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Issue #17:June 11, 2025
On Saturday, June 7, 2025 local time, the outline for the next edition of the Dakar Rally 2026 was announced by the organizers of the Dakar Rally, the A.S.O. (Amaury Sport Organisation).
The 2026 rally is set to be held once again in Saudi Arabia and is scheduled to run for 15 days from January 3 to 17. It will consist of one prologue stage and 13 competition stages, with an intermediate rest day during which there will be no competition.
Details of the rally route are expected to be announced sometime in November or later. The next Dakar is scheduled to start and finish in Yanbu, a city facing the Red Sea on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, and will cover approximately 5,000 km of SS (competition sections) and a total distance of approximately 8,000 km that circles the country. The bivouac for rest day will be set up in the capital city of Riyadh.
THE 48H CHRONO STAGE, which was a highlight of the 2024 and 2025 rallies, will be abolished, but there will be two marathon stages that participants must complete without the support of mechanics. In addition, there will be four stages with separate routes for the 2-wheel and 4-wheel categories, and these stages are expected to be highly challenging, as they will be designed to suit the characteristics of each category.
In addition, the T2 Stock category, which TLC has competed in up until this point, has undergone major changes in vehicle regulations. This will be the first rally where vehicles under the new T2 regulations can be entered (for the 2026 rally, both old and new T2 cars can be entered). The Land Rover Defender is set to enter this category, so the event is expected to be more exciting than ever.
For the next rally, the organizers plan to distribute more information than ever! For example, they are planning to LIVE stream the prologue stage on the first day of the rally. This is expected to bring the excitement and appeal of the Dakar Rally to even more people around the world!