The Dakar Rally organisers have invited French and Spanish competitors to Château-Lastours to mark the opening of registrations and announce the broad outlines of the 46th edition, which will include new competition and technological aspects.

The rally's fifth edition in Saudi Arabia will be held from 5 to 19 January 2024, starting in the thousand-year-old city of AlUla, crossing the country in the direction of the Empty Quarter and finishing in Yanbu on the shores of the Red Sea.

"The challenge will be just as daunting as last January", warns race director David Castera, who promises the competitors massive stretches of dunes where navigation difficulties will accompany the technical challenges of crossing them.

A new stage format has also been created: on the "48H CHRONO STAGE", there will be a time limit for stopping (4 pm) before setting off again the next day (7 am) to complete the route.

As part of the Dakar Future programme, the Mission 1000 operation offers constructors an opportunity to test vehicles with innovative technologies on Dakar terrain: over a hundred kilometres per day, with their performance evaluated in a giant laboratory.

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