With the 2026 edition’s route, we are certainly at the highest standards, as the record for kilometres covered in special stages, in the time the rally has been held in Saudi Arabia, will be nearly matched. Drivers and crews will not escape fatigue, and they must also demonstrate their skill in handling all types of sand, and tracks of all kinds. On the other hand, the decision to reduce the number of bivouacs means they will be greeted by support teams that are more often rested and ready to go as soon as they arrive.
Along with the variety of challenges, a concern for balance also guided the route’s design. Therefore, the introduction of a new variant of marathon stages, with an overnight stay in a bivouac, required that one be set up in the middle of each week of the race. Similarly, intense stages are followed by opportunities to take a breather on both sides of the rest day, while not striving for absolute symmetry.
YANBU, A REGULAR STOP
Dakar competitors became acquainted with Yanbu in the final stretch of the 2021 edition. And it was also near this town that the first Sea Camp was established in 2023, adopting the concept of an XXL bivouac that brought together all the event’s participants in one location in the days leading up to the race. Since then, Yanbu has also hosted the final stage of the 2024 Dakar Rally. It is now the starting point for a vast loop, which will end as it begins: to the sound of the gentle lapping of the Red Sea waves.
