kleinschmidt
Jutta Kleinschmidt is a competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the first woman to win the race....

 was the first woman to win the Dakar, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero, co-driving with fellow German Andreas Schulz.

The 2008 Dakar Rally
2008 Dakar Rally
The 2008 Dakar Rally would have been the 30th running of the annual off-road race. The rally was to start in Lisbon, Portugal on 5 January 2008, running through Europe and Africa until the finish in Dakar, Senegal on 20 January...

 was canceled on January 4, 2008 amid fears of terrorist attacks. This caused serious doubts over the future of the rally. Various newspapers in Africa called the cancellation a "death sentence" for the race. Chile and Argentina, in South America, offered their territory to host the event, as well as the Czech Republic, or Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 in Central Europe
Central Europe
Central Europe or alternatively Middle Europe is a region of the European continent lying between the variously defined areas of Eastern and Western Europe...

. The ASO finally decided to establish the Dakar Series competition, whose first event was the 2008 Central Europe Rally
Central Europe Rally
The Central Europe Rally was a rally-raid endurance race held in Romania and Hungary. It was held in 2008 as a replacement for the canceled 2008 Dakar Rally...

 (Hungary-Romania), between April 20 and April 26, 2008. The 2009 event was organised in the two South American countries, between January 3 and January 18, 2009. The competition has stayed in South America from 2009 to present (2011)

Vehicles and classes

The three major competitive groups in the Dakar are the motorcycle
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

 (moto) class (including quadbikes as one of the sub-classes), the car
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...

 class, (which ranges from buggies
Dune buggy
A dune buggy is a recreational vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes or beaches. The design is usually a modified vehicle and engine mounted on an open chassis. The modifications usually attempt to increase the power-to-weight ratio by either lightening the...

 to small SUV
Sport utility vehicle
A sport utility vehicle is a generic marketing term for a vehicle similar to a station wagon, but built on a light-truck chassis. It is usually equipped with four-wheel drive for on- or off-road ability, and with some pretension or ability to be used as an off-road vehicle. Not all four-wheel...

s) and the truck
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

 class. Many vehicle manufacturers exploit the harsh environment the rally offers as a testing ground and consequently to demonstrate the durability of their vehicles, although most vehicles are heavily modified or purpose built.

Moto class

The Moto class is divided between three groups. Group 1 is Marathon, which are nearly unmodified production motorcycles, subdivided between engines of greater and less than 451 cc. Group 2 is Super-Production bikes, which are more substantially modified than Marathon bikes, subdivided between engines of greater and less than 451 cc. Group 3 for quads, subdivided between engines of greater and less than 500 cc.

Winning motorcycles include those made by Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...

, KTM
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

, Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Company
, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

 and BMW
BMW Motorrad
BMW Motorrad is the motorcycle brand of the German company BMW, part of its Corporate and Brand Development division. The current General Director of the unit is Hendrik von Kuenheim....

.

Car class—T1, T2 and Open

The car class is made up of vehicles weighing less than 3500 kg (7,716 lb) and subdivided into several categories. The T1 Group is made up of Improved Cross Country Vehicles and the T2 Group is made up of Cross Country Series Production vehicles. The Open class accepts weight-qualifying vehicles such as SCORE International
SCORE International
SCORE International is an off-road sanctioning body in the sport of desert racing and is famous for its flagship event, the Baja 1000 as well as the Baja 500 and San Felipe 250. SCORE races are held in United States and Mexico...

 trucks.

Originally, European utility vehicles like the Renault 4
Renault 4
The Renault 4, also known as the 4L , is a hatchback economy car produced by the French automaker Renault between 1961 and 1992. It was the first front-wheel drive family car produced by Renault....

, Land Rover
Land Rover
Land Rover is a British car manufacturer with its headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire, United Kingdom which specialises in four-wheel-drive vehicles. It is owned by the Indian company Tata Motors, forming part of their Jaguar Land Rover group...

, Range Rover
Range Rover
The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle produced by British car maker Land Rover. The model, launched in 1970, is now in its third generation...

, Mercedes-Benz G
Mercedes-Benz G-Class
The original 460-series Geländewagen went on sale for civilian buyers in 1979, after having debuted in February of that year. It was offered with two wheelbases, a short wheelbase of 2,400 mm and a long one of 2,850 mm. One could choose between three body styles: A two-door short...

, Volkswagen Iltis
Volkswagen Iltis
The Volkswagen Type 183, more commonly known as the Iltis , is a military vehicle built by Volkswagen for use by the German military and under licence by Bombardier for the Canadian Forces and Belgian Army...

 and the Pinzgauer
Pinzgauer High Mobility All-Terrain Vehicle
The Pinzgauer is a family of high-mobility all-terrain 4WD and 6WD military utility vehicles. They were manufactured in Guildford, Surrey, United Kingdom, by BAE Systems Land & Armaments. The vehicle was originally developed in the late 1960s by Steyr-Daimler-Puch of Graz, Austria, and was named...

, as well the Japanese Toyota Land Cruiser
Toyota Land Cruiser
The is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation. It is not related to the Studebaker Land Cruiser car produced in the US from 1934-1954....

, dominated the race. Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

 is the most successful model in race history, including 7 years straight (2001–2007). Other manufacturers have entered heavily modified street vehicles such as Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce Motors
Rolls-Royce Motors was created from the de-merger of the Rolls-Royce car business from Rolls-Royce Limited in 1973. The original Rolls-Royce Limited had been nationalised in 1971 due to the financial collapse of the company, caused in part by the development of the RB211 jet engine...

, Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...

, Peugeot
Peugeot
Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

 (405 T16
Peugeot 405
The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987 and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France. It used TU/XU petrol and XUD diesel engines....

 and 205 T16
Peugeot 205
The Peugeot 205 is a supermini produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1983 and 1998. It was declared 'Car of the Decade' by CAR magazine in 1990. The 205 won 1984 What Car? car of the year.-History:...

) and Porsche
Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German based holding company with investments in the automotive industry....

.

In 2003 prominent examples in the Car Class included the Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

, the Volkswagen Race Touareg, the Bowler Wildcat 200
Bowler Wildcat
The Bowler Wildcat is an off-road vehicle originally made by Bowler Offroad, it is an evolution of the Bowler Tomcat which is not based on the Land Rover Defender against common belief...

 and the Nissan Navara.

Mercedes Benz M
Mercedes-Benz M-Class
The Mercedes-Benz M-Class is a luxury mid-size sport utility vehicle , first offered in 1997 as a 1998 model, and built by the German automaker Mercedes-Benz. Gradually, the M-Class became a sales success in the United States and Mexico. In terms of size, it is slotted in between the smaller...

, BMW X5
BMW X5
The BMW X5 is a luxury crossover SUV introduced in 1999 as the first generation E53. It was BMW's first SUV also known as "Four-by-Four" in the UK. It features all-wheel drive which is branded as the "X" drive system and is available with either manual or automatic transmission...

 and BMW X3
BMW X3
The BMW X3 is a compact crossover SUV marketed by the German automaker BMW, based on the BMW 3-Series automobile platform, and now in its second generation. BMW designed the X3 in conjunction with Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria — who manufactured all X3s under contract to BMW for the first...

. Hummer H1
Hummer
Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...

 and Hummer H3
Hummer H3
The Hummer H3 was a crossover SUV/Sport Utility Truck from General Motors' Hummer division introduced in 2005 based on the GMT355 underpinning the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickup trucks. Produced at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana factory and the Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa the...

 sport-utilities were represented but did not appear in the leader positions.

Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...

 built a series of custom dune buggy
Dune buggy
A dune buggy is a recreational vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes or beaches. The design is usually a modified vehicle and engine mounted on an open chassis. The modifications usually attempt to increase the power-to-weight ratio by either lightening the...

 vehicles for the race and has won with them several times. American ("Baja
Baja 1000
SCORE Baja 1000 is an off-road race that takes place on Mexico's Baja California Peninsula in November. The Baja 1000 is part of the SCORE Championship Desert Racing Series that include the Baja 500, San Felipe 250 and the new San Felipe Challenge of Champions in place of the Primm 300 which had...

") style pro trucks have also made appearances but they have seldom won. At present the main competitors in the car class are Mitsubishi, Volkswagen and BMW.

Truck class—T4 and T5

The Truck class, also known as "Camions" or "Lorries", is made up of vehicles weighing more than 3500 kg (7,716 lb). They are divided into two groups, T4 and T5.

T4 class trucks participate in the competition, while T5 trucks travel from bivouac to bivouac to support the competition vehicles. T4 trucks may provide assistance during the special stages but must be homologated
Homologation (motorsport)
In motorsports, homologation is the approval process a vehicle, race track or standardised part must go through to race in a given league or series. The regulations and rules that must be met are generally set by the series' sanctioning body...

 vehicles. The T4.1 class covers production trucks, and the T4.2 class covers modified trucks.

T5 vehicles do not have to be homologated.

The T4 class has been composed of vehicles manufactured by Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

, LIAZ
LIAZ (Czech Republic)
LIAZ is a defunct Czech and Czechoslovak manufacturer of trucks. The company was formed in 1951 by the government as a division of Škoda. In 1953 LIAZ became independent of Škoda, but still continued to use its name until 1984...

, Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

, Hino
Hino Motors
-External links:Global* * * Overseas offices****.*.***.*.* - Philippines**...

, MAN, DAF
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

, Unimog
Unimog
Unimog is a range of multi-purpose auto four wheel drive medium trucks produced by Mercedes-Benz, a division of Daimler AG. The name Unimog is pronounced in German and is an acronym for the German "UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät", Gerät being the German word for machine or device...

, Renault Kerax
Renault Trucks
Renault Trucks is a French truck manufacturer with its corporate headquarters at Saint-Priest near Lyon. Originally part of Renault, it has been owned by Volvo Group since 2001....

, SCANIA
Scania AB
Scania Aktiebolag , commonly referred to as Scania AB or just Scania, is a major Swedish automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles - specifically heavy trucks and buses...

, IVECO
Iveco
Iveco, an acronym for Industrial Vehicle Corporation, originally an alliance of European commercial vehicle manufacturers such as Fiat , Unic and Magirus. Iveco is now an Italian truck, bus, and diesel engine manufacturer, based in Turin...

, and GINAF
GINAF
GINAF is a Dutch truck manufacturer which produces trucks mainly for heavy duty off-road transport, construction and agricultural work. About 250 trucks are made each year in the company's factory in Veenendaal in the Netherlands...

. In the 1980s, a strong rivalry between DAF
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

 and Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

 led to vehicles which had twin engines and more than 1000 hp
Horsepower
Horsepower is the name of several units of measurement of power. The most common definitions equal between 735.5 and 750 watts.Horsepower was originally defined to compare the output of steam engines with the power of draft horses in continuous operation. The unit was widely adopted to measure the...

 (750 kW). Later Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

, and Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

 took the race up. After 2000, renewed competition started in the truck class between DAF
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

, Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

, Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

 and Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

.

List of winners

Year Route Cars Motorcycles Trucks Quads
Driver
Co-driver
Make & model Rider Make & model Driver Make Rider Make
2011
2011 Dakar Rally
The 2011 Dakar Rally was the 32nd running of the event. It was held in Argentina and Chile for the third successive time, and ran from 1 to 16 January...

Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

-
-Arica
Arica
Arica is a city in northern Chile. "Arica" may also refer to:Places* Arica and Parinacota Region, Chile* Arica Airport , Chile* Arica, Amazonas, town in Colombia* Rio Aricá-açu, tributary of the Cuiabá River south of Cuiabá, BrazilOther...

-
-Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

  Nasser Al-Attiyah
Nasser Al-Attiyah
Nasser Salih Nasser Abdullah Al-Attiyah is a Qatari rally driver and sport shooter. He participates in the Production World Rally Championship , which he won in 2006, and the Dakar Rally, which he won in 2011...


  Timo Gottschalk
  Marc Coma
Marc Coma
Marc Coma i Camps is a rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the Dakar Rally in 2006, 2009 and 2011 riding a KTM motorcycle. He is also the World Champion in the Rallies Cross Country Motorcycles Tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2007.- Honours :- External links :*...

KTM 450 Rally
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Company
, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

2010
2010 Dakar Rally
The 2010 Dakar Rally was the 31st running of the event. It was held in South America for the second successive time, and ran from 1 to 16 January...

Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

-
-Antofagasta
Antofagasta
Antofagasta is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2002 census, the city has a population of 296,905...

-
-Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

  Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz Cenamor is a Spanish rally driver. He won the World Rally Championship drivers' title with Toyota in 1990 and 1992, and finished runner-up four times...


  Lucas Cruz
Lucas Cruz
Lucas Cruz Senra is a Spanish computer engineer, mostly known as a rally racing co-driver and experienced navigator. He started to race on 1994, when he race on the Catalonia Rally Championship...

  Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres is a French rally racing motorcycle rider, resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally in 2005, 2007 and 2010; riding a KTM motorcycle.- Rallye Dakar results:* 2000 : 16th* 2000 : 16th...

KTM 690 Rally
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Company
, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

2009
2009 Dakar Rally
The 2009 Dakar Rally was the 30th running of the Dakar Rally. In addition to motorcycle, automobile, and truck categories, a separate quad class was added for the first time. The race began on January 3, 2009, and took place across Argentina and Chile...

Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

-
-Valparaiso
Valparaíso
Valparaíso is a city and commune of Chile, center of its third largest conurbation and one of the country's most important seaports and an increasing cultural center in the Southwest Pacific hemisphere. The city is the capital of the Valparaíso Province and the Valparaíso Region...

-
-Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

  Giniel de Villiers
Giniel de Villiers
Giniel de Villiers is a South African racing driver. He was the winner of the 2009 Dakar Rally, and is also a 4 time South African Touring car and Off road racing Champion....


  Dirk von Zitzewitz
Volkswagen Touareg
Volkswagen Touareg
The Volkswagen Touareg is a mid-size crossover SUV produced by German automaker Volkswagen since 2002. The vehicle was named after the Tuareg people, a Berber-speaking group in North Africa...

  Marc Coma
Marc Coma
Marc Coma i Camps is a rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the Dakar Rally in 2006, 2009 and 2011 riding a KTM motorcycle. He is also the World Champion in the Rallies Cross Country Motorcycles Tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2007.- Honours :- External links :*...

KTM 690 Rally
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Firdaus Kabirov Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

  Josef Macháček Yamaha
Yamaha Motor Company
, is a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company. Yamaha Motor is part of Yamaha Corporation and its headquarter is located in Iwata, Shizuoka. Along with expanding Yamaha Corporation into the world's biggest piano maker, then Yamaha CEO Genichi Kawakami took Yamaha into the field of motorized...

2008
2008 Dakar Rally
The 2008 Dakar Rally would have been the 30th running of the annual off-road race. The rally was to start in Lisbon, Portugal on 5 January 2008, running through Europe and Africa until the finish in Dakar, Senegal on 20 January...

Dakar Rally Not Held
2007
2007 Dakar Rally
The 2007 Dakar Rally was the 29th running of the event. It started in Lisbon, Portugal on 6 January and ran through Europe and Africa until 21 January 2007.-Entrants:...

Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres is a French rally racing motorcycle rider, resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally in 2005, 2007 and 2010; riding a KTM motorcycle.- Rallye Dakar results:* 2000 : 16th* 2000 : 16th...

KTM 690 Rally
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Hans Stacey
Hans Stacey
Hans Stacey is a Dutch rally car driver. He participated in various national championships, where he became the champion of his country in 1991 and 1992, driving a Mitsubishi Galant VR 4...

MAN
2006
2006 Dakar Rally
2006 Dakar Rally also known as the 2006 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 28th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2006 event ran from 31 December 2005 to 15 January 2006. It started from Lisbon, Portugal, and passed through Spain, Morocco, Mali, Mauritania, Guinea, before finishing in Senegal...

Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Luc Alphand
Luc Alphand
Luc Alphand is a French former alpine skier and race car driver.- Skiing :Born in Briançon , Alphand made his World Cup skiing debut in 1984...


  Gilles Picard
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Marc Coma
Marc Coma
Marc Coma i Camps is a rally racing motorcycle rider. He won the Dakar Rally in 2006, 2009 and 2011 riding a KTM motorcycle. He is also the World Champion in the Rallies Cross Country Motorcycles Tournament in 2005, 2006 and 2007.- Honours :- External links :*...

KTM LC4 660R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz trucks in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2011, becoming the most successful single category pilot in the history of the tournament earning him the nickname "The Tsar of Dakar". he holds...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

2005
2005 Dakar Rally
2005 Dakar Rally also known as the 2005 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 27th running of the Dakar Rally event. The 2005 event was 5,565 miles long, began in Barcelona on 31 December 2004 and passed through Morocco, Mauritania and Mali before ending at Dakar in Senegal on 16 January 2005. The course was...

Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...


  Jean-Paul Cottret
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres
Cyril Despres is a French rally racing motorcycle rider, resident of Andorra. He won the Dakar Rally in 2005, 2007 and 2010; riding a KTM motorcycle.- Rallye Dakar results:* 2000 : 16th* 2000 : 16th...

KTM LC4 660R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Firdaus Kabirov Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

2004
2004 Dakar Rally
2004 Dakar Rally also known as the 2004 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 26th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally started in the Auvergne region of France, passing through Morocco, Mauritania and Mali, and finishing Dakar in Senegal. The competitors included former world rally champion Colin...


-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...


  Jean-Paul Cottret
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Nani Roma
Nani Roma
Nani Roma, full name Joan Roma Cararach, is a rally racing driver from Folgueroles, a small village in Barcelona, Spain. He won the Dakar Rally riding a motorcycle in 2004. Since then he has entered driving a car.-Honours:...

KTM LC4 660R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz trucks in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2011, becoming the most successful single category pilot in the history of the tournament earning him the nickname "The Tsar of Dakar". he holds...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

2003
2003 Dakar Rally
2003 Dakar Rally also known as the 2003 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 25th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally began on 1 January 2003 at Marseille in France and finished at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt on 19 January, with the course crossing North Africa. Kenjiro Shinozuka, who won the event in...

Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

-
-Sharm el Sheikh
  Hiroshi Masuoka
Hiroshi Masuoka
Hiroshi Masuoka is a Japanese rally driver. His most notable achievement was his back-to-back successes in the Dakar Rally in 2002 and 2003, only the fourth driver in the event's history to win in consecutive years. He was also victorious in the 2003 Baja Italy and the 2004 UAE Desert Challenge...


  Andreas Schulz
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct was a French Rally Raid Motorcycle Rider, best known for his three victories on the Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003....

KTM LC4 660R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz trucks in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2011, becoming the most successful single category pilot in the history of the tournament earning him the nickname "The Tsar of Dakar". he holds...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

2002
2002 Dakar Rally
2002 Dakar Rally also known as the 2002 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 24th running of the Dakar Rally event. The format of the rally was revised for 2002 with the introduction of two-day stages and two stages without the use of navigation aids. The race started in Arras in northern France on 28...

Arras-Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

-
-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Hiroshi Masuoka
Hiroshi Masuoka
Hiroshi Masuoka is a Japanese rally driver. His most notable achievement was his back-to-back successes in the Dakar Rally in 2002 and 2003, only the fourth driver in the event's history to win in consecutive years. He was also victorious in the 2003 Baja Italy and the 2004 UAE Desert Challenge...


  Pascal Maimon
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni was an Italian off road and Rallying motorcycle racer. He was a member of the KTM Factory Team.He won at the Dakar Rally in 2001 and 2002....

KTM LC8 950R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz trucks in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2011, becoming the most successful single category pilot in the history of the tournament earning him the nickname "The Tsar of Dakar". he holds...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

2001
2001 Dakar Rally
2001 Dakar Rally also known as the 2001 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 23rd running of the Dakar Rally event. The format was revised to reduce the amount of airborne assistance to competitors in favour of assistance vehicles...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Jutta Kleinschmidt
Jutta Kleinschmidt
Jutta Kleinschmidt is a competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the first woman to win the race....


  Andreas Schulz
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni was an Italian off road and Rallying motorcycle racer. He was a member of the KTM Factory Team.He won at the Dakar Rally in 2001 and 2002....

KTM LC4 660R
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

  Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

2000
2000 Dakar Rally
2000 Dakar Rally also known as the 2000 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 22nd running of the Dakar Rally event. The event began in January 2000 in Senegal and ended in Cairo. It had been re-routed to avoid Mauritania following an armed robbery of competitors in the 1999 rally. A stage of the rally between...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

-Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

  Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...


  Henri Magne
Schlesser-Renault Buggy
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...

  Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct was a French Rally Raid Motorcycle Rider, best known for his three victories on the Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003....

BMW F650RR
BMW F650 single
The BMW F650 is a family of single-cylinder motorcycles that was produced by BMW Motorrad beginning in 1993. Models include the F650ST Strada, F650 Funduro, F650GS, F650GS Dakar and latterly the G650GS...

  Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Chagin
Vladimir Gennadiyevich Chagin is a Russian rally raid driver. He has won the Dakar Rally driving Kamaz trucks in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2011, becoming the most successful single category pilot in the history of the tournament earning him the nickname "The Tsar of Dakar". he holds...

Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

1999
1999 Dakar Rally
1999 Dakar Rally also known as the 1999 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 21st running of the Dakar Rally event. The race began on 1 January 1999 with 1998 winner, Jean-Pierre Fontenay, being the favourites to win the race. After the fifth stage, the overall rally leader was German driver, Jutta...

Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...


  Philippe Monnet
Philippe Monnet
Philippe Monnet is a single-handed sailor from France, born in La Clusaz.-Records:*1988: World record - solo sail on "Kriter" ....

Schlesser-Renault Buggy
Jean-Louis Schlesser
Jean-Louis Schlesser is a French racing driver with experience in circuit racing and cross-country rallying. He is known for his successful wins of many different competitions...

  Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct
Richard Sainct was a French Rally Raid Motorcycle Rider, best known for his three victories on the Paris-Dakar rally in 1999, 2000 and 2003....

BMW F650RR
BMW F650 single
The BMW F650 is a family of single-cylinder motorcycles that was produced by BMW Motorrad beginning in 1993. Models include the F650ST Strada, F650 Funduro, F650GS, F650GS Dakar and latterly the G650GS...

  Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

1998
1998 Dakar Rally
1998 Dakar Rally also known as the 1998 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 20th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally returned to a Paris to Dakar route. A number of competitors were attacked near the end of the ninth stage, at Taoudenni in Mali. Jean-Pierre Fontenay won the car class and Stephane...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

-
-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Jean-Pierre Fontenay
  Gilles Picard
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

Yamaha YZE850T   Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

1997
1997 Dakar Rally
1997 Dakar Rally also known as the 1997 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 19th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally started and finished in Dakar, taking in a loop including Niger and the Ténéré desert. Jutta Kleinschmidt became the first woman to win a stage of the Dakar Rally...

Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

-Agades-
-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Kenjiro Shinozuka
Kenjiro Shinozuka
is a Japanese rally driver. Since his debut in 1967, his greatest successes have been as a works driver for Mitsubishi Motors. Behind the wheel of a Galant VR-4 he won the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in 1988 and scored consecutive victories in the Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama in 1991 and 1992,...


  Henri Magne
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

Yamaha YZE850T   Peter Reif Hino
1996
1996 Dakar Rally
1996 Dakar Rally also known as the 1996 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 18th running of the Dakar Rally event. Pierre Lartigue won the car class for the third year in succession and Edi Orioli won his fourth motorcycle title....

Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Pierre Lartigue
  Michel Perin
Michel Périn
Michel Périn is a French rally navigator.-Biography:He started racing in 1977. In 1984 he turned professional as copilot of François Chatriot, and finished second in the French Rally Championship, championship that he would win in 1988, 1989 and 1990.He changed to offroad rally racing in 1992, to...

Citroën ZX
Citroën ZX
The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.During the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall/Opel Astra, a market segment Citroën had moved away from when the...

  Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli , is an Italian rallying motorcycle racer.Many consider Orioli to be one of the best motorcyclists in rallying, with four victories in the Dakar Rally, and one victory in the Pharaoh Rally, and was considered a great motorcyclist before commencing a career in automobile racing.-Honours:*...

Yamaha YZE850T   Viktor Moskovskikh Kamaz
Kamaz
KAMAZ is a Russian truck manufacturer located in Naberezhnye Chelny, Tatarstan, Russian Federation. KAMAZ opened their doors in 1976...

1995
1995 Dakar Rally
1995 Dakar Rally also known as the 1995 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 17th running of the Dakar Rally event. The race began outside France for the first time, at Grenada in Spain. Pierre Lartigue won the car class for the second year in succession and Stephane Peterhansel won his fourth motorcycle title....

Granada
Granada
Granada is a city and the capital of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence of three rivers, the Beiro, the Darro and the Genil. It sits at an elevation of 738 metres above sea...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Pierre Lartigue
  Michel Perin
Michel Périn
Michel Périn is a French rally navigator.-Biography:He started racing in 1977. In 1984 he turned professional as copilot of François Chatriot, and finished second in the French Rally Championship, championship that he would win in 1988, 1989 and 1990.He changed to offroad rally racing in 1992, to...

Citroën ZX
Citroën ZX
The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.During the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall/Opel Astra, a market segment Citroën had moved away from when the...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

Yamaha YZE850T   Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

1994
1994 Dakar Rally
1994 Dakar Rally also known as the 1994 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 16th running of the Dakar Rally event. The route was from Paris to Dakar and back to Paris. Pierre Lartigue won the rally while Edi Orioli won his third motorcycle title....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

-Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

  Pierre Lartigue
  Michel Perin
Michel Périn
Michel Périn is a French rally navigator.-Biography:He started racing in 1977. In 1984 he turned professional as copilot of François Chatriot, and finished second in the French Rally Championship, championship that he would win in 1988, 1989 and 1990.He changed to offroad rally racing in 1992, to...

Citroën ZX
Citroën ZX
The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.During the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall/Opel Astra, a market segment Citroën had moved away from when the...

  Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli , is an Italian rallying motorcycle racer.Many consider Orioli to be one of the best motorcyclists in rallying, with four victories in the Dakar Rally, and one victory in the Pharaoh Rally, and was considered a great motorcyclist before commencing a career in automobile racing.-Honours:*...

  Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

1993
1993 Dakar Rally
1993 Dakar Rally also known as the 1993 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 15th running of the Dakar Rally event. 154 competitors started the rally, which returned to its original route. The rally was won by Bruno Saby; Stephane Peterhansel won the motorcycle class for the third time....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Bruno Saby
Bruno Saby
Bruno Saby is a rally driver from France.In 1981, Saby became French Rally Champion in a Renault 5 Turbo. He drove for the works teams of Renault, Peugeot, Volkswagen and Lancia during his career in the World Rally Championship...


  Dominique Seriyes
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

Yamaha YZE850T   Francesco Perlini Perlini
Perlini
Perlini or Perlini Equipment SpA is an Italian off-road dump truck/lorry manufacturer.Established in 1957 by Roberto Perlini, Perlini is based in San Bonifacio....

1992
1992 Dakar Rally
1992 Dakar Rally also known as the 1992 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 14th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally had a new 7,722 mile long route, starting from Paris, France, on 23 December 1991 and finishing at Cape Town, South Africa, on 16 January 1992, passing through Libya, Angola and Namibia...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Sirte
Sirte
Sirte is a city in LibyaSirte may also refer to:* Sirte Declaration, a 1999 resolution to create the African Union* Sirte Oil Company, a Libyan oil companyIn geography:* Gulf of Sirte, alias for Gulf of Sidra on Libya's coast...

-
-Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...

  Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol is a former French racing driver and former director of the Paris-Dakar Rally. Auriol was the first racer to win the Dakar in both bikes and automobiles....


  Philippe Monnet
Philippe Monnet
Philippe Monnet is a single-handed sailor from France, born in La Clusaz.-Records:*1988: World record - solo sail on "Kriter" ....

Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

Yamaha YZE850T   Francesco Perlini Perlini
Perlini
Perlini or Perlini Equipment SpA is an Italian off-road dump truck/lorry manufacturer.Established in 1957 by Roberto Perlini, Perlini is based in San Bonifacio....

1991
1991 Dakar Rally
1991 Dakar Rally also known as the 1991 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 13th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally was won by 1981 world rally champion, Ari Vatanen, for the third successive time and for the fourth time in five years. Stephane Peterhansel won the motorcycle category....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

-
-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Ari Vatanen
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and Member of the European Parliament 1999–2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times....


  Bruno Berglund
Citroën ZX
Citroën ZX
The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998.During the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's competitor in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall/Opel Astra, a market segment Citroën had moved away from when the...

  Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally racing driver from France. He won the Paris Dakar Rally riding Yamaha motorcycles in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, and 1998 and then again driving Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs in 2004, 2005 and 2007, making him one of the most successful drivers in the history of that race...

Yamaha YZE750T   Jacques Houssat Perlini
Perlini
Perlini or Perlini Equipment SpA is an Italian off-road dump truck/lorry manufacturer.Established in 1957 by Roberto Perlini, Perlini is based in San Bonifacio....

1990
1990 Dakar Rally
1990 Dakar Rally also known as the 1990 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 12th running of the Dakar Rally event. 465 competitors started from La Défense. The rally was won by 1981 world rally champion, Ari Vatanen, for the third time in four years. The motorcycle class was won by Edi Orioli....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Tripoli
Tripoli
Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

-
-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Ari Vatanen
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and Member of the European Parliament 1999–2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times....


  Bruno Berglund
Peugeot 405 T16
Peugeot 405
The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987 and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France. It used TU/XU petrol and XUD diesel engines....

  Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli , is an Italian rallying motorcycle racer.Many consider Orioli to be one of the best motorcyclists in rallying, with four victories in the Dakar Rally, and one victory in the Pharaoh Rally, and was considered a great motorcyclist before commencing a career in automobile racing.-Honours:*...

Cagiva Elefant 900
Cagiva
Cagiva is an Italian motorcycle manufacturer. It was founded in 1950 by Giovanni Castiglioni in Varese, originally producing small metal components. It went into the motorcycle industry in 1978. The name is a portmanteau derived from the founder and the founding location, i.e. CAstiglioni GIovanni...

  Villa Perlini
Perlini
Perlini or Perlini Equipment SpA is an Italian off-road dump truck/lorry manufacturer.Established in 1957 by Roberto Perlini, Perlini is based in San Bonifacio....

1989
1989 Dakar Rally
1989 Dakar Rally also known as the 1989 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 11th running of the Dakar Rally event. The course went through Libya for the first time. A record 209 of the 473 competitors completed the rally. The rally was won by 1981 world rally champion, Ari Vatanen. The motorcycle class was...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Ari Vatanen
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and Member of the European Parliament 1999–2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times....


  Bruno Berglund
Peugeot 405 T16
Peugeot 405
The Peugeot 405 is a large family car released by the French automaker Peugeot in July 1987 and which continues to be manufactured under licence outside France. It used TU/XU petrol and XUD diesel engines....

  Gilles Lalay Honda NXR800V
1988
1988 Dakar Rally
1988 Dakar Rally also known as the 1988 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 10th running of the Dakar Rally event. 311 cars, 183 motorcycles, and 109 trucks started the rally. The rally was won by Juha Kankkunen; the motorcycle category was won by Edi Orioli...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Juha Kankkunen
Juha Kankkunen
Juha Matti Pellervo Kankkunen is a Finnish former rally driver. His factory team career in the World Rally Championship lasted from 1983 to 2002. He won 23 world rallies and four drivers' world championship titles, which were both once records in the series...


  Juha Piironen
Peugeot 205 T16
Peugeot 205
The Peugeot 205 is a supermini produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1983 and 1998. It was declared 'Car of the Decade' by CAR magazine in 1990. The 205 won 1984 What Car? car of the year.-History:...

  Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli
Edi Orioli , is an Italian rallying motorcycle racer.Many consider Orioli to be one of the best motorcyclists in rallying, with four victories in the Dakar Rally, and one victory in the Pharaoh Rally, and was considered a great motorcyclist before commencing a career in automobile racing.-Honours:*...

Honda NXR800V   Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais
Karel Loprais, born in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, on March 4, 1949, is a Czech rally raid driver and multiple winner of the Rally Paris-Dakar in the truck category....

Tatra
Tatra (car)
Tatra is a vehicle manufacturer in Kopřivnice, Czech Republic. The company was founded in 1850 as Schustala & Company later renamed Nesselsdorfer Wagenbau-Fabriksgesellschaft, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, and in 1897 produced the first motor car in central Europe, the Präsident. In 1918, it...

1987
1987 Dakar Rally
1987 Dakar Rally also known as the 1987 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 9th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally was won by 1981 world rally champion, Ari Vatanen. Cyril Neveu won his fifth motorcycle title after Hubert Auriol broke both ankles in a fall and retired....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Ari Vatanen
Ari Vatanen
Ari Pieti Uolevi Vatanen is a Finnish rally driver turned politician and Member of the European Parliament 1999–2009. Vatanen won the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times....


  Bernard Giroux
Peugeot 205 T16
Peugeot 205
The Peugeot 205 is a supermini produced by the French car manufacturer Peugeot between 1983 and 1998. It was declared 'Car of the Decade' by CAR magazine in 1990. The 205 won 1984 What Car? car of the year.-History:...

  Cyril Neveu Honda NXR750V   Jan de Rooy DAF
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

1986
1986 Dakar Rally
1986 Dakar Rally also known as the 1986 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 8th running of the Dakar Rally event. René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne won the car class for the second time; Cyril Neveu won the motorcycle class. The event was overshadowed by the death of the event organiser, Thierry Sabine, and...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  René Metge
  Dominique Lemoyne
Porsche 959
Porsche 959
The Porsche 959 is a sports car manufactured by Porsche from 1986 to 1989, first as a Group B rally car and later as a legal production car designed to satisfy FIA homologation regulations requiring that a minimum number of 200 street legal units be built....

  Cyril Neveu Honda NXR750V   Giacomo Vismara Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

1985
1985 Dakar Rally
1985 Dakar Rally also known as the 1985 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 7th running of the Dakar Rally event. The race began at Versailles. Patrick Zaniroli and Jean Da Silva won the car class for the Mitsubishi team. Gaston Rahier won his second successive motorcycle class....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Patrick Zaniroli
  Jean Da Silva
Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi Pajero
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a sport utility vehicle manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors. It was named after Leopardus pajeros, the Pampas Cat which is native to the Patagonia plateau region of southern Argentina. However, since pajero is an offensive term for "wanker" in Spanish, alternative names have...

  Gaston Rahier
Gaston Rahier
Gaston Rahier was a motocross racer from Belgium. He was three-time FIM World Champion in the 125cc division, claiming the title in 1975, 1976 and 1977 . He later went on to race in and win the famous Paris-Dakar rally for BMW motorcycles, in 1984 and 1985...

BMW GS980R
BMW R80G/S
The BMW R80G/S is a motorcycle manufactured in Berlin, Germany, by BMW Motorrad from 1980 to 1987. Production totalled 21,864 bikes.It was the first in the BMW GS family of specialised dual-sport bikes, of which over 500,000 have been produced....

Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

1984
1984 Dakar Rally
1984 Dakar Rally also known as the 1984 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 6th running of the Dakar Rally event. The course was extended through Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Mauritania. 427 competitors started. René Metge and Dominique Lemoyne won the car class with a Porsche 953, which was often...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  René Metge
  Dominique Lemoyne
Porsche 911
Porsche 953
The Porsche 953 was a heavily modified variant of the 911, designed and built specifically to compete in the 1984 Paris–Dakar Rally. It was a short lived model, as it was replaced in 1985 by the 959. It is sometimes referred to as the 911 4x4, as it used the developmental, manually controlled...

  Gaston Rahier
Gaston Rahier
Gaston Rahier was a motocross racer from Belgium. He was three-time FIM World Champion in the 125cc division, claiming the title in 1975, 1976 and 1977 . He later went on to race in and win the famous Paris-Dakar rally for BMW motorcycles, in 1984 and 1985...

BMW GS980R
BMW R80G/S
The BMW R80G/S is a motorcycle manufactured in Berlin, Germany, by BMW Motorrad from 1980 to 1987. Production totalled 21,864 bikes.It was the first in the BMW GS family of specialised dual-sport bikes, of which over 500,000 have been produced....

  Pierre Lalleu Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

1983
1983 Dakar Rally
1983 Dakar Rally also known as the 1983 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 5th running of the Dakar Rally event. The course crossed the Ténéré desert for the first time. A sandstorm led to 40 competitors becoming lost....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Jacky Ickx
Jacky Ickx
Jacques Bernard "Jacky" Ickx is a Belgian former racing driver who achieved 25 podium finishes in Formula One and six wins in the 24 hours of Le Mans.- Racing career :...


  Claude Brasseur
Claude Brasseur
-Biography:He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine as Claude Pierre Espinasse, the son of actor Pierre Brasseur and actress Odette Joyeux. He is the godson of Ernest Hemingway and the father of Alexandre Brasseur....

Mercedes 280 G
Mercedes-Benz G-Class
The original 460-series Geländewagen went on sale for civilian buyers in 1979, after having debuted in February of that year. It was offered with two wheelbases, a short wheelbase of 2,400 mm and a long one of 2,850 mm. One could choose between three body styles: A two-door short...

  Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol is a former French racing driver and former director of the Paris-Dakar Rally. Auriol was the first racer to win the Dakar in both bikes and automobiles....

BMW GS980R
BMW R80G/S
The BMW R80G/S is a motorcycle manufactured in Berlin, Germany, by BMW Motorrad from 1980 to 1987. Production totalled 21,864 bikes.It was the first in the BMW GS family of specialised dual-sport bikes, of which over 500,000 have been produced....

  Georges Groine Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

1982
1982 Dakar Rally
1982 Dakar Rally also known as the 1982 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 4th running of the Dakar Rally event. 382 competitors took part. The brothers, Claude Marreau and Bernard Marreau, won for the Renault team while Cyril Neveu won the motorcycle category for the Honda team.-Stages:...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Alger
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Claude Marreau
  Bernard Marreau
Renault 20
Renault 20/30
The Renault 20 and Renault 30 are two executive cars produced by the French automaker Renault between 1975 and 1984. The most upmarket and expensive Renaults of their time, the two cars were almost identical as regards sheet metal and mechanicals; the 30 was the larger engined and more expensive...

  Cyril Neveu Honda XR550   Georges Groine Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz is a German manufacturer of automobiles, buses, coaches, and trucks. Mercedes-Benz is a division of its parent company, Daimler AG...

1981
1981 Dakar Rally
1981 Dakar Rally also known as the 1981 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 3rd running of the Dakar Rally event. The car class was won by René Metge and Bernard Giroux. The motorcycle class was won by Hubert Auriol.-Stages:...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  René Metge
  Bernard Giroux
Range Rover
Range Rover
The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle produced by British car maker Land Rover. The model, launched in 1970, is now in its third generation...

  Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol
Hubert Auriol is a former French racing driver and former director of the Paris-Dakar Rally. Auriol was the first racer to win the Dakar in both bikes and automobiles....

BMW GS800R
BMW R80G/S
The BMW R80G/S is a motorcycle manufactured in Berlin, Germany, by BMW Motorrad from 1980 to 1987. Production totalled 21,864 bikes.It was the first in the BMW GS family of specialised dual-sport bikes, of which over 500,000 have been produced....

  Adrien Villette ALM/ACMAT
ACMAT
ACMAT , is a French producer of cross-country and tactical military vehicles since 1958...

1980
1980 Dakar Rally
1980 Dakar Rally also known as the 1980 Paris-Dakar Rally was the 2nd running of the Dakar Rally event. The 1980 event saw vehicle manufacturers, such as Yamaha, Volkswagen, Lada and BMW, taking part, and the introduction of a category for trucks....

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Freddy Kottulinsky
Freddy Kottulinsky
Winfried Philippe Adalbert Karl Graf Kottulinsky Freiherr von Kottulin, better known as Freddy Kottulinsky , was a German-Swedish racing and rallying driver who won the Paris-Dakar Rally in 1980. He was born in München....


  Gerd Löffelmann
Volkswagen Iltis
Volkswagen Iltis
The Volkswagen Type 183, more commonly known as the Iltis , is a military vehicle built by Volkswagen for use by the German military and under licence by Bombardier for the Canadian Forces and Belgian Army...

  Cyril Neveu Yamaha XT500
Yamaha SR500
The Yamaha SR500 is a popular thumper. It first started production in 1978, as a road-going version of the popular Yamaha XT500. It experienced good sales throughout the US, Europe and Australia. The SR500 is no longer sold in any market worldwide, but its sister bike, the SR400, was manufactured...

  Ataouat Sonacome
Sonacome
SONACOME is an Algerian construction equipment maker.Established in Algiers in 1957, the company has produced an off road vehicle for the Dakar Rally.- Products :* M210 transport truck* C260 transport truck...

1979
1979 Dakar Rally
1979 Dakar Rally also known as the 1979 Paris-Dakar Rally was the first running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally began on 26 December 1978 from Paris, France to Dakar, Senegal, interrupted by a transfer across the Mediterranean...

Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

-Dakar
Dakar
Dakar is the capital city and largest city of Senegal. It is located on the Cap-Vert Peninsula on the Atlantic coast and is the westernmost city on the African mainland...

  Alain Génestier
  Joseph Terbiaut
Range Rover
Range Rover
The Range Rover is a large luxury four-wheel drive sport utility vehicle produced by British car maker Land Rover. The model, launched in 1970, is now in its third generation...

  Cyril Neveu Yamaha XT500
Yamaha SR500
The Yamaha SR500 is a popular thumper. It first started production in 1978, as a road-going version of the popular Yamaha XT500. It experienced good sales throughout the US, Europe and Australia. The SR500 is no longer sold in any market worldwide, but its sister bike, the SR400, was manufactured...


Source: History of Dakar – Retrospective 1979–2007

Television coverage

Over 190 different countries take the international feed of the event with a roundup of every day being made into a 26-minute programme. This has been commentated on by Toby Moody
Toby Moody
Toby Moody is a British sports commentator focused on motor racing. He is the worldwide voice of the MotoGP series on Eurosport TV.2011 is his 16th season as trackside TV commentator for the MotoGP series. Many American racing fans would know him as the man who provided nightly, half-hour reports...

 for ten years but Ben Constanduros Speaks on the 2011 edition

The organisers provide 20 edit stations for various countries to produce their own programmes. There are four TV helicopters, six stage cameras and three bivouac crews to make over 1,000 hours of TV over the two week period. In the United States, coverage can be seen on the Versus network.

A television documentary Race to Dakar
Race To Dakar
Race to Dakar is a documentary series following actor and keen motorcyclist Charley Boorman's entry into the 2006 Dakar Rally from Lisbon to Dakar...

described the experiences of a team including the actor Charley Boorman
Charley Boorman
Charley Boorman is an English TV adventurer, travel writer and actor. He is well known for his association with motorcycles and enthusiasm for biking.-Education:...

 in preparation for and entry into the 2006 Dakar Rally.

Incidents

In 1982, Mark Thatcher
Mark Thatcher
Sir Mark Thatcher, 2nd Baronet is the son of Sir Denis Thatcher and Baroness Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, and twin brother of Carol Thatcher...

, son of the then British Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

 Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

, along with his French co-driver Charlotte Verney and their mechanic, disappeared for six days. On January 9, the trio became separated from a convoy of vehicles after they stopped to make repairs to a faulty steering arm
Steering
Steering is the term applied to the collection of components, linkages, etc. which will allow a vessel or vehicle to follow the desired course...

. They were declared missing on January 12; after a large-scale search, a Lockheed L100
C-130 Hercules
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is a four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built originally by Lockheed, now Lockheed Martin. Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport...

 search plane from the Algerian military
Military of Algeria
The People’s National Army is the armed forces of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria. Algeria has a large and reasonably well-equipped military to counter foreign and domestic threats...

 spotted their white Peugeot 504
Peugeot 504
The Peugeot 504 is a large family car manufactured by French automaker Peugeot between 1968 and 1983, with licensed production continuing until 2006.-1968 — introduction:...

 some 50 km (30 mi) off course. Thatcher, Verney and the mechanic were all unharmed.

The organiser of the rally, Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine
Thierry Sabine was a French wrangler, motorcycle racer, and founder and main organizer of Paris Dakar....

, was killed when his Ecureuil helicopter crashed at 07:30 p.m. on Tuesday 14 January 1986, into a dune at Mali during a sudden sand-storm. Also killed onboard was the singer-songwriter Daniel Balavoine
Daniel Balavoine
Daniel Balavoine was a French singer and songwriter. He was hugely popular in the French-speaking world, and inspired many singers in the 1980s, such as Jean-Jacques Goldman, and Michel Berger, his closest friend...

, helicopter pilot François-Xavier Bagnoud, journalist Nathalie Odent and Jean-Paul Lefur who was a radiophonic engineer for RTL
RTL (French radio)
In France, RTL is a popular nation-wide commercial radio network owned by the RTL Group.In 1931, Radio Luxembourg, the public radio network from Luxembourg, was privatised. Beginning in 1946, it could be heard easily in France. Until the 1980s, only the French public radio networks could transmit...

.

Six people were killed during the 1988 race, three participants and three local residents. In one incident, Baye Sibi, a 10-year-old Malian girl, was killed by a racer while she crossed a road. A film crew's vehicle killed a mother and daughter in Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

 on the last day of the race. The race participants killed, in three separate crashes, were a Dutch navigator on the DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks
DAF Trucks NV is a Dutch truck manufacturing company and a division of PACCAR. Its headquarters and main plant are in Eindhoven. Cabs and axle assemblies are produced at its Westerlo plant in Belgium...

 team, a French privateer
Privateer (motorsport)
In motor sport, a privateer is usually an entrant into a racing event that is not directly supported by an automobile manufacturer. Privateers teams are often found competing in rally and circuit racing events, and often include competitors who build and maintain their own vehicles...

, and a French rider
Motorcycle
A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

. Racers were also blamed for starting a wildfire
Wildfire
A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire in combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area. Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, squirrel fire, vegetation fire, veldfire, and wilkjjofire may be used to describe the same...

 that caused a panic on a train running between Dakar and Bamako
Bamako
Bamako is the capital of Mali and its largest city with a population of 1.8 million . Currently, it is estimated to be the fastest growing city in Africa and sixth fastest in the world...

, where three more people were killed.

In 2003 French driver Daniel Nebot both rolled and crashed his Toyota heavily at high speed killing his co-driver Bruno Cauvy.
In 2005, Spanish motorcyclist José Manuel Pérez died in a Spanish hospital on Monday, January 10 after crashing the week before on the 7th stage. Italian motorcyclist Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni
Fabrizio Meoni was an Italian off road and Rallying motorcycle racer. He was a member of the KTM Factory Team.He won at the Dakar Rally in 2001 and 2002....

, a two-time winner of the event, became the second Dakar Rally rider to die in two days, following Pérez on January 11 on stage 11. Meoni was the 11th motorcyclist and the 45th competitor overall to die in the history of the race. On January 13, a five-year-old Senegal
Senegal
Senegal , officially the Republic of Senegal , is a country in western Africa. It owes its name to the Sénégal River that borders it to the east and north...

ese girl was hit and killed by a service lorry after wandering onto a main road, bringing the total deaths to five.

In 2006, 41-year-old Australian KTM
KTM
KTM Sportmotorcycle AG is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and moped manufacturer.The company was founded in 1934 by engineer Hans Trunkenpolz in Mattighofen. It started out as a metal working shop and was named Kraftfahrzeuge Trunkenpolz Mattighofen...

 motorcyclist Andy Caldecott
Andy Caldecott
Andy Caldecott was an off road motorcycle racer born in Keith, South Australia. He won the Australian Safari Rally four times consecutively and was a competitor in the Dakar Rally in 2004 , 2005 , and 2006....

, in his third time in the Dakar, died January 9 as a result of neck injuries received in a crash approximately 250 km (155 mi) into stage 9, between Nouakchott
Nouakchott
-Government:The town was first divided into districts in 1973. First it was divided into four. From 1986, the city has been split into nine districts.* Arafat* Dar Naim* El Mina* Ksar* Riad* Sebkha* Tevragh-Zeina* Teyarett* Toujounine...

 and Kiffa
Kiffa
Kiffa is a city and department in south-central Mauritania. Kiffa is capital of Assaba Region. It is located at around .It is famous for its antique Kiffa beads....

, only a few kilometers from the location where Meoni had his fatal wreck the year before. He won the third stage of the 2006 event between Nador
Nador
Nador is a city located in the northeastern Rif region of Morocco. The city is a Mediterranean port on the Bḥar Ameẓẓyan lagoon , and it is the major trading center in the region for fish, fruit, and livestock...

 and Er Rachidia
Er Rachidia
Errachidia, is a city in Morocco, located in the province of the same name province of Errachidia, in the region of Meknès-Tafilalet. It was formerly known as "Ksar Es Souk". is a partially Amazigh and Arabic-speaking town in the in eastern Morocco....

 only a few days before his death. The death occurred despite efforts by the event organisers to improve competitor safety, including speed limits, mandatory rest at fuel stops, and reduced fuel capacity requirements for the bike classes. On January 13, a 10-year-old boy died while crossing the course after being hit by a car driven by Latvian Māris Saukāns, while on January 14 a 12-year-old boy was killed after being hit by a support lorry.

In 2007, 29-year-old South African motor racer Elmer Symons
Elmer Symons
Elmer Symons was a motorcycle enduro racer.He began enduro racing in 1996 and moved to the United States in 2003. He had placed well in numerous regional competitions and had participated in the 2005 and 2006 Dakar Rally as a support mechanic...

 died of injuries sustained in a crash during the fourth stage of the Rally. Symons crashed with his bike in the desert between Er Rachidia
Er Rachidia
Errachidia, is a city in Morocco, located in the province of the same name province of Errachidia, in the region of Meknès-Tafilalet. It was formerly known as "Ksar Es Souk". is a partially Amazigh and Arabic-speaking town in the in eastern Morocco....

 and Ouarzazate
Ouarzazate
-See also:* Tizi n'Tichka: The mountain pass that leads to Ouarzazate* List of Movies shot in Morocco-External links:* at IMDb...

, Morocco. Another death occurred on January 20, the night before the race's finish, when 42-year-old motorcyclist Eric Aubijoux died suddenly. The cause of death was initially believed to be a heart attack, however it was later suggested that Aubijoux died of internal injuries sustained in a crash earlier that day while competing in the 14th stage of the race.
The 2008 Dakar Rally
2008 Dakar Rally
The 2008 Dakar Rally would have been the 30th running of the annual off-road race. The rally was to start in Lisbon, Portugal on 5 January 2008, running through Europe and Africa until the finish in Dakar, Senegal on 20 January...

 was cancelled due to security concerns after al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a global broad-based militant Islamist terrorist organization founded by Osama bin Laden sometime between August 1988 and late 1989. It operates as a network comprising both a multinational, stateless army and a radical Sunni Muslim movement calling for global Jihad...

's murder of four French tourists on Christmas Eve in December 2007 in Mauritania (a country in which the rally spends eight days), accusations against the rally calling it "neo-colonialist," and accusations against Mauritania calling it a supporter of "crusaders, apostates and infidels". The French-based Amaury Sport Organisation
Amaury Sport Organisation
The Amaury Sport Organisation is part of the French media group, EPA . It organises sporting events including the Tour de France and Paris–Nice professional cycle road races, and the Dakar Rally...

 in charge of the 6000 kilometres (3,728.2 mi) rally said in a statement that they had been advised by the French government to cancel the race which had been due to begin on January 5, 2008 from Lisbon. They said direct threats had also been made against the event by al-Qaeda related organisations.

Omar Osama bin Laden
Omar Osama bin Laden
Omar bin Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden , better known as Omar bin Laden, is one of the sons of Osama bin Laden and his first wife and first cousin Najwa Ghanem . He is the 4th eldest son among twenty children of Osama bin Laden...

, son of Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...

, attracted news coverage in 2008 by promoting himself as an "ambassador of peace" and proposing a 3000 miles (4,828 km) horse race across North Africa as a replacement to the Dakar Rally, with sponsors' money going to support child victims of war, saying "I heard the rally was stopped because of al-Qaida. I don't think they are going to stop me."

In 2009, on 7 January, the body of 49-year-old motorcyclist Pascal Terry from France was found. He had been missing for three days and his body lay on a remote part of the second stage between Santa Rosa de la Pampa and Puerto Madryn.

In 2010, on 4 January, a woman watching the Dakar Rally was killed when a vehicle taking part in the race veered off the course and hit her during the opening stage on Saturday.

Criticism

When the race was held in Africa, it was subject to criticism from several sources, generally focusing on the race's impact on the inhabitants of the African countries through which it passed.

Some African residents along the race's course in previous years have said they saw limited benefits from the race; that race participants spent little money on the goods and services local residents can offer. The racers produced substantial amounts of dust along the course, and were blamed for hitting and killing livestock, in addition to occasionally injuring or killing people.

After the 1988 race, when three Africans were killed in collisions with vehicles involved in the race, PANA, a Dakar-based news agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...

, wrote that the deaths were "insignificant for the [race's] organisers". The Vatican City
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...

 newspaper L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...

called the race a "vulgar display of power and wealth in places where men continue to die from hunger and thirst." During a 2002 protest at the race's start in Arras, France, a Green Party
The Greens (France)
The Greens were a Green political party to the centre-left of the political spectrum in France. They had officially been in existence since 1984, but their spiritual roots could be traced as far back as René Dumont’s candidacy for the presidency in 1974...

 of France statement described the race as "colonialism that needs to be eradicated".

The rally was criticised before 2000 for crossing through the disputed territory of Western Sahara
Western Sahara
Western Sahara is a disputed territory in North Africa, bordered by Morocco to the north, Algeria to the northeast, Mauritania to the east and south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Its surface area amounts to . It is one of the most sparsely populated territories in the world, mainly...

, without the approval of the Polisario Front
Polisario Front
The POLISARIO, Polisario Front, or Frente Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of Frente Popular de Liberación de Saguía el Hamra y Río de Oro is a Sahrawi rebel national liberation movement working for the independence of Western Sahara from Morocco...

, which considers itself the representative of the Sahrawi people. After the race officials gained formal permission from the Polisario from 2000 onwards this ceased to be an issue.

The environmental impact of the race has been another area of criticism. This criticism of the race is notably the topic of the song "500 connards sur la ligne de départ" ("500 Assholes at the Starting Line"), on the album Marchand de cailloux
Marchand de cailloux
Marchand de cailloux is a studio album from French artist Renaud. It was released in 1991 and seen as a return to form after the less positive reviews for the previous album, Putain de camion.In this album Renaud again takes up socio-political themes...

by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 singer Renaud
Renaud
Renaud, born Renaud Séchan, is a French singer, songwriter and actor.Renaud may also refer to:* Renaud , a male French given name* Renaud , a 1783 opera by Antonio Sacchini* Renaud, Quebec, part of Laval, Quebec...

. According to recent figures provided by the Dakar Rally, the carbon emissions of the two week race are approximately equivalent to a Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 race.

Olivier Louchard at Climate Action Network France calculated that including all aspects related to the event, the 2010 race will produce 22,000 T of greenhouse gas
Greenhouse gas
A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range. This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone...

emissions.

External links

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