2027 Dakar Rally Takes Up Portugal-To-Morocco Route Amid U.S.-Iran War

If you haven't been paying attention to world affairs or don't care how much you pay for gas, organizing an international event anywhere on the Arabian Peninsula has become a fairly dangerous proposition. The Dakar Rally announced Friday that its 2027 edition will be hosted by Portugal and Morocco in a one-off relocation. Organizers expect to return to Saudi Arabia for the 50th Dakar Rally in 2028.

The 2027 Dakar Rally will kick off January 9 with a prologue in Loulé, Portugal. The 80-mile opener will use the 30,000-seat Algarve Stadium as its hub. The first stage will see competitors race 186 miles to Faro on the country's southern coast. From there, they will transfer overnight by boat across the Strait of Gibraltar to Nador, Morocco. The competition will then spend the next dozen days traversing over 4,200 miles of rugged Moroccan terrain, finishing in Marrakech on January 23. Despite the relatively late relocation, the legendary rally is still set to see strong participation. David Castera, Dakar race director, said:

We are already grateful for the loyalty of the competitors who are overwhelmingly choosing to follow us on this new adventure (350 already registered to date). They will also be able to count on the support of the media and our partners, who are reaffirming their commitment alongside us in these exceptional circumstances."

Dakar Rally organizers let fans use their imaginations as to why the event was temporarily moved out of Saudi Arabia, using the vague explanation, "In light of recent events." But it's not hard to connect the dots and realize it was due to the U.S. war against Iran. 

While the war has cooled in recent months, Saudi Arabia became the direct target of a renewed offensive by Houthi forces in Yemen amid their ongoing conflict. Earlier this month, the Houthis launched a barrage of drones and missiles at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and two other international airports. The attacks killed at least 21 people and injured over 300 more. Also, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly implied that the United States would resume hostilities against Iran after next week's midterm elections. It simply wasn't safe to run the Dakar Rally anywhere in the region.

The Dakar Rally is no stranger to relocation. As the event name implies, it was originally a cross-country rally from Paris to Dakar in Senegal. It largely remained that way from 1979 until 2008, when four French tourists were killed by a North African wing of al-Qaida and the race was canceled. Fearing that the Dakar could be a target for insurgents in the Maghreb, the rally relocated to South America from 2009 until 2019. The Amaury Sport Organization, Dakar's organizers, moved the event to Saudi Arabia in 2020 after signing a multi-year deal with the country. The return to Africa in 2027 will only be temporary because of how lucrative the Saudi agreement must be.