The Dakar goes back to Africa. On 25 October ASO and the Saudi Motorsport Company called off the Saudi edition over the instability in the Middle East, and five days later ASO published the replacement: a start in Portugal’s Algarve, a ferry across the Mediterranean, and twelve stages across Morocco to Marrakech. It is the first Dakar in Africa since 2007, and the last two African editions started in Portugal too, from Lisbon. Saudi Arabia gets the rally back for its 50th edition in 2028.
The prologue runs at the Algarve stadium between Loulé and Faro on 9 January. Stage 1 heads east to the Strait of Gibraltar and an overnight ferry to Nador, and a 590 km transfer reaches Bouârfa, near the Algerian border, for two loop stages. Stage 4 crosses the Merzouga dunes to Zagora in the Draa valley, and stage 6 runs west to Agadir and the rest day on the Atlantic.
The second week goes south. Stage 7 has the longest special of the rally, 500 km from Agadir to Smara. From Smara the marathon goes out to a refuge bivouac with no assistance and comes back the next day, and a loop follows. Stage 11 is the longest day, 1,035 km north to Marrakech, and a 22 km special there finishes it on 23 January. That’s 4,341 km of specials in 7,824 km, against 5,320 km of specials in the Saudi plan; most specials run between 350 and 500 km.
Stages are numbered and drawn straight from town to town; rings mark loop stages that start and finish in the same town, and the dashed line is the untimed transfer. Each stage’s special and liaisons share one line, because ASO publishes the distances but not the tracks, and crews get each day’s roadbook the night before. The refuge bivouac and the ferry port haven’t been named, so those two points (hollow) are read off ASO’s route map. Imagery © Esri, Maxar, Earthstar Geographics.
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| # | Date | Route | Special | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | Sat 9 Jan | Loulé/Faro loop Prologue, sets the starting order | 29 km | 129 km |
| 1 | Sun 10 Jan | Loulé/Faro → Strait of Gibraltar Then the overnight ferry to Nador | 100 km | 300 km |
| — | Mon 11 Jan | Strait of Gibraltar → Bouârfa Transfer: ferry to Nador and the road to Bouârfa, not timed | — | 590 km |
| 2 | Tue 12 Jan | Bouârfa loop | 390 km | 490 km |
| 3 | Wed 13 Jan | Bouârfa loop | 410 km | 490 km |
| 4 | Thu 14 Jan | Bouârfa → Zagora Through the Merzouga dunes | 490 km | 750 km |
| 5 | Fri 15 Jan | Zagora loop | 365 km | 540 km |
| 6 | Sat 16 Jan | Zagora → Agadir | 365 km | 760 km |
| — | Sun 17 Jan | Rest day · Agadir | ||
| 7 | Mon 18 Jan | Agadir → Smara Longest special of the rally | 500 km | 790 km |
| 8 | Tue 19 Jan | Smara → Refuge bivouac Marathon: the night at the refuge, no assistance | 355 km | 525 km |
| 9 | Wed 20 Jan | Refuge bivouac → Smara Back to Smara and the mechanics | 390 km | 625 km |
| 10 | Thu 21 Jan | Smara loop | 470 km | 560 km |
| 11 | Fri 22 Jan | Smara → Marrakech Longest day: 1,035 km | 455 km | 1,035 km |
| 12 | Sat 23 Jan | Marrakech loop Short final special and the finish | 22 km | 240 km |
Shaded rows are the marathon: stage 8 ends at the refuge bivouac and teams can’t help their crews until stage 9 is back in Smara. Totals add the liaisons, the road sections to and from each special. All of it adds up to 4,341 km of specials and 7,824 km in all, the figures ASO published.
The T5 class is the reason a lot of people watch this. Eight tonnes of truck, around a thousand horsepower, three crew inside — driver, co-driver, and a mechanic who spends the day being thrown around a cab with a toolkit.
They are not built to fly and they do it anyway, over dunes, at speed, landing on suspension that has to survive another two weeks. They run the same route as the bikes and the cars, in the same time, and when one of them gets stuck it takes a second truck to pull it out.