Today, the organisers have unveiled the major lines of the Dakar 2008 course that will be held from the 5th to the 20th of January. The conclusive experience of the previous two years, during which the Dakar caravan had started in Portugal, will continue with a new stay in Lisbon for the technical and administrative scrutineerng followed by two stages before crossing the Mediterranean Sea.
Once in Africa, the competitors will take on a long journey towards Dakar, that only the best will reach after exploring Morocco and Mauritania where they will enjoy a rest day in Nouakchott on the 13th of January.
For the 30th edition of the Dakar, the sport teams that work on establishing the course have a first goal to accomplish. The objective is to offer the riders and crews an amount of special kilometres close to 6000 kms, in other words the longest timed distance since 2002.
With more specials and less liaison, the emphasis is to focus on the founding values of rally-raid and the Dakar in particular: the taste for competition, the passion for the desert. The competitors will therefore find a lot of sand and dune crossings on their road.
It is also to develop the confrontation in the race lead that a series of technical measures applying to the vehicles registered by the professional teams has been decided for the 2008 edition. The new rules will slightly reduce the performances.