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The 2008 Dakar Rally would have been the 30th running of the annual off-road race. The rally was to start in Lisbon, Portugal on 5 January 2008, running through Europe and Africa until the finish in Dakar, Senegal on 20 January. The event was postponed and moved one day before the intended start date, due to concerns over a possible terrorist attack aimed at the competitors.

Postponement and Relocation

The rally was cancelled on 4 January 2008, due to safety concerns in Mauritania, following the killing of four French tourists there on Christmas Eve, December 2007. France-based Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), in charge of the 6,000 km (3,730 mi) rally, said in a statement they had been advised by the French government to cancel the race. They said direct threats had also been made against the event by "terrorist organizations". Before the start of the race, rally director Étienne Lavigne had approved the Mauritanian legs only after two stages planned for Mali were scrapped. An Al-Qaeda affiliate organization was blamed for the cancellation.

On 4 February 2008, the ASO organised the Central Europe Rally, with a Hungary to Romania route, as the rescheduled and relocated race, which technically is part of the lineage of the Dakar Rally, as the ASO held all entries over to the event, which lasted only one year. A new race, keeping the Dakar Rally name, was organised in South America in 2009 and was held until 2019, where in 2020 the race moved to Saudi Arabia.

Entrants

As of December 2007 there were 245 motorbikes, 20 quads, 205 cars, and 100 trucks. A total of 570 teams from various countries (50) were entered, up from 510 in 2007.

All entries were deferred to the Central Europe Rally. 110 motorbikes, 19 quads, 91 cars, and 40 trucks took the start of the rescheduled and relocated event, known as the Central Europe Rally.

Route

The race would have begun in Lisbon, Portugal, and passed through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, and Senegal. The total race distance would have been 9,273 km (5,762 mi), of which 5,732 km (3,562 mi) was timed special stage. There would have been a rest day in Nouakchott on 13 January.

Planned Stages

Stage	Date	From	To	Connection		Special		Connection		Total
				km	mi	km	mi	km	mi	km	mi
1	5 January	Lisbon	Portimão	104	65	120	75	262	163	486	302
2	6 January	Portimão	Málaga	15	9	60	37	460	286	535	332
3	7 January	Nador	Er Rachidia	182	113	372	231	16	10	717	446
4	8 January	Er Rachidia	Ouarzazate	29	18	356	221	199	124	584	363
5	9 January	Ouarzazate	Guelmim	188	117	498	309	148	92	834	518
6	10 January	Guelmim	Smara†	66	41	454	282	105	65	625	388
7	11 January	Smara†	Atar	198	123	619	385	12	7	829	515
8	12 January	Atar	Nouakchott	44	27	450	280	37	23	531	330
9	13 January	Rest day in Nouakchott
10	14 January	Nouakchott	Nouadhibou	37	23	525	326	86	53	648	403
11	15 January	Nouadhibou	Atar	111	69	552	343	22	14	685	426
12	16 January	Atar	Tidjikja	35	22	524	326	133	83	692	430
13	17 January	Tidjikja	Kiffa	131	81	398	247	2	1	531	330
14	18 January	Kiffa	Kiffa	25	16	484	301	6	4	515	320
15	19 January	Kiffa	Saint-Louis	326	203	301	187	130	81	757	470
16	20 January	Saint-Louis	Dakar	239	149	23	14	42	26	304	189
				km	mi	km	mi	km	mi	km	mi

†Smara is located in the Moroccan-administered portion of the Western Sahara

References

1. ^ Keaton, Jamie (2008-01-05). "Terror threat cancels famed Dakar Rally". Toronto Star. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
2. "News Africa – Reuters.com". Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 January 2008. Retrieved 6 January 2008.
3. Future of Dakar Rally now in doubt Archived December 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
4. "List of entrants". Dakar organizers. Archived from the original on 16 January 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-05.
5. "The Route". Dakar Rally. Amaury Sport Organisation. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
6. "Map showing 2008 planned route" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-05.

• 2008 in rallying
• Dakar Rally
• 2008 in African sport
• Cancelled motorsport events
• 2008 in European sport