Dakar Rally Leaves Saudi Arabia for 2027 Amid Regional Conflict

Drivers and fans of the Dakar Rally will not be heading to Saudi Arabia next January. Organizers announced on Sunday that the 2027 event will take place in a different territory due to recent developments in the region. The new venue will be revealed in the coming days.

The Amaury Sport Organisation and the Saudi Motorsport Company made the announcement in a joint statement. They confirmed that the rally is scheduled to return to Saudi Arabia in 2028. That year marks the 50th running of the race, a milestone the organizers aim to celebrate in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia has hosted the Dakar Rally since 2020. The decision to move the 2027 edition comes after a series of strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month. Those attacks killed 18 people and injured hundreds more. Organizers had tried to keep the race in the north of the country with a new route, but the latest strikes made that plan impossible.

Specialist race media report that Morocco and Spain are under consideration as replacement hosts. A move to Morocco would return the event to Africa for the first time since 2007. The rally originally started as a race from Paris to Dakar in Senegal. It was called off in 2008 due to security concerns in North Africa before moving to South America and then Saudi Arabia.

The Dakar is the latest major sporting event to leave Saudi Arabia this year. The changes follow the US-Israel war on Iran and deadly Houthi attacks on the kingdom. The Formula One grand prix in Jeddah was cancelled. The Bahrain race was called off and later rescheduled in Malaysia. The final round of the World Rally Championship in Saudi Arabia next month has also been scrapped.

Other events are facing adjustments as well. An exhibition tennis event featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev was postponed until late December. The WTA Finals, originally planned for Riyadh next month, will now be held in Indian Wells, California.

Fighting in Yemen has intensified in recent weeks, deepening a humanitarian crisis. Last month, Houthi fighters seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast from government forces. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition backing those government forces. The attacks have disrupted businesses and airlines, damaging the kingdom's international image.