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Dakar Rally to start from Lisbon for first time
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-11-24 10:43
PARIS, Nov 23 (Reuters) - The 2006 Dakar Rally will start from Lisbon for the
first time next month with motorcycles subjected to new speed limits after two
riders died in this year's event.
Organisers said 508 teams -- 240 motorcycles, 180 cars and 80 trucks -- will
race from December 31 to January 15 with stages through Portugal, Spain,
Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Guinea before the finish in Senegal.
A limit of 150kph has been imposed on bikes and trucks to make the event
fairer to all competitors and improve safety. All vehicles will be limited to 50
kph in villages.
"The emphasis is on a return to navigating, the founding principle of rally
raids," said a statement on the rally website.
"GPS (global positioning system) functions are deliberately reduced, obliging
drivers and co-drivers to navigate exclusively according to information given in
the road book."
Some critics have said the rally has become more dangerous in recent years
with riders and drivers forced to stick to a narrowly defined route -- meaning
they cannot win through navigation skills and must compete mainly on speed.
Two times winner Fabrizio Meoni of Italy and Spanish amateur Jose Manuel
Perez were killed this year.
Spain's former world rally champion Carlos Sainz will be one of the newcomers
to the Dakar, driving a Volkswagen Touareg. Mitsubishi's French driver Stephane
Peterhansel won the car category this year.
"The rally starts with a pair of long stages in Europe, which is better than
the very short prologue held before because you get into a good rhythm from the
word go," said Germany's 2001 winner Jutta Kleinschmidt.
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