Dakar 2020: Just two weeks to go, Van Loon is looking forward to it!

While Christmas and New Year’s Eve are getting close, the toughest rally in the world is also coming closer. The first stage, from Jeddah to Al Wajh, will be driven on 5 January. The Dakar of Erik van Loon and Sébastien Delaunay starts a few days earlier, on 2 January, with a final test. The administrative and technical checks are planned for 4 January in the Dakar Village. Van Loon is looking forward to the first Dakar in Saudi Arabia.

It will be the first time that Van Loon will see the desert of Saudi Arabia. “I have driven in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, but according to Sébastien, the Saudi desert has a lot of possibilities. He has a lot of experience there as he has driven many rallies, so I hope it will be an advantage for us. The rally is 7500 kilometers long, with 5000 kilometers in competition, so it will be a very long rally.”

Besides a whole new country, the organisation has introduced more innovations. “On the part of navigation there will be some changes and we are obliged to stop for 15 minutes during a break on the stage. Before, the navigator received the roadbook on the evening before the stage so he could prepare it. This year, the roadbooks will be coloured and on six stages, the roadbooks will be supplied at the start of the stage. It is also forbidden to have other tools and information inside the car and the penalties are serious if you break these rules. But this will make the rally fairer for everyone.”

These changes make the rally for Van Loon even more interesting. “We are part of a big team, but you know that there are always things that they know and you don't. That will be a lot less now, that is what the organisers are trying to accomplish. Sébastien is fighting for this for several years now. So, it gets me even more enthusiastic about Dakar and I hope we will have a good rally.”

Source: Press release of Van Loon Racing