The legendary Dakar Rally might be heading back to Africa after organisers confirmed on Sunday that the 2027 edition will be moved from Saudi Arabia “following recent developments in the region”, marking a dramatic about-turn for motorsport’s most gruelling adventure race. The decision comes as Yemen’s Houthi rebels have intensified attacks on the kingdom, forcing yet another marquee sporting event to flee the escalating conflict.

The rally, organised jointly by ASO and Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC), will be relocated to a new territory to be announced “in the coming days”. According to specialist media, the preferred option is a spectacular Spain-to-Morocco route that would mark the first time since 2007 that the multi-stage odyssey returns to African soil.

“Dakar 2027 will go ahead. The 2027 edition will take place in a different territory,” read the organisers’ statement, which stressed that ASO would continue running the event despite the geographical shift.

The relocation is the latest sporting casualty of the wider US-Iran war that erupted in February, with Saudi Arabia and its Yemen-based allies coming under sustained bombardment as a truce disintegrated recently. Yemen’s civil war, pitting Iran-backed Houthis against the Saudi-supported, internationally recognised government, had lain dormant since a 2022 ceasefire before reigniting in July as regional tensions exploded.

Recent Houthi strikes have reached unprecedented intensity, including a devastating attack on Riyadh airport this month that killed 13 people and injured hundreds more. That assault rendered organisers’ contingency plans, which included plotting a new route through northern Saudi Arabia, utterly untenable.

The Dakar’s troubled relationship with geopolitics stretches back decades. Created in 1978 as the Paris-Dakar, the rally traditionally thundered from the French capital to Senegal’s coastal capital. Security threats across North Africa forced organisers to abandon the continent in 2009, relocating to South America before Saudi Arabia became host in 2020.

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Organisers remain committed to bringing the rally back to the kingdom in 2028 to celebrate its 50th edition, though that ambition now appears optimistic given the deteriorating security situation.

The Dakar isn’t alone in fleeing the region. This season’s Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah was cancelled outright, whilst Bahrain’s race was scrapped and later rescheduled under the same name in Malaysia. The World Rally Championship’s Saudi finale next month has been binned, whilst an exhibition tennis tournament featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December. The WTA Finals shifted from Riyadh to Indian Wells.

The final two F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, plus Qatar’s MotoGP round, remain on the calendar but are subject to “intense internal debate” as teams and organisers monitor the volatile situation.

For now, the desert dunes of Saudi Arabia will fall silent in 2027 as the Dakar seeks safer passage elsewhere.

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