To learn all about the route, the new sporting features and the participants.
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SportTranscription
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00:30 - Good morning, Saudi Arabia, Dakar 2023.
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01:37 (speaking in foreign language)
01:47 - Hello and welcome to this presentation
01:49 of the Dakar 2024.
01:51 It's a Dakar that we wanted with a few surprises
01:53 and special features.
01:54 But before we talk about it,
01:56 let's take a look at the route in its entirety.
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03:13 - Here it is, this 46th edition of the Dakar 2024.
03:16 100% Saudi Arabia with a Dakar that we wanted
03:19 to be quite tough right from the start.
03:21 A tough start with three long special stages,
03:24 heading down south into the empty quarter
03:26 and it's big tunes, not like last year
03:28 when they were at the ends.
03:29 Now that they're at the heart of the rally
03:31 and then there will be six long stages to reach the finish.
03:35 This year's Dakar will set off from the city of Al Ula
03:38 in northwestern Saudi Arabia,
03:40 a city which is very popular with tourists
03:43 from all over the world.
03:45 And which will welcome the Dakar caravan
03:46 at the beginning of January.
03:48 On January the third and the fourth,
03:51 administrative and technical scrutineering.
03:54 Then on the morning of the fifth,
03:56 all the competitors will take part in the prologue
03:59 in an absolutely magical setting.
04:01 And then on the morning of the sixth,
04:03 the first of the 12 stages of this 2024 Dakar.
04:06 After Africa and South America,
04:10 it's Saudi Arabia that welcomes us
04:12 with its countless fields of expression
04:14 and immense deserts.
04:15 And before I hand over to him,
04:19 I'd like to thank the Prince Khaled bin Sultan
04:22 Abdullah Al Faisal and the entire
04:24 Saudi Motorsports Federation that he leads.
04:27 Dear friends, it is my sincere pleasure
04:32 to stand here today in Al Ula,
04:35 the land of civilization,
04:37 and welcome you to the starting point
04:39 of the fifth successive edition
04:41 of the Dakar Saudi Arabia 2024.
04:44 This region carries a historical and humanitarian heritage
04:49 that extends deep into history
04:51 with cultural and natural roots
04:54 shaped by successive civilization
04:57 of more than 200,000 years.
05:00 It has been a destination for travelers and explorers
05:04 for millennia, and its many archeological treasures
05:08 ensures it remains one of the world's
05:11 most important historical exploration sites.
05:15 As we celebrate the fifth year
05:16 of the Dakar Rally in the kingdom,
05:19 the world's attention once again
05:21 turns to Al Ula.
05:23 The arrival of the most elite rally drivers
05:25 from around the globe for their next adventure
05:29 here in Saudi Arabia is one to celebrate
05:33 as they take the most prestigious
05:35 and challenging endurance rally on earth.
05:38 Hosting the Saudi Arabia Dakar Rally
05:41 for the fifth consecutive year
05:43 is a significant achievement
05:45 for which our deep gratitude must go to our king,
05:48 the custodian of the holy two mosques,
05:51 King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,
05:54 without whose unwavering support
05:56 for the advancement of the sports sector,
06:00 none of this would not be possible.
06:02 It also reflects the dedication
06:04 and continuous backing of His Royal Highness,
06:07 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
06:10 May God protect him as well
06:12 as the relentless drive of His Royal Highness,
06:15 Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Faisal,
06:17 Minister of Sports,
06:19 who have done so much to provide the resources
06:22 that have allowed the kingdom
06:24 to consolidate its position
06:27 as the new home of motor sports in the region
06:30 in the past decade
06:31 as stayed true to the goals of Vision 2030.
06:36 Certainly, hosting the prestigious rally
06:39 in one country for five years in a row
06:42 with five different routes
06:44 leaves a remarkable achievement
06:46 and one of which every Saudi citizen
06:49 should be immensely proud.
06:51 The last five years have been a journey of excellence
06:55 script by Saudi Arabia,
06:58 proving to the world its capabilities and abilities,
07:02 reaffirming its leadership as a hub of motor sports
07:06 and in a particular, as a true home for the Dakar rally.
07:10 This year, we once again open our arms to welcome you
07:15 to a renewed date with adventure, excitement and thrill.
07:19 I look forward to welcoming each one of you here in Al Ula.
07:25 Peace be with you
07:26 and may the mercy and blessing of God be upon you.
07:30 Now let's get down to the detail of the course.
07:33 We're going to start with a prologue,
07:35 a prologue that we wanted to be longer,
07:37 29 kilometers, a fast end,
07:39 in an absolutely magical place to launch this edition.
07:42 After that, it's on to the first stage,
07:44 over 400 kilometers of special.
07:46 It's going to be a tough stage,
07:48 so get ready because right away,
07:50 we're going to get down to the nitty gritty
07:52 with magnificent sceneries, volcanoes in the background
07:55 and new but very, very beautiful tracks.
07:58 Then stage two will be even longer,
08:00 over 400 kilometers, still fast,
08:02 lots of dunes at the start, but it'll be more rolling.
08:06 But watch out for the length
08:07 before you reach the third special stage,
08:09 a long one, over 460 kilometers of special
08:12 with all the difficulties of dunes, rocks and navigation.
08:15 And as a special thing,
08:19 at the finish, you only have two hours to work on the cars,
08:22 then a liaison, and it's a marathon stage, so no assistance.
08:26 So the first three stages of the Dakar are three real stages.
08:30 Watch out, watch out.
08:31 Then we come to stage four,
08:33 a slightly simpler, more rolling special stage
08:36 to get to Al Hofuf.
08:39 And this is the transition stage,
08:41 the one that will take us back into the empty quarter
08:43 with a very long liaison.
08:45 We'll get up early in the morning
08:47 and finish with a short 120-kilometer special in the dunes
08:50 to get ready for the real empty quarter on stage six.
08:54 And then we come to the highlight of this 2024 edition.
09:02 It will be stage six,
09:03 reminiscent of the great epics of the African era,
09:06 endless stages.
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09:58 So here's this 48-hour stage,
09:59 this surprise of the Dakar 2024.
10:02 So a stage of almost 600 kilometers, a little less,
10:05 dunes in the empty quarter.
10:07 But what makes it special is that
10:09 it will take place over two days.
10:11 Yes, two full days to cover 600 kilometers, it's rare,
10:14 but we don't have a choice.
10:16 The stage is difficult and long.
10:17 We've decided that at 4 p.m. on the first day,
10:19 all competitors will have to join one of the eight bivouacs
10:23 we've set up along the route.
10:25 These are very basic bivouacs with just a sleeping bag,
10:28 a tent, and military-style food ration, and nothing else.
10:32 So they spend the night there, and the next morning,
10:35 we start again in the order of arrival,
10:37 one by one every minute, and the competitors set off again
10:40 to finish this stage number six.
10:43 Let's take a look at what the drivers have to say about it.
10:46 - I am already excited to try something new.
10:50 If I like it, I will tell you afterwards
10:54 because I'm a little bit scared of the darkness,
10:56 but I'm sure I will survive.
10:58 - I think that's actually the foundation of Rally there.
11:02 - We experienced it naturally in the African stages,
11:07 and it was always in those moments
11:08 that there was even more solidarity
11:11 between all the competitors,
11:12 because we really found each other,
11:14 we exchanged ideas, and it was really good moments of sharing.
11:18 - Those were some of the best times at Dakar.
11:19 I mean, all of us drivers sleep in one area,
11:22 and we all got to sleep in tents and ration together,
11:25 so it's some of the most fun.
11:26 Everybody comes together and smiles,
11:28 and it's like a little camp time story afterwards.
11:30 - Anything that adds a variable or two to the race
11:35 can make for a good event.
11:37 - I think it's cool that they're putting new concepts in
11:39 and throwing us into the unknown.
11:42 That's a bit what the Rally spirit is,
11:44 and I guess it brings back a bit of that
11:46 you're on your own sort of thing.
11:49 - And it's just gonna be interesting.
11:51 It'll kind of even out everyone.
11:52 They're gonna be in different areas
11:54 throughout those two days,
11:56 so you're not gonna exactly know
11:58 where you are on times and everything.
12:00 - I think it'll add a bit more salt and pepper to the race,
12:05 and it'll be one of the stellar stages.
12:09 - And so adding more pepper to it,
12:11 adding a stage like this one that's gonna exhaust us,
12:14 I think we can make the difference physically.
12:17 - You know, we always wanted a little bit of the old Dakar
12:19 back in the new style stuff,
12:20 so it's gonna be a harder marathon stage than normal.
12:24 - David always surprises us with his ideas.
12:26 And yes, we've come back to the origins of Dakar
12:29 with stages that are a thousand kilometres long.
12:32 - We see how we can make the strategy for this day.
12:36 We need to be sometime together with the two teams,
12:41 you know, and to at least work together.
12:46 - Sure, for all the competitors,
12:49 it's, yeah, let's say maybe the toughest stage
12:52 in the Dakar history.
12:54 - Until now, I like it,
12:56 but when we see it, we have the feeling, really.
12:59 - Immediately after stage six,
13:03 we transfer to the country's capital, Riyadh,
13:05 which will host the rest day.
13:07 So the rest day is an opportunity for us
13:09 to talk about the Dakar future.
13:11 Indeed, since 2021,
13:13 Dakar has been studying everything that's happening
13:15 in terms of energy transition.
13:18 It's important for us to make this transition by 2030.
13:22 So we've already had the Audis driving with us
13:26 thanks to hybrid engines,
13:28 but we also had many other projects coming to the Dakar
13:31 with hydrogen solutions or using biofuel.
13:34 With the aim of getting them all on the tracks this year,
13:39 we created Dakar Future Mission 1000.
13:43 (engine revving)
13:46 - The transition is underway.
13:50 The Dakar 2024 will serve as a laboratory
13:53 with a view to a low-carbon 2030 horizon.
13:56 More than an automobile competition,
13:58 it's a challenge open to alternative energy vehicles.
14:01 Seven projects have been selected, lining up 10 vehicles,
14:05 cars, motorcycles, and trucks.
14:11 Our vehicle is a medley of new technologies
14:13 linking a combustion engine and an electric engine.
14:16 - The idea was to start using this hydrogen,
14:20 converting the truck,
14:21 and make it possible to make a greener race.
14:24 - The Dakar gives me the possibility in 2024
14:28 to compete with an electric motorbike.
14:30 - Our target is to make a realized hydrogen engine
14:34 the solution for the carbon-neutral society in the future.
14:39 - Hydrogen, electric, or even hybrid powertrains
14:41 with a minimal amount of synthetic fuel.
14:44 The aim, to test these alternative energy vehicles
14:47 in real conditions on parts of the stages.
14:49 1,000, as in 1,000 kilometers,
14:52 to be covered over the whole rally.
14:53 Around 100 a day in extreme conditions.
14:56 Evaluation criteria will be used
14:58 to establish a points-based ranking.
15:00 - We're going to do tests during the 2024 Dakar
15:05 to then develop bikes that can do a real rally,
15:09 a real Dakar in 2025.
15:11 - Step by step, we want to show the potential year by year.
15:17 - We love the Dakar,
15:18 and if the Dakar is willing to reduce its footprint,
15:22 this is a good opportunity.
15:23 - We aim at the Dakar, but not in a simple way.
15:27 We're going to add a dimension to the project
15:29 thanks to the technological developments
15:30 of a clean vehicle.
15:31 The future is here.
15:36 These vehicles will be the future of the Dakar.
15:39 Each competitor becomes a pioneer of Dakar future
15:42 and a player in the future of mobility.
15:45 Then it's on to the second week,
15:49 with a very strong start
15:51 between the capital Riyadh and Al-Douadimi.
15:54 476 kilometers of special,
15:56 a complicated stage to start with,
15:58 with navigation, sand and stones.
16:00 All the ingredients are there.
16:02 After that, we'll alternate a little,
16:04 a second stage to get back to Haro for the second week,
16:07 a little easier with sand and a transfer in the middle,
16:10 so not too complicated.
16:12 After that, we'll head down to Al-Ula,
16:14 which we'll reach for the second time on this Dakar
16:16 with a 100% sand special.
16:18 435 kilometers, magnificent, not always easy,
16:21 but a very, very beautiful stage.
16:24 Then once again, we ease off a little,
16:26 a big loop around Al-Ula, exceptional scenery.
16:29 These big rocks where we'll be slaloming,
16:31 looking for the right track in the middle of canyons.
16:34 A beautiful stage for over 350 kilometers,
16:36 not too difficult before tackling the main event
16:39 at the end of the Dakar.
16:41 This is stage 11, which will take us back to Yambou.
16:44 Those who remember it well will be those who had a puncture
16:47 last year on stage two of the Dakar 2023.
16:49 These will be going on the same rocky, complicated tracks.
16:53 So watch out for punctures.
16:54 On this stage 11, all the cars can be reshuffled.
16:58 And then it's the last stage of the Dakar,
16:59 a short stage, of course, to finish off the rally in style
17:02 on the shores of the Red Sea,
17:04 where the finish of the special stage will be judged.
17:08 Then it's back to the big city of Yambou,
17:11 which will welcome us on the shores of the Red Sea
17:13 for a grand arrival ceremony,
17:14 and we'll be celebrating the Dakar heroes in style.
17:18 There are 4,700 kilometers of specials to cover on this Dakar,
17:21 a long Dakar with 3,300 kilometers of liaison,
17:24 a Dakar that will start on January 5th for the prologue,
17:28 January 6th for the first stage,
17:30 and will finish in the town of Yambou on January 19th.
17:33 A fantastic course, an exceptional lineup.
17:41 Once again, six factory teams will be joining the Dakar 2024.
17:49 We'll have KTM with its trio of former winners,
17:52 title holder Kevin Benavides alongside Toby Price
17:54 and Mathias Wagner.
17:57 Honda will, of course, be looking to reclaim the trophy
17:59 that was won in 2020 and 2021
18:01 with the likes of Ricky Brabeck,
18:03 with Adrien Van Beveren, Pablo Quintanilla,
18:06 and newcomer and former Husqvarna rider Skyler House.
18:09 Gas-Gas will be present with two candidates for victory,
18:15 Sam Sutherland, winner in 2022,
18:18 and Daniel Sanders, the Australian who is going faster and faster
18:21 and has already won a rally this year in Mexico.
18:25 Husqvarna will also be present
18:27 with recent W2RC Championship winner Luciano Benavides.
18:31 Not forgetting, of course, the hero team
18:33 with its top rider Ross Branch
18:36 and newcomer Joan Vareda, who joins the team this year.
18:40 And, of course, the French Tcherko team,
18:45 always fast with its three riders
18:46 who often take first positions on the stages.
18:53 (FRENCH TCHERKO)
18:55 On quads, Alexandre Giroud will be looking to make it three
19:01 after his two victories in 2022 and 2023.
19:03 And then, of course, beyond all these top riders,
19:08 there are all the amateurs
19:09 who have been fighting in Dakar history for a long time.
19:12 Without them, the Dakar would exist.
19:13 They are the rally two.
19:15 What's more, within this category,
19:17 there are more and more youngsters,
19:18 and youngsters going very fast
19:21 and battling it out with the rally GP guys.
19:23 And then there are those who come without assistance,
19:30 another Dakar spirit,
19:31 but one we've preserved thanks to our partner Motul.
19:35 They are the original by Motul,
19:37 who come without any assistance.
19:39 No trucks, no mechanics.
19:41 They're all on their own,
19:43 and they're also part of the great history of the Dakar.
19:50 You know, you take the hardest race in the world
19:53 and you make it harder.
19:54 Every day, when you cross that finish line,
19:56 you know that you've done it all on your own.
19:58 You've had no help.
19:59 You've worked on your own bike, and you've got this.
20:02 The most important thing is not to fall.
20:04 If you fall, you lose a lot.
20:07 No! No!
20:10 (GROANS)
20:12 (GROANS)
20:13 It's very important to have the tools
20:17 for the bike you're riding.
20:19 (SPEAKING SPANISH)
20:21 And I wanted to come back and do Malemoto
20:23 to get the full Dakar experience.
20:25 Crazy, I can't describe them,
20:36 because what you go through here,
20:38 and where the conditions you sleep in,
20:40 and the hours that you get sleep,
20:43 you're, like, wired differently.
20:44 But it's just because we love this sport so much.
20:48 (ENGINE REVS)
20:49 (HORN BLARES)
20:50 (ENGINE REVS)
20:51 (ENGINE REVS)
20:52 (ENGINE REVS)
20:53 (ENGINE REVS)
20:54 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
20:55 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
20:56 Let's move to the car category,
20:57 and the ultimate category, the T1.
20:59 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
21:00 (ENGINE REVS)
21:01 (ENGINE REVS)
21:02 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
21:03 (ENGINE REVS)
21:04 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
21:05 (ENGINE REVS)
21:06 (SPEAKING FRENCH)
21:07 Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah
21:09 has changed vehicle and team.
21:11 Like his rival, Sébastien Loeb,
21:13 he will be driving a Hunter ProDrive.
21:15 (ENGINE REVS)
21:16 (ENGINE REVS)
21:17 (ENGINE REVS)
21:18 (ENGINE REVS)
21:19 (ENGINE REVS)
21:20 Audi shows up with its three Fantastics,
21:22 Stéphane Pétancé, Carlos Sainz and Mathias Ekström,
21:25 with the aim of winning this Dakar
21:27 for the first time with a hybrid-powered vehicle.
21:30 (ENGINE REVS)
21:31 (ENGINE REVS)
21:32 (ENGINE REVS)
21:33 (ENGINE REVS)
21:34 (ENGINE REVS)
21:35 At Toyota Gazoo, former winner Génial De Villiers
21:37 is joined by two young guns,
21:39 Lucas Moraes, third of the last Dakar,
21:42 and American Seth Quintero,
21:44 third in the X-Raid racing categories.
21:46 (ENGINE REVS)
21:47 (ENGINE REVS)
21:48 At Toyota Overdrive, Yazeed Al-Raji
21:50 is aiming for home victory.
21:52 He will be joined by Geraint Chichrit
21:54 and a whole new generation of drivers,
21:56 such as Guillaume Demeuvius and Juan Cruz Iacopini.
21:59 (ENGINE REVS)
22:00 (ENGINE REVS)
22:01 In the X-Raid Mini category,
22:03 Shistov Hrolovchik, third in 2015,
22:06 but absent since then, is back in action.
22:09 And the two-wheel-drive cars are back with a vengeance
22:12 with the X-Raid team presenting two buggies
22:14 and a new four-wheel-drive T1 Plus.
22:16 (ENGINE REVS)
22:17 (ENGINE REVS)
22:18 (ENGINE REVS)
22:19 (ENGINE REVS)
22:20 The MD Rally team will be out in force
22:23 with Christian Lavier and Simon Witts in particular.
22:26 (ENGINE REVS)
22:27 (ENGINE REVS)
22:28 (ENGINE REVS)
22:29 (ENGINE REVS)
22:30 And look out too for the Century Racing buggies
22:33 with Mathieu Serradori in his SR Team team.
22:36 (ENGINE REVS)
22:37 (ENGINE REVS)
22:38 (ENGINE REVS)
22:39 (ENGINE REVS)
22:40 And welcome to Ford, joining the adventure
22:42 with the aim of winning in the years to come,
22:44 notably with former winner Nanny Roma.
22:47 (ENGINE REVS)
22:48 (ENGINE REVS)
22:49 We move on to the T3 category, renamed Challenger T3.
22:53 (MUSIC)
22:57 The Red Bull Offroad Junior Team USA
22:59 fields defending champion Austin Jones
23:01 and another contender, Mitch Guthrie.
23:03 (MUSIC)
23:06 The Red Bull Can-Am Factory team
23:08 helps his T4 runner-up, Rokas Basiuska,
23:10 move up to the next category.
23:12 He will be accompanied by Christina Gutierrez
23:14 and Chaleco Lopez.
23:16 (MUSIC)
23:19 Eric Gogstad, winner in a T4 SSV on the Dakar 2023,
23:23 also changes class.
23:24 However, he'll be staying with his family,
23:26 with his father, Marek, and uncle, Michal,
23:28 at Energylandia Racing.
23:30 (MUSIC)
23:33 Yamaha will also be present with former quad winner,
23:36 Ignacio Cazale.
23:37 (MUSIC)
23:44 The SSV T4 category continues to attract competitors
23:47 and seems to be the best way to discover the Dakar.
23:50 (MUSIC)
23:53 It will feature Polaris SSVs
23:55 from the Sébastien Loeb Racing and Xtreme Plus teams,
23:58 as well as Can-Am South Racing
24:00 with the promising Joao Ferrera and Sarah Price.
24:03 (MUSIC)
24:09 Finally, in the truck race,
24:10 Janis Van Kasteren is putting his title back on the line.
24:13 He will once again be battling it out
24:15 with the Czechs, Martin Maciek and Alice Loprijs,
24:18 as well as Dutch compatriots, Martin and Michal van den Brink.
24:22 (MUSIC)
24:29 And alongside this Dakar, we'll have the Dakar Classic.
24:32 The Dakar Classic uses the same bivouacs as its big brother,
24:35 but on the other hand, the routes are adapted.
24:37 Adapted because we have old vehicles coming to the race.
24:40 These are the vehicles that made us dream,
24:43 and so we'll be discovering the fourth edition of the event.
24:46 (MUSIC)
24:49 When you go to the extreme, you completely let go of the creeps,
24:53 you let go of the feelings you had at the bottom of your heart,
24:57 and you go towards a kind of fullness.
24:59 And if the race is a pretext, if the mechanics are a pretext,
25:03 well, it's a good pretext.
25:05 (MUSIC)
25:08 The Dakar is above all a kind of school of giant adventure.
25:11 (MUSIC)
25:14 It's a way of highlighting notions that are very important to me.
25:17 Notions of audacity, notions of courage,
25:19 notions of always going forward and always going a little further.
25:22 And that's why every year we're looking for,
25:25 not the free difficulty,
25:27 but the "track" that allows us to go forward
25:32 with strong feelings,
25:35 unbreakable memories,
25:37 and above all great moments in our modern adventure life.
25:41 We've made it, I don't know how, but we've made it.
25:45 (MUSIC)
25:49 (MUSIC)
25:52 This Dakar 2024 will also be the opening event
26:03 of the World Rallyway Championship, the W2RC,
26:06 which will then move on to the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
26:09 for its second round.
26:11 And a newcomer, Portugal, in April,
26:14 which will be also in Spain for a new European event.
26:18 After that, we'll be off to Ruta Cuarenta in Argentina.
26:22 And the championship will end once again in Morocco
26:25 with the Rallye du Maroc in October.
26:28 And we'd like to end this presentation by extending
26:30 our warmest thanks to Saudi Arabia,
26:32 which has been our host for the past five years.
26:35 And of course, not forgetting our Dakar partners
26:37 for their trust and loyalty,
26:39 which enable us to develop and promote the Dakar
26:41 throughout the world.
26:44 (MUSIC)
26:47 Thanks to all of you, and now let the adventure start.
26:57 (MUSIC)
27:01 (MUSIC)
27:05 (MUSIC)
27:08 (MUSIC)
27:32 (MUSIC)
28:01 (MUSIC)
28:04 We won Dakar!
28:17 (CHEERING)
28:21 (MUSIC)
28:24 (MUSIC)
28:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]