Challenging the Dakar Rally Course in Saudi Arabia

 Mark Izydore is an established presence in the Florida entrepreneurial community who guides CJ Consultants and delivers coordinated financial and accounting services. Outside of his professional pursuits, Mark Izydore follows and reads automobile races featured in the Robb Report.

An early 2023 Robb Report article focused on the most recent running of the Dakar Rally Course. Spanning two weeks, the off-road endurance race takes inspiration from the grueling Paris-Dakar event, first staged in 1978, which took drivers across a varied terrain that ranges from mountains to deserts.

The 5,000-mile route of the Dakar Rally winds across much of Saudi Arabia, beginning on the Red Sea coastline and heading up through the rugged north before looping south through Riyadh and into the Empty Quarter. It ends with a 14th-stage finale at the city of Dammam on the Persian Gulf.

With the field including motorcycles, T5 trucks, and prototype racing cars, the 2023 Dakar Rally was made challenging by flash flooding that turned sand into heavy mud and necessitated a rerouting that lasted three days. One positive development surrounding the carbon-intensive event involved unveiling vehicles such as the hybrid RS Q e-Tron E2 by Audi, which promises to transform racing of the future.