Dakar Race Gears Up For South American Debut

The Amaury Sport Organisation, who run the event, cancelled the 2008 edition at the 11th hour due to security concerns.

Fears of a militant attack have forced Dakar Rally organisers to swap Africa for South America but race director Etienne Lavigne said changing continents had been far from easy.

Drivers will set off from Buenos Aires on Jan. 3 for a 15-day off-road race that takes in the sprawling Pampas plains, snow-peaked Andes and Chile's Atacama desert.

The Amaury Sport Organisation, who run the event, cancelled the 2008 edition at the 11th hour due to security concerns.

Free of the worries of militant attacks, Lavigne nevertheless said defining the 5,951-mile (9,578-km) route and getting the necessary permits from the authorities on time had been tricky.

"Everything was a really big challenge ... it was very difficult because we didn't have much time and everything was new," he told Reuters in an interview.

Race organisers spent 100 days covering around 7,450 miles (12,000-km) before defining the route and final plans are being checked even as the 230 motorbikes, 30 quad bikes, 188 cars and 82 trucks sail from France.

"We certainly have one of the best routes in the history of the Dakar because every day it changes," Lavigne said.

He shrugged off media reports that local red-tape had complicated plans, saying authorities in the host countries fully supported the rally.

"For them it's a normal way of working but for us it was new because before in Africa there was less bureaucracy," he said.

Organisers also had to take into account environmental concerns in Chile and steer the route around protected areas.

POLITICAL UPHEAVAL

Lavigne said political upheaval in Mauritania made the rally's return to its traditional route unlikely for now.

"In West Africa it's very complicated because the political situation and the level of security is very bad in Mauritania," he said.

Whether the rally will be staged in South America again depends on the success of January's race but Lavigne said several countries in southern Africa were interested in hosting the Dakar.

"A few weeks ago we travelled to Angola and Namibia because we had a proposal from those countries," he said.

The biggest threat to January's event has come from disgruntled Argentine farmers who are considering protests along the route in the vast central province of La Pampa, scene of the opening two stages.

The world's toughest off-road race is made up of 10 stages in Argentina, with three more across the Andean border in neighbouring Chile.