Terror-stricken Dakar Rally heads to Central Europe, begins a new series
Amaury Sport Organization, the group behind the Dakar Rally, has found a new venue after threats of terrorism caused the group to cancel the annual rally last month. The newly rescheduled and renamed race will be held April 20th through 26th in Romania and Hungary, offering a markedly different venue for an event that would otherwise be held in the arid landscape of the Sahara.
The Central Europe Rally will cover some 3,000 kilometers over the course of six days, with around half of the competitions taking place on special stages. While the title is different, all the big name teams from Dakar will be in attendance, including BMW, KTM, Mitsubishi, Schlesser and Volkswagen.
This first event also stands as the inaugural race of the "Dakar Series," which was supposed start in 2009, but will now begin a year ahead of schedule. The new series seeks to bring the excitement and media attention of the Dakar Rally to a number of other events spread across the globe and has been in the works for the last several years. Here's to the A.S.O. for turning lemons into Margaritas. The full press release is after the jump.
[Source: Amaury Sport Organization via WCF]
PRESS RELEASE
Amaury Sport Organisation announces the creation of the Central Europe Rally. This new rally organised under the « Dakar Series » certification will take place from April 20th to the 26th in Hungary and Romania. Scrutineering and administrative checks will take place on 19th of April in Budapest.
The Central Europe Rally, between Budapest and Lake Balaton in Hungary, crossing Romania, will consist of an extremely varied and technical route. Nearly half of the total distance, 3000kms, will be run in special stages. The opening of entries is planned on 11th of February. A.S.O has already received the support of all the major teams. BMW, Mitsubishi, Volkswagen, Schlesser and KTM have already shown a great interest for this new event, image of the development that A.S.O. wishes to bring to the sport.
The Central Europe Rally will be the first event to be run under the "Dakar Series" certification. This certification will be given to other races that offer the same high organisation and safety standards, strong participation and media attention as the legendary Dakar. With the Central Europe Rally (*), the aim of A.S.O. is to enable the competitors of the Dakar, which was cancelled on 2008, to enter a new rally with some extremely advantageous conditions and offer their sponsors exposure in a major international event.
The "Dakar Series", which was planned to start in 2009, is a project that A.S.O. has been working on for a long time. It will begin one year ahead of schedule. This first Central Europe Rally is a milestone of a series of new events intended to expand besides the Dakar Rally. The 2009 Dakar edition will be announced in the weeks to come.
(*) Due to terrorist threats, the 2008 Dakar edition was cancelled. Unfortunately last Friday a new terrorist attack happened again in Nouakchott (Mauritania)
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Allan 4:22PM (2/08/2008)
I really know next to nothing about the original rally, other than hearing the name here and there. But it's always nice to see any sort of motorsports tradition be continued in some form.
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John R 4:23PM (2/08/2008)
darn. I was really wanting the race to be in Chile.
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venomgt1 4:28PM (2/08/2008)
Hopefully there is some tv coverage.I need my dakar fix.
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jgp 4:28PM (2/08/2008)
Same here, but it's a series now. Maybe we'll still have it in Chile too.
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James 4:45PM (2/08/2008)
I figure the bigger story here is how the series is now in direct competition with the FIA World Cup of Cross Country Rallies, which is funny because that series is where VW and Mitsu do their non Dakar testing and running (think of it like LMES / ALMS to Le Mans.)
Now, the FIA Cross Country hasn't gotten a lot of the publicity of some of the other FIA sanctioned series, but if anyone in motorsports knows anything, it's you don't split a race series of a niche market even if one has the "major event" of the calendar... it just leads to a slow death of both series. Right, Tony George?
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Phil L. 5:20PM (2/08/2008)
As a Dakar fan, this isn't quite the same thing - but I'm looking forward to it already!
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Xcountryflyer 5:54PM (2/08/2008)
I think the potential viewing audience is greater if they have it in Europe than Chile, even though I think the Chilean landscape is more interesting for such a rally.
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Dondonel 6:17PM (2/08/2008)
Now it's closer to the audience, this might help.
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DIRETTORE 8:55PM (2/08/2008)
* Borat would be bery Proud Yes!
Meet my sister. She # 4 prostitute in all Kazakstan!
I like you. Will you be my friend?
We make happy, sexy time!
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tankd0g 11:01PM (2/08/2008)
Won't be the same without the sand but this is still good news.
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industrial_strength_bard 11:06PM (2/08/2008)
Damn. This just blows. This is NOT going to be "The Dakar". I mean, I understand keeping drivers (sorta) safe, but I can still be unhappy over the entire situation. While the risk of life IS the draw to the insane race across the continents, there's no need to risk driver's or crew's lives because of terrorism and not because of the rigors of the race.
Granted, I will be consoled if they'd just bring the TRUE style of racing to the Mojave Desert. I think a race from say, Las Vegas to Mexico City would be just as grueling:P That way I'd get to see it!
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bs 12:18AM (2/09/2008)
i wasn't aware that khazakstan was in central europe, or even that near to it actually, care to check again ?
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nagmashot 12:21AM (2/09/2008)
wow it took autoblog 4 days to come up with this news..
Etienne Lavigne director of ASO, the organisation that runs the Dakar, told that news at Monday the 04. Januar in a press conferenc in Paris.
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Bob Zeliff 11:33AM (2/09/2008)
I was sorry to hear that the race was canceled.
This seems a reasonable alternative.
Will any one in the US provide coverage. Likely not.
Speed TV should be renamed NASCAR TV, they continue to reduce coverage of other racing. PINKS just does not cut it. Some body please start a real racing channel.
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DJ SlipStream 1:43PM (2/09/2008)
that would be nice wouldn't it?
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Schneegz 2:38PM (2/09/2008)
As a Latin American, I was rooting for Chile, but given who races and who watches these races, Europe makes a lot of sense.
I'm stationed in Afghanistan right now and, let me tell you, this place would make an awesome venue for all kinds of adventure racing and tourism... if not for all the land mines, unexploded ordnance, insurgents and terrorists. It's too bad that places like Afghanistan and Senegal have to be populated by large numbers of duche bags who can't be content with depriving themselves of anything resembling a life lived in full, but also feel compelled to kill anyone who would live their life more fully than said duche bags.
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