2016 Dakar preview - Desert Storm
By Team TMX on 29th Dec 15
Januarys Dakar Rally could be the most open for many years in the motorcycle category.
January's Dakar Rally could be the most open for many years in the motorcycle category.
Injuries and retirements amongst the usual front-runners have opened the door to a whole host of potential winners from several teams.
The action gets underway in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on January 1 and finishes in Rosario on January 16.
Frenchman Cyril Despres and Spaniard Marc Coma have dominated recent Dakar rallies and won every one since 2005. The duo claimed five victories apiece, but that era has now come to an end.
Despres will be in action, but will tackle the event for a second time with navigator David Castera in a factory Red Bull Peugeot 2008 DKR as a member of Team Peugeot Total, while Coma has replaced Castera as a senior event organiser at the Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO) in Paris. Without either Despres or Coma attacking the stages on their KTMs, there is a certain hollow feel to the top of the entry list.
That should have enabled Dubai-based Briton Sam Sunderland to step into the fray and put himself among the favourites, especially after his superb victory at the Rally of Morocco in October.
However fate dealt the British factory KTM Red Bull rider a cruel hand days after that Morocco success, when he crashed heavily at the Merzouga Rally – also in Morocco – and sustained a broken right femur and left collarbone.
Those injuries have sidelined the Brit, who must now wait another year for a chance to finish on the Dakar podium, although he is present on the entry list in the number 25 position just in case he is given the medical all-clear at the 11th hour.
"To say I was disappointed is an understatement,” said Sunderland.
"Morocco is the biggest race outside of the Dakar, so winning was a massive step in the right direction. Then the accident happened at the Merzouga Rally and I was back to square one again.
"I'm on the entry list at 25 for a reason. Right now I can't say yes or no whether I will be able to make the Dakar.
"Hopefully, if everything keeps going well I will make the final decision on December 15.”
The Route
The threat of El Nino and forecast storms in Peru forced the Peruvian government into a decision to stop the Dakar Rally from starting in Lima and crossing through southern Peru.
That shock decision left the organising team from ASO (Amaury Sports Organisation) without a host starting venue for the first half of the event in the middle of the summer of 2015.
Senior director, David Castera, also left the operation to join Team Peugeot Total and was replaced by Marc Coma to work alongside Etienne Lavigne and his team in Paris.
ASO worked around the clock for three-and-a-half months to ensure that the race survived and a revised route was announced in September.
After administration and technical checks in Buenos Aires on December 31 and New Year's Day, the event starts on January 2 in the Argentinan capital.
A long opening day takes crews across the centre of Argentina and through a WRC-style stage en route to Vila Carlos Paz, the traditional home of the Rally of Argentina.
The route then heads towards Termas de Rio Hondo for the second year running and then on to San Salvador de Jujuy in the Andean foothills on January 5.
There will be a loop stage around Jujuy on January 6 and then the Dakar caravan turns north towards the high altitude of Uyuni in Bolivia on January 7.
Marc Coma explained: "There will be fewer sand dunes and more technical tracks on the opening three days.
"A new idea has been devised to reach Bolivia. Before arriving in Uyuni, competitors will be placed in a new marathon configuration.
"There will be a strict parc ferme at Jujuy, while the support vehicles drive the long route to Uyuni.”
The next stage loops around the Bolivian salt flats and the high plateau and then re-crosses the border into Argentina and on to Salta on January 9.
The city hosts the traditional rest day on January 10 and the route then heads to La Rioja via two nights in Belén and the infamous white dunes of Fiambala, a graveyard for many Dakar dreams over the past few years.
Crews arrive in La Rioja on January 13 and head on to the punishing heat of San Juan on January 14 and back to Vila Carlos Paz via the penultimate stage on January 15.
The final section takes crews from Vila Carlos Paz to a ceremonial finish in the city of Rosario on January 16.
