The Japan Times - Dakar Rally moved to Portugal and Morocco following Houthi attacks in Gulf

The drivers, motorcyclists and truck drivers will tackle the prologue and first special stage in Portugal followed by 11 stages of the gruelling rally -- covering almost 8,000 kilometres with 4,341km of specials -- in Morocco.

It is the first time since 2007 that the gruelling multi-stage rally, created in 1978, returns to Africa.

"Although it has been moved, the 49th edition of the Dakar will still meet the sporting standards which has always made the event the most demanding of endurance rallies," said race director David Castera.

"Despite the short amount of time we have had we have put together a real Dakar.

"The competitors will discover the kingdom (Morocco) from one end to the other.

"We are going to explore all its unique features on a route whose size we haven't seen before."

The race, formerly called the Paris-Dakar, used to be follow a route from the French capital to the Senegalese capital Dakar.

But security threats along its route in North Africa meant that from 2009 it was held in South America, and from 2020 in Saudi Arabia.

Organisers said they intend to bring the rally back to Saudi Arabia in 2028 to celebrate its 50th edition.

The moving of the Dakar Rally is just the latest sporting event in the region to be affected by conflict in the Middle East.

An exhibition tennis tournament due to feature Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December.

The WTA Finals were also scheduled to be held in Riyadh next month but will instead take place at Indian Wells in the US.

This season's Formula One grand prix in Jeddah was cancelled, while the race in Bahrain was called off and later rescheduled under the same name in Malaysia.

The final round of the World Rally Championship in Saudi Arabia next month has also been scrapped.

The last two races of the F1 season in Qatar (November 29) and Abu Dhabi (December 6) are still on the calendar, as is the Qatar MotoGP next month, but they are the subject of intense internal debate.

However, the mouth-watering WBC super-middleweight title bout between defending champion Christian Mbilli and Mexican legend Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez is going ahead in Riyadh on Saturday.

Dakar Rally organisers had hoped to keep the 2027 race in Saudi Arabia by working on a new route in the northern part of the country.

But the latest strikes, including one targeting Riyadh airport this month, which killed 13 people and injured hundreds more, have rendered that impossible.

In recent weeks, Houthi attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure have reached a scale unprecedented since the start of the conflict in Yemen in 2014.

S.Yamamoto--JT