Dakar Rally Marathon 2027 will be held in Portugal and Morocco

The Dakar Rally Marathon will change its venue in 2027 and will take place in Portugal and Morocco. This was announced on October 30 by the press service of the organizer of the competition.

"Faced with a difficult situation that led to the need for an exceptional relocation of the Dakar rally venue in 2027, the organizers received support dictated by the history of these competitions: in particular, Portugal and Morocco once again agreed to provide their territories for the race," the publication says.

The marathon is scheduled to start on January 9 in the Portuguese city of Lola, where participants will complete the prologue. The riders will complete the first special stage on January 10, after which the equipment will be transported to the African continent.

In Morocco, the route runs south along the Atlas Mountains through Zagora to Agadir, where a daily stop is provided. Then the participants will continue moving south, turn around and head north through Smara. The grand finale will take place on January 23 in Marrakech.

The total length of the highway in 2027 will be 7824 km. The share of high-speed special stages will account for 4,341 km of the route. Despite the changes in the 2027 schedule, the organizers plan to return to the previous location. In 2028, the 50th anniversary Rally Dakar is scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia again.

The KAMAZ-master auto racing team refused to participate in the Dakar Rally in 2026, which started on January 3 in Saudi Arabia. It is clarified that the reason was the continuation of the ban on the participation of the team under the Russian flag, which has been in effect for the past four years.