[motorcycle.com] - 2015 Dakar Rally Route Announced

[Ninjette Newsbot]

The 2015 edition of the Dakar Rally will see riders racing across 13 stages in 14 days, carrying them through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

The new route will see competitors start in Buenos Aires on Jan. 4, 2015 and finish at the Argentinian capital on Jan. 17, with a circular route that will carry them through deserts and mountains and approach both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

At the moment, only the Argentinian and Bolivian routes have been confirmed; the Chilean stages still await confirmation from local authorities who need to access the damage caused by the 8.2-magnitude earthquake that struck earlier this week.


“Naturally, we are adapting to the difficulties that the Chileans are going through at present,” says Etienne Lavigne, Dakar Rally director, pictured above. “They have many problems to deal with and they will then need to assess the precise impact these earthquakes have had before confirming that our project can go ahead”

Competitors will head west from Buenos Aires towards San Jan, Argentina where they turn north to pass the Andes* into Chile, stopping in Copiapo. From there, they continue north following the Pacific coast to Iquique which will host the rest stop.



For the first time, organizers reserved separate rest days for different categories so that at least two classes will be racing on each day. On Jan. 10, car and truck classes will rest while motorcycles and quads will continue racing from Iquique to Uyuni, Bolivia. Cars and trucks will head for Uyuni the following day while motorcycle and ATV competitors will head back to Iquique. Motorcycle and quad racers will then rest on Jan. 12 while the larger vehicles make their return to Iquique.

From then on, all competitors will make their return trek back to Buenos Aires.

2015 Dakar Rally waypoints:

• Jan. 4: Buenos Aires – Villa Carlos Paz
• Jan. 5: Villa Carlos Paz – San Juan
• Jan. 6: San Juan – Chilecito
• Jan. 7: Chilecito – Copiapo *
• Jan. 8: Copiapo – Antofagasta *
• Jan. 9: Antofagasta – Iquique *
• Jan. 10: Rest (cars/trucks); Iquique – Uyuni (bikes-quads)
• Jan. 11: Iquique – Uyuni (cars/trucks); Uyuni – Iquique (bikes-quads)
• Jan. 12: Rest (bikes-quads); Uyuni – Iquique (cars-trucks)
• Jan. 13: Iquique – Calama *
• Jan. 14: Calama – Salta
• Jan. 15: Salta – Termas de Rio Hondo
• Jan. 16: Termas de Rio Hondo – Rosario
• Jan. 17: Rosario – Buenos Aires

*Pending confirmation by the Chilean authorities.

[Source: Dakar]

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