Dakar organisers reportedly consider northern Saudi route for January rally

Dakar Rally organisers are working on an alternative route in northern Saudi Arabia for the January 2027 race, three people involved in the World Rally-Raid Championship told Reuters on 8 October. The reported plan would change the course competitors were shown in May, but organisers have not announced a replacement route. The rally remains scheduled for 1–15 January, starting and finishing in King Abdullah Economic City.

Reuters spoke with two drivers and a team member. They said Dakar organisers visited Rallye du Maroc the previous week to discuss the race with competitors and team managers. According to those accounts, the alternative would use fewer bivouacs: the overnight camps where crews stay and vehicles are serviced and repaired between stages. Reuters did not report a proposed stage-by-stage itinerary or a decision to adopt the plan.

How the proposed northern route differs from Dakar’s published course

Dakar organiser Amaury Sport Organisation unveiled its 2027 route on 5 May. Its published plan describes a loop focused on the Red Sea, with both the start and finish in King Abdullah Economic City and three entirely new stages. Organisers set out 5,320 kilometres of timed special stages, which they described as the highest total since the rally moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020. Those are details of the announced course, not confirmed features of the alternative described to Reuters.

The difference matters to teams preparing for a long-distance event. A route determines where competitors race each day and where their crews can work on vehicles overnight. The reported reduction in bivouacs would change part of that overnight arrangement, although Reuters’ sources did not say how many camps might be removed or where the remaining ones would be. No precise comparison of stage distances or terrain is possible from the information reported so far.

Why organisers are considering another Saudi route

Reuters said organisers were working on an alternative to allow the event to go ahead in Saudi Arabia amid the situation in the Middle East. Its report linked the planning to escalating hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement. That is the reported reason for considering a different course, rather than an official explanation from Dakar. Amaury Sport Organisation, the International Automobile Federation and the International Motorcycling Federation did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The possibility is significant for the event’s entrants because Dakar is scheduled to hold its 49th edition and its eighth in Saudi Arabia. The announced 5,320 kilometres of timed stages would make it the longest course of the Saudi era by that measure. A change to the route could therefore affect preparations built around the May presentation, but neither the scale of a change nor its effect on the planned distance is established.

At the May presentation, 2026 motorcycle-category winner Luciano Benavides welcomed the planned longer course. The organiser quoted him saying he preferred long days and liked the format with two marathon stages. He said he was motivated to return to defend his title. His remarks concerned the route unveiled in May; they are not a reaction to the alternative reported in October.

What remains unconfirmed for the January rally

The three people cited by Reuters described work on a northern route with fewer bivouacs, not a final decision. The report did not identify proposed stage locations or dates, say how much of the published course might be replaced, or establish whether entrants have received formal notice. There has also been no announced change to the rally’s 1–15 January dates in the cited reporting or the organiser’s published route information.

For now, competitors have an official course announced in May and a reported contingency plan that could alter it. The next decisive information would be an organiser announcement setting out whether the course changes and, if it does, which stages and overnight arrangements are affected. Until then, the northern route and reduced number of bivouacs remain attributed reports, while the King Abdullah Economic City start and finish belong to the published plan.