Dakar Rally won't end in Dakar

The 25th running of the world’s toughest motorsport race, the Dakar Rally, will not end in the West African city on January 19.

After a quarter of a century of the rugged cross-desert race, the organisers will not this year direct car, truck and motorcycle racers across the border of Senegal.

Instead of the war-torn countries of Mali and Mauritania, the gruelling 19-day race will instead take in Libya.

And even though the 2003 Dakar Rally will begin in France, the traditional dawn start from Paris will tomorrow be replaced by an evening start with a gentle prologue beginning in Marseille.

The 265-kilometre first stage to Narbonne will be tame compared to the rest of the 8,552km race which will feature a total of three stages through France and Spain, three in Tunisia, five in Libya and six in Egypt.

When the competitors reach the finish line at Sharm El Sheikh on January 19 they will have spent 17 days on the course – two days are set aside for rest periods – but also gone will be the usual final-day lap around Lake Rose in Dakar.

Of the 342 competitors who will leave Marseille tomorrow evening many are sure to have fallen by the wayside by that time.

But one driver aiming to make it two wins in a row will be Japan’s Hiroshi Masuoka of Team ENEOS Mitsubishi Ralliart.

Matsuoka and French team-mate Stephane Peterhansel, a six-times winner of the Dakar motorcycle category, impressed during recent test at Lucerne, north of Lyon in central France.

Matsuoka was satisfied with his new car’s performance at the test.

He said: “The final vehicle is near-perfect. Through many tests and racing in actual events, we managed to fix and revise every possible point that needed fixing.

“Although it was only developed this year the vehicle is totally complete.”

Peterhansel won the recent UAE Desert Challenge, putting him in confident mood for the Dakar.

“In my experience there has never been a perfect vehicle, but I must say this machine is more than satisfactory,” said Peterhansel.

The Ford-engined buggy of Jean-Louis Schlesser will make the Frenchman one of the main competitors for Masuoka’s title and he was in relaxed mood on the eve of the race.

“The pressure is not as important as the previous years,” admitted Schlesser.

“We start the rally in calm fashion after a year’s work on the car,” he added.

Germany’s Jutta Kleinschmidt, who became the first female winner in 2001, will race the Giorgio-designed Volkswagen buggy this time around.

The all-powerful KTM team will be looking to land a clean sweep of the motorcycle category once again in 2003 after Italian Fabrizio Meoni led home South Africa’s Alfie Cox and Frenchman Richard Sainct last time out.

The Austrian firm enjoyed unparalleled success in the 2002 event by filling the first 11 places in the motorcycle category.