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Twitter2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC)
The FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) enters its third year with a revised five-event calendar.
The season starts with the 46th Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia in January, before visiting the five-day Abu Desert Challenge, a new event on the Iberian Peninsula, a return to Argentina’s Desafío Ruta 40 for a third year and the finale in Morocco in October. The five events are spread across four continents – Asia (Middle East), Europe, South America and Africa.
The Dakar Rally is running in Saudi Arabia for the fifth time and the third as part of the W2RC. Hosted by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and the Amaury Sport Organisation (A.S.O.), the event starts in the city of Al-Ula and finishes on the Red Sea at Yanbu.
Founded in 1991 and included as a round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and the W2RC since 1993, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge features some of the most spectacular dunes in the cross-country calendar, situated deep in the remote Rub Al-Khali (Empty Quarter) close to the UAE’s border with Saudi Arabia. The event place between February 25th and March 2nd.
The new fixture on the Iberian Peninsula is the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Transibérico that takes place on April 2nd-7th and crosses rural and remote terrain in Portugal with one stage across the border in Spain. A similar event called Rally Transibérico ran back in 2006 and was a round of the FIA Cross-Country Rally World Cup.
Argentina’s Desafío Ruta 40 (June 2nd-8th) retains its place in the W2RC for a second season. The former round of the Dakar Series uses gravel and sandy stages in the La Rioja, Belén and Salta regions of north-western Argentina and passes through the famed Fiambalá dunes.
The season concludes with the ever-popular Rallye du Maroc (October 5th-11th) and its exquisite blend of challenging gravel and rocky stages, ergs and tricky dune crossings.
The FIA World Rally-Raid Championship now features new terminology with ‘Ultimate’, ‘Stock’, ‘Challenger’, ‘SSV’ and Truck replacing the T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 categories. Titles are awarded to Drivers, Co-drivers, Manufacturers and Challenger and SSV Drivers and Co-drivers. See here for more information on the new terminology.
A new points system for Cross-Country Rallies and Marathon Rallies was introduced in 2022 and reflects the difference between the events with leg points for the fastest five crews bolstering competition.
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