Dakar Rally 2027: Morocco and Portugal to Host 49th Edition
The 2027 Dakar Rally moves to Portugal and Morocco from Jan. 9 to 23, with 11 stages in the Kingdom, organiser Amaury Sport Organisation said.
Source: Red Bull
Morocco and Portugal will host the 49th Dakar Rally from January 9 to 23, 2027, an exceptional relocation of the race, Amaury Sport Organisation announced in a statement on Friday.
According to the organiser, the event moves to Europe and Africa for 2027 only, before returning to Saudi Arabia in 2028 to mark its 50th edition. The rally will also open the 2027 season of the FIA and FIM World Rally-Raid Championships.
Prologue and 12 stages
The route consists of a prologue followed by twelve stages linking Loulé-Faro in Portugal to Marrakech. The Algarve will stage the prologue and the first special, while Morocco will host eleven stages and a rest day in Agadir.
Competitors will cover 7,824 km in total, 4,341 km of them timed specials, with the caravan stopping at six different bivouacs along the way.
Amaury Sport Organisation praised the quality of Morocco’s deserts in its statement, saying they make the country, described as vast and “still full of surprises”, an ideal land for rally-raid. It added that Morocco, experienced in hosting international events, would be able to support the Dakar through a new organisational challenge.
Dakar director David Castera said the relocated edition would meet the sporting standards that have always made it the toughest rally-raid event.
“Despite the short timeframe we have had to work with, we have designed a real Dakar,” Castera said.
He added that the organisers’ expertise across Moroccan territory, combined with the operational capacity of their in-house teams, would allow the race to go well beyond formats already run in the country, with competitors discovering the Kingdom “from one end to the other”. The country’s know-how in hosting major international events and the quality of its infrastructure, he said, would be valuable in delivering a first-class Dakar.
From the Algarve to Nador
The assistance park will open on January 5 at the Algarve stadium in Loulé-Faro, where administrative and technical checks will take place from January 6 to 8. Racing begins in Portugal with the prologue on January 9, followed by the first special the next day.
That stage will continue as a transfer to the port, where competitors will board a ship for Nador. The Mediterranean crossing will take place overnight.
Route through the Kingdom
After landing on January 11, crews will transfer to the first Moroccan bivouac at Bouarfa. From the Oriental region in the north-east, the race will first head south along the Atlas mountains via Zagora, then on to Agadir, where the caravan will pause for 24 hours.
The second week will take the rally away from the Atlas and deep into the desert of the Kingdom’s southern provinces, with Smara and then the area close to Dakhla marking the southernmost points on the map. From there, the caravan will head back north, again via Smara, before following the Atlantic coast to the finish in Marrakech.
