The Dakar Rally or simply "The Dakar", formerly known as the "Paris–Dakar Rally", is an annual rally raid organised by the Amaury Sport Organisation. Most events since the inception in 1978 were staged from Paris, France, to Dakar, Senegal. Security threats in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 rally, and events from 2009 to 2019 were held in South America. Since 2020, the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia. The event is open to amateur and professional entries, professionals typically making up about eighty percent of the participants.
Stéphane Peterhansel is a rally driver from France. He holds the record for wins at the Dakar Rally, with 14 victories. He currently drives for Team Audi Sport.
The 2009 Dakar Rally was the 31st 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 3 January 2009, and took place across Argentina and Chile. The rally was for the first time to take place outside of Europe and Africa as the location was changed by organizers due to concerns about possible terrorist attacks that resulted in the moving of the 2008 edition from the traditional route to Senegal to Hungary and Romania in the spring.
The 2010 Dakar Rally was the 32nd running of the event. It was held in South America for the second successive time, and ran from 1 to 16 January. The Amaury Sport Organisation and the governments of Argentina and Chile agreed to a return to South America for the event in February 2009.
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.
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. Japanese driver, Kenjiro Shinozuka, won the car class and Stephane Peterhansel won his fifth motorcycle title.
1998 Dakar Rally, also known as the 1998 Paris–Granada–Dakar Rally, was the 20th running of the Dakar Rally event. The rally returned to a traditional Paris to Dakar route last used in 1993. A number of competitors were attacked by unknown attackers near the end of the ninth stage, at Taoudenni in Mali. Jean-Pierre Fontenay won the car class and Stéphane Peterhansel won his sixth and final motorcycle title before switching to the car category for subsequent events. The truck title was won by Karel Loprais in a Tatra 815.
The 1999 Dakar Rally, also known as the 1999 Granada–Dakar Rally was the 21st running of the Dakar Rally event. After a short prologue stage on New Year's Eve 1998, the race began in earnest on 1 January 1999 and ended on 17 January after 16 competitive stages. After the fifth stage, the overall rally leader was German driver, Jutta Kleinschmidt, who, in the 1998 rally, was the first woman to ever win a stage of the rally. The event was marked by a robbery on the 12th stage of the rally between Néma and Tichit in Mauritania of fifty competitors by armed men, in which vehicles, money and petrol were stolen. Rally co-ordinators decided to continue with the race. The rally was won by French driver Jean-Louis Schlesser. The motorcycle title was won by Richard Sainct, whilst the truck title went to Karel Loprais in a Tatra 815.
The 2000 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2000 Dakar–Cairo Rally, was the 22nd running of the Dakar Rally event. The event began on 6 January 2000 in Senegal and ended on 23 January in Cairo. It had been re-routed to avoid Mauritania following an armed robbery of competitors in the 1999 rally. Four stages of the rally scheduled to be held in Niger were cancelled following a reported terrorist threat. Competitors were airlifted from Niamey airport to Libya where the rally was restarted five days later at Sabha. The rally was won by French driver Jean-Louis Schlesser and his co-driver Henri Magne in a Schlesser-Renault buggy., with the motorcycle title going to BMW's Richard Sainct and the truck title to Kamaz's Vladimir Chagin.
The 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. The 2001 rally was 6,600 miles (10,600 km) long and began in Paris, France, on New Year's Day, passing through Spain, Morocco, Mauritania, Mali before finishing at Dakar in Senegal. This was the last Paris-Dakar Rally that commenced and finished in the same locations as the original race. Jean-Louis Schlesser won the penultimate stage of the rally to take the lead but was penalised one hour for unsportsmanlike conduct. The rally was won by German Jutta Kleinschmidt, who became the first woman to win the event. The motorcycle class of the rally was won by Italian Fabrizio Meoni, with Karel Loprais winning the truck class.
The 2002 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2002 Arras–Madrid–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 December 2001 and finished at Dakar in Senegal on 13 January 2002. The 1999 and 2000 winner, Jean-Louis Schlesser, switched from a petrol powered vehicle to a diesel powered one in a bid to make the vehicle lighter However, he was forced to retire from the rally during the sixth stage from Er-Rachidia to Ouarzazate in Morocco while lying 11th overall when his vehicle caught fire. Japanese driver Hiroshi Masuoka took the lead at the sixth stage, and went on to win the rally. The motorcycle category was won by Fabrizio Meoni for the second successive year.
The 2003 Dakar Rally, also known as the 2003 Telefónica-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.
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 (8,956 km) 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 shorter than in 2004 but was more challenging. A record number of competitors, 696 cars, motorbikes and trucks in total, entered the rally.
The 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. The format included speed restrictions on motorcycles and trucks and reduced use of global positioning systems. Competitors included double world rally champion, Carlos Sainz.
The 2012 Dakar Rally was the 34th running of the event. It was held in South America for the fourth successive time.
Maria Christina Thörner is a Swedish rally co-driver. Tina Thörner's career in motor sports started in 1990. Since then, she has won three FIA Ladies' World Rally Championship titles, a third and a second place overall in the Dakar Rally 1999 and 2006 and two FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup wins in 2008 and 2009.
The 2013 Dakar Rally was the 35th running of the event and the fifth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Lima, Peru on 5 January and finished in Santiago, Chile on 19 January after fourteen stages of competition. 448 vehicles in four classes of competition started the event, which comprised a total distance of over 8,500 kilometres. The motorcycle category was won by French rider Cyril Despres for a fifth time, riding a KTM; Marcos Patronelli took his second win in the quad competition riding a Yamaha; Stéphane Peterhansel captured his eleventh Dakar victory in the car category alongside co-driver Jean-Paul Cottret at the wheel of a Mini; and Eduard Nikolaev's maiden victory re-captured the truck category title for Kamaz.
The 2014 Dakar Rally was the 36th running of the event and the sixth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Rosario, Argentina on January 5 and finished in Valparaíso, Chile on January 18 after 13 stages of competition. Marc Coma won his fourth title in the motorcycle category riding a KTM; Ignacio Casale took his maiden title in the quad category on a Yamaha; Nani Roma clinched victory in the car category for the first time, ten years after his sole motorcycle title, driving a Mini; and Andrey Karginov took his first truck category title for Kamaz.
The 2016 Dakar Rally was the 38th edition of the event and the eighth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Buenos Aires, Argentina on January 2, then ran through Argentina and Bolivia.
The 2020 Dakar Rally was the 42nd edition of the event and the first edition held in Saudi Arabia. The event started in Jeddah on 5 January and finished in Al-Qiddiya on 17 January after 12 stages of the competition.
France 
Morocco 
Mauritania 
Mali 
Senegal 
Nani Roma 
Vladimir Chagin 
