The 2027 Dakar Rally will be moved from Saudi Arabia because of “recent developments in the region”, organisers said on Sunday, following repeated attacks on the kingdom by Yemen’s Houthis.
“Dakar 2027 will go ahead. The 2027 edition will take place in a different territory,” organisers said in a statement, adding that the event would still be organised by Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), which runs the rally alongside Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC).
A new location is expected to be announced in the coming days.
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Rally expected to return to Africa
According to specialist media reports, the preferred option for the 2027 edition is to start in Spain and finish in Morocco. If confirmed, it would mark the rally’s return to Africa for the first time since 2007.
Created in 1978, the gruelling multi-stage event was formerly known as the Paris-Dakar Rally, following a route from the French capital to Senegal’s Dakar.
Security threats along its North African route prompted organisers to move the event to South America in 2009. It relocated to Saudi Arabia in 2020.
Organisers said they intend to bring the rally back to Saudi Arabia in 2028 to celebrate its 50th edition.
Regional conflict disrupts sporting calendar
The relocation is the latest sporting change linked to the wider US-Iran war, which erupted in February.
Dakar organisers had hoped to keep the 2027 event in Saudi Arabia by developing a new route in the northern part of the country. However, the latest attacks, including one targeting Riyadh airport this month that reportedly killed 13 people and injured hundreds, made that plan impossible, according to the report.
Houthi attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure have reached an unprecedented scale in recent weeks since the conflict in Yemen began in 2014, the report added.
Other sporting events affected
The regional conflict has also disrupted several other major sporting events.
This season’s Formula One Grand Prix in Jeddah was cancelled, while the Bahrain race was called off and later rescheduled under the same name in Malaysia.
The final round of the World Rally Championship, scheduled to take place in Saudi Arabia next month, has also been scrapped.
An exhibition tennis tournament featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December.
The WTA Finals, which had been scheduled to take place in Riyadh next month, will instead be held at Indian Wells in the United States.
The final two Formula One races of the season in Qatar on November 29 and Abu Dhabi on December 6 remained on the calendar at the time of the report. The Qatar MotoGP event scheduled for next month was also still listed, although both events were reportedly the subject of internal discussions