Seven years in the Kingdom, a war on the doorstep and five days to redraw the map. This is the full story of how Dakar 2027, the 49th edition of the rally, was uprooted from Saudi Arabia and sent back to the continent where the legend was born.
When the Dakar Rally finished in Yanbu on 17 January 2026, nothing suggested it was saying goodbye. Nasser Al-Attiyah had just won his sixth Dakar in the car category, handing Dacia its first victory at only its second attempt. On two wheels, Argentina’s Luciano Benavides had snatched the motorcycle title from Honda’s Ricky Brabec by two seconds, the narrowest winning margin in the history of the event. It was the seventh consecutive Dakar staged in Saudi Arabia, and the eighth was already being drawn up.
Ten months later, the 2027 Dakar will start in a football stadium in southern Portugal and finish in Marrakech. Here is how it happened.
The plan that never ran
On 5 May 2026, at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, the Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC) and the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) unveiled what was meant to be the biggest Saudi Dakar yet. The 2027 edition would run from 1 to 15 January as a full loop starting and finishing at King Abdullah Economic City, in Rabigh governorate, with the Red Sea coast as its backdrop.
The numbers were built to impress: 5,320 kilometres of timed special stages, the longest competitive distance of the Saudi era and well beyond the 4,903 km of 2025. There were three entirely new stages, a marathon stage, and a deliberate shift towards sand and away from the rocky terrain that had punished tyres and tempers in previous years.
Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, chairman of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and SMC, used the stage to underline how rooted the event had become. Dakar, he said, “has found a natural home in the Kingdom.” He also launched selection for the third group of the Saudi Next Gen programme, built to turn young Saudis into Dakar competitors.
That was the plan. The region had other ideas.
The autumn everything changed
A regional war had broken out in late February 2026, and through the summer it steadily ate into the Middle East motorsport calendar. In September, the cancellations started to land one after another.
On 17 September, the FIA and WRC Promoter cancelled the World Rally Championship round in Saudi Arabia, which had been due to close the season in Jeddah in November. The title was decided in Sardinia instead. Earlier that month, the World Endurance Championship had moved its final two rounds from Qatar and Bahrain to Barcelona and Monza. On 4 October, the Bahrain Grand Prix was run at Sepang in Malaysia.
Prince Khalid answered the WRC decision with a line that would soon be tested again: “Nothing has changed in Saudi Arabia’s readiness or confidence.”
Then the conflict reached the Kingdom’s capital. On 19 September, Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis targeted Riyadh with a ballistic missile, the first such attack on the city since the latest escalation. In the second week of October, the attacks focused on King Khalid International Airport. On 10 October, a strike there killed 13 people and injured more than 300, according to Saudi authorities, the deadliest attack in the country in more than a decade. Another strike the following day killed one more person, taking the toll from attacks on the airport that week to 18. The airport was shut and several embassies warned their citizens to stay away.
For an event that moves some 350 entries, thousands of staff, aircraft, helicopters and a city’s worth of freight across the desert, that was decisive. According to Gulf News, the organisers had hoped to keep the 2027 edition in Saudi Arabia by redesigning the route in the north of the country. It was not enough.
Sunday 25 October: the decision
The announcement came on a Sunday, in a joint statement from ASO and SMC.
“Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) and Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC) have jointly decided that Dakar Saudi Arabia 2027, scheduled from 1 to 15 January 2027, will not be held in the Kingdom, following recent developments in the region,” it read.
The wording was carefully built to protect the partnership. The decision, the statement said, “is exceptional and one-off and was taken in close coordination with the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF), and with the support of the FIA and the FIM.” It insisted that “Dakar 2027 will go ahead” in a different territory, still organised by ASO, and it looked straight past the problem to the future: “Saudi Arabia will host Dakar 2028, a landmark edition celebrating the 50th running of the rally.”
No new host was named that day. With the original start date barely ten weeks away, ASO said it was in direct contact with competitors, teams and partners while it finished the job.
Five days to build a Dakar
It took five days. On Friday 30 October, ASO confirmed that the 49th Dakar would run from 9 to 23 January 2027, starting in Portugal and finishing in Morocco, subject to approval by the FIA World Motor Sport Council. The start moved back by eight days, and so did the finish.
Dakar director David Castera did not pretend the circumstances were normal. “Despite the short timeframe we have had to work with, we have designed a true Dakar,” he said, adding that the relocated edition “will meet the sporting standards that have always made it the most demanding rally-raid event.”
Of Morocco, which hosts 11 of the 12 stages, he promised: “We will explore all its distinctive features through a route of unprecedented scale.” The route was drawn up after a series of reconnaissance missions in both countries, and Castera thanked the field for sticking with the event: “We are already grateful for the loyalty of the competitors.” Around 350 entries had already been confirmed.
FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, himself a 14-time Middle East rally champion, added: “We are extremely proud of the collaboration that will enable the event to go ahead in Portugal and Morocco.”
The event will be co-organised with the Portuguese federation FPAK and the Automóvel Club de Portugal, and in Morocco with the Royal Moroccan Motorsport Federation (FRMSA). It remains the opening round of the 2027 FIA and FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, and Castera confirmed that, as usual, it “will be broadcast in more than 190 countries around the world.”
The route, stage by stage
The new Dakar covers 7,824 km in total, including 4,341 km of timed specials, with six bivouacs and most specials between 350 and 500 km. It is shorter than the Saudi plan on paper, but close to the scale of recent editions.
Portugal. The service park opens on 5 January, with scrutineering from 6 to 8 January. The start is at the 30,000-seat Algarve Stadium in Loulé-Faro, with a 29 km prologue on 9 January and a 100 km opening special the following day. Spain is used only for road sections on the way to the ferry, with no timed stages.
The crossing. On 11 January, the whole caravan crosses the Mediterranean overnight to the Moroccan port of Nador, then transfers to the first African bivouac at Bouarfa, in the north-east.
Week one. Two loops around Bouarfa (390 km and 410 km of specials) are followed by the push south along the Atlas to Zagora, a loop at Zagora, and a 760 km day to the Atlantic at Agadir. Route breakdowns published after the presentation point to the Erg Chegaga dunes on the Zagora loop.
Rest day. Agadir, 17 January.
Week two. The longest special of the rally, 500 km, takes the field from Agadir to Smara on 18 January. Stages 8 and 9 form the marathon: out from Smara to a remote refuge bivouac near Dakhla and back again, 1,150 km over two days with no assistance crews allowed at the overnight stop. After a loop around Smara comes the monster: 1,035 km in total from Smara to Marrakech on 22 January, including about 20 km on the beach at Plage Blanche, according to route breakdowns.
Finish. A short final loop in Marrakech on Saturday 23 January.
| Date | Stage | Route | Total km | Special km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Jan | Prologue | Loulé-Faro loop | 129 | 29 |
| 10 Jan | 1 | Loulé-Faro loop | 300 | 100 |
| 11 Jan | Transfer | Loulé-Faro – Nador (ferry) – Bouarfa | 590 | – |
| 12 Jan | 2 | Bouarfa loop | 490 | 390 |
| 13 Jan | 3 | Bouarfa loop | 490 | 410 |
| 14 Jan | 4 | Bouarfa – Zagora | 750 | 490 |
| 15 Jan | 5 | Zagora loop | 540 | 365 |
| 16 Jan | 6 | Zagora – Agadir | 760 | 365 |
| 17 Jan | Rest day | Agadir | – | – |
| 18 Jan | 7 | Agadir – Smara | 790 | 500 |
| 19 Jan | 8 | Smara – refuge near Dakhla (marathon) | 525 | 355 |
| 20 Jan | 9 | Refuge – Smara (marathon) | 625 | 390 |
| 21 Jan | 10 | Smara loop | 560 | 470 |
| 22 Jan | 11 | Smara – Marrakech | 1,035 | 455 |
| 23 Jan | 12 | Marrakech loop | 240 | 22 |
| Total | 7,824 | 4,341 |
Stage-by-stage distances as published in route breakdowns after the 30 October presentation. Dates remain subject to FIA World Motor Sport Council approval.
Back to Africa, twenty years on
For anyone who grew up on the Paris-Dakar, this is the emotional heart of the story. The rally was born in 1978 as a crossing of the Sahara from Paris to the Senegalese capital. The last African edition ran in January 2007. The 2008 race was cancelled on the eve of the start over fears of a terrorist attack, and the Dakar went into exile, first in South America from 2009 to 2019, and then in Saudi Arabia from 2020.
The 2027 edition is therefore the first to touch Africa since 2007. It is not a return to the old route: the finish is in Marrakech, and neither Mauritania nor Senegal is on the map. But Morocco is familiar ground for rally-raid. The Rallye du Maroc is an established round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, which means many teams know its dunes, its stony plateaux and its navigation traps far better than they knew Saudi Arabia in 2020.
The paddock reshuffle
The relocation lands on a field that was already in flux. Dacia, the reigning winner, confirmed in February that it would end its rally-raid programme after the 2026 World Championship finale in Abu Dhabi and would not contest the 2027 Dakar. That left Al-Attiyah, Sébastien Loeb, Lucas Moraes and Cristina Gutiérrez looking for new seats, and Prodrive, which built the Sandrider, looking for a new manufacturer.
According to Autosport, Prodrive’s answer is an Aston Martin-branded version of the winning car. In early October, Fernando Alonso was widely reported as its headline driver, but the Spaniard publicly played down a Dakar return days later, citing the physical demands alongside a full Formula 1 season. Al-Attiyah’s own destination for 2027 has been the subject of conflicting reports in the Spanish press. BISER3A will confirm the line-ups once the official entry list is published.
For the Middle East’s own stars, the Dakar now means a long trip from home. Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, who in 2025 became the first Saudi to win the car category, has framed his 2026 programme as preparation for Dakar 2027. He and every Gulf-based team must now ship to Europe instead of driving to a bivouac in their own region.
What still has to happen
Three things stand between the announcement and the start ramp. The FIA World Motor Sport Council still has to approve the dates. The full official entry list has not yet been published. And the logistics, from the ferry crossing at Nador to the refuge bivouac near Dakhla, have to work first time, on a plan drawn up in days rather than months.
Then there is 2028. Every statement since 25 October has pointed to the same destination: Saudi Arabia, and the 50th Dakar. As Castera put it: “The adventure continues, as do preparations for the historic celebration of the 50th edition in Saudi Arabia.” Whether the region allows that promise to be kept is a question nobody can yet answer.
For now, the Dakar is going back to the sand where its legend was written. Eleven weeks after it lost its home, the world’s toughest rally has a new road, and on 9 January it will start rolling down it.
TIMELINE: DAKAR 2027
- 17 Jan 2026 – Dakar 2026 ends in Yanbu. Al-Attiyah wins cars; Benavides wins bikes by 2 seconds.
- Feb 2026 – Dacia confirms it will leave rally-raid after 2026 and skip the 2027 Dakar. Regional war breaks out in late February.
- 5 May 2026 – Paris presentation of Dakar Saudi Arabia 2027: 1–15 January, King Abdullah Economic City loop, record 5,320 km of specials.
- 17 Sep 2026 – WRC cancels its Saudi Arabia round.
- 19 Sep 2026 – First Houthi missile attack on Riyadh since the escalation.
- 4 Oct 2026 – Bahrain Grand Prix relocated to Sepang, Malaysia.
- 10–11 Oct 2026 – Deadly attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.
- 25 Oct 2026 – ASO and SMC announce Dakar 2027 will not be held in Saudi Arabia: “exceptional and one-off”.
- 30 Oct 2026 – New route confirmed: Portugal and Morocco, 9–23 January 2027.
- 5 Jan 2027 – Service park opens in Portugal; scrutineering 6–8 January.
- 9 Jan 2027 – Prologue, Loulé-Faro.
- 17 Jan 2027 – Rest day, Agadir.
- 23 Jan 2027 – Finish, Marrakech.
- 2028 – Planned 50th Dakar, back in Saudi Arabia.
DAKAR 2027 IN NUMBERS
- 49th edition
- 7,824 km total distance
- 4,341 km of timed specials
- 1 prologue + 12 stages
- 6 bivouacs
- 11 stages in Morocco
- 1,035 km, the longest day (Stage 11)
- ~350 entries confirmed at announcement
- 190+ countries broadcasting
- 20 years since the Dakar last raced in Africa
SOURCES
- ASO/SMC joint statement (via Autosport)
- FIA: Dakar to return to Africa in 2027
- Al Jazeera: Dakar 2027 to be held in Portugal, Morocco
- Arab News: original Dakar Saudi Arabia 2027 route
- MCNews: Dakar 2027 stage-by-stage route
- Morocco World News: Castera on the relocated edition
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