2024 Dakar Rally

The 2024 Dakar Rally was a rally raid event held in Saudi Arabia. It was the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally, organized by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and the 5th time Saudi Arabia has hosted the event.

The event took place between 5 and 19 January 2024. For the third year running, the event was also the first round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship.

The outline of the race route was presented on 3 June 2023. This year the route will start at Al-'Ula, cross the Empty Quarter, and will finish in Yanbu. Race format consists of a prologue and 12 stages, including a 48-hour marathon stage - dubbed as a '48h chrono stage', which would cover over 600km with a midnight halt. The new format marathon stage will include time limit for stopping at 4pm, and setting off the next day at 7am. The route will feature 60% new tracks compared to the previous edition, comprising 5,000 kilometres of special stages.

Timeline

 * 3 June – 20 October 2023: Registrations
 * End of November 2023: Press conference
 * 1 December 2023: Scrutineering and vehicle loading in Barcelona
 * 1 January 2024: Offloading vehicles in Yanbu
 * 5 January 2024: Starting podium and the Prologue Stage
 * 6 January 2024: Race start
 * 19 January 2024: Race finish and finish podium

Entry list
On 13 December 2023 ASO announced the list of competitors.

Number of entries


Competitor list
– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race. – Competitors participating in "Original by Motul" — limited assistance marathon class.

Withdrawals before the start:
 * 52 Matthias Walkner

– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race. – Competitors participating in "Original by Motul" — limited assistance marathon class. – The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race.

– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race.

– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race.

– The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Late entries. – Competitors that were not able to start the race. – The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race. – The "Dakar Legends" - competitors that participated in 10 or more Dakar events. – The first time starters - "rookies". – Competitors that were not able to start the race.

Stages
The 2024 Dakar route was revealed on 20 November 2023, totaling 7891 km, and consisting of 4727 km special stages. The race features a new two-day marathon stage, where all participants will need to stop at the nearest bivouac after 4pm. There will be 8 bivouacs setup, with drivers having no contact with their teams, but allowed to work on other vehicles.

Challenger (T3)
Notes:
 * Eryk Goczał and Michał Goczał were disqualified on the rest day following Stage 6 for using an unauthorised carbon clutch. Eryk led the general classification by over an hour at the time, having won the prologue and four of the stages.

Incidents
Stage 1
 * Near the start of stage 1, French driver Lionel Baud collided with a Russian spectator in a segment far from the race organizers' designated spectator area. The stage was briefly halted for the cars category while the spectator was evacuated to hospital, where he was diagnosed with a broken tibia and fibula from the impact.

Stage 2
 * Near the end of stage 2, Spanish motorcyclist Carles Falcón suffered a major accident. Race director David Castera indicated that Falcón was initially found by medics with no pulse before being resuscitated and airlifted to hospital in Al-Dawadmi in serious condition. After arriving at hospital, Falcón was found to have a fractured C2 vertebra and to be suffering cerebral edema. Falcón was placed in an induced coma due to the injuries. Isaac Feliu, Falcón's teammate, withdrew from the rally following the accident. Falcón died from his injuries on 15 January. He was 45 years old.