The 2027 Dakar Rally will start in Faro, Portugal, and finish in Marrakech, Morocco. After years in the Saudi Arabian desert, the world’s most famous off-road endurance race is heading back to the continents where it was born. The reason has nothing to do with nostalgia.
The Middle East is too dangerous right now to host a logistics operation of this scale. That’s the plain reality behind what organizer A.S.O. is packaging as an exciting new chapter for the 49th edition of the race.
Racers leave Algarve Stadium on January 9, 2027, and hit African soil two days later. The route covers 4,862 miles total, with 2,697 miles of timed special stages, stopping at six bivouacs before the checkered flag drops in Marrakech on January 23.
The Dakar moved to South America in 2009 after security threats in Mauritania forced the cancellation of the 2008 edition. It stayed there until 2019, when Saudi Arabia backed up a very large truck full of money and parked it at A.S.O.’s front door. The kingdom got its marquee international motorsport event, and A.S.O. got a blank check to build stages across endless desert terrain.
Now the cycle repeats. Instability in the region is pushing the race out again, this time back toward its ancestral geography. Paris to Dakar became the template in 1979. Portugal to Morocco is not that, but the DNA is close enough for the marketing department to work with.
Both Portugal and Morocco are well established on the international rally circuit. Morocco hosts rounds of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship and has decades of experience managing desert competition logistics. Portugal’s Algarve region has hosted Formula 1, MotoGP, and World Rally Championship events.
What makes this move interesting is the speed of it. Saudi Arabia seemed like a permanent home. The kingdom invested billions in motorsport infrastructure, from the Jeddah street circuit for F1 to purpose-built facilities in the desert interior.
Dakar was supposed to be part of Vision 2030, the crown prince’s plan to diversify the Saudi economy through entertainment and tourism. Five years in, the race is leaving. A.S.O. has not publicly elaborated on specific threats, but the decision speaks for itself.
Moving an operation that involves hundreds of vehicles, thousands of support staff, and competitors from dozens of countries requires absolute confidence in security. That confidence apparently evaporated.
The original Dakar always carried risk as part of its identity. Competitors died. Spectators died. The route passed through active conflict zones. But the modern race, worth hundreds of millions in sponsorship and broadcast revenue, cannot afford that kind of exposure. Insurance underwriters and corporate partners demand predictability.
Morocco offers genuine desert terrain without the geopolitical complications. The stages between the Atlantic coast and the Atlas Mountains will test navigation and endurance in ways that Saudi Arabia’s Empty Quarter did, just with better highway infrastructure nearby and NATO allies next door.
Whether this becomes another temporary stop or a long-term home depends entirely on factors outside A.S.O.’s control. The race has now been displaced from Africa, then South America, then the Middle East. It keeps running out of safe places to run.
Registration for the 2027 edition opens later this year, and early interest from factory teams is reportedly strong. The competitors will show up wherever the start line is painted. They always do.
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