The second edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, scheduled to run from 3-15 January next year, will start and finish in Jeddah after venturing through the desert and along the Red Sea, organisers revealed Thursday. The 2021 version of the gruelling 12-day marathon will take participants into uncharted territory, with all timed sections of the loop course brand new to the race. "We've made the most of all of Saudi Arabia," rally director David Castera told AFP. Following the deaths of two motorcyclists, Portugal's Paulo Goncalves and Dutchman Edwin Straver, on this year's rally, enhanced safety measures will be introduced in 2021. The event, launched in 1979 with its original route between Paris and the Senegalese capital Dakar, moved to Saudi Arabia this year after a decade in South America, a decision which sparked an angry reaction from human rights organisations.

Source: News 24 June 11, 2020 13:29 UTC