MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina/Chile Dakar edition begins January 3 in Bs. As.

Argentina and Chile will be hosting for the first time ever the 2009 edition of the Dakar rally that will extend from next January 3 to 18 covering 9.000 kilometers. The announcement was made on Tuesday in Paris by Patrice Clerc, president of Amaury Sport Organization and Etienne Lavigne director of the competition.

The official presentation held at the Théâtre Marigny was done in the presence of Carlos Enrique Meyer, Argentina's State Secretary for Tourism and of Jaime Pizarro Herrera, State Secretary for Sports of Chile. Returning from an in depth reconnaissance both in Argentina and Chile Étienne Lavigne said the January 2009 edition will cover the vast territories of the two countries in a large loop of 9.000 kilometers including around 6.000 kilometers of specials. The competition will begin and finish in Buenos Aires with the first leg along Patagonia's landscapes of Patagonia, to be followed by the crossing of the Andes before enjoying a rest day at Valparaiso on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The return trip will then take them to the Atacama Desert in north Chile bordering with Peru and Bolivia, again climb 4.000 kilometers of the Andes range and over to the Argentine provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and Cordoba. The Dakar event that has a vocation to discover unknown territories for off-road rally amateurs will this first time cross the Atlantic Ocean for its 2009 edition. The calendar has therefore been adapted in order to allow the shipping of the vehicles to Argentina's capital Buenos Aires: a first phase of technical and administrative scrutinizing will take place on November 26th and 27th at Le Havre harbor where the European vehicles will be boarded for South America. Organizers of the rally have announced the opening of the registration file as of Thursday May 15. During a month, the competitors that had registered for the 2008 edition of the Dakar will have the benefit of priority attention. The Dakar rally 2009 calendar is as follows: May 15/June 30, 2008: reception of registration files November 26/27 2008: first phase of technical and administrative scrutinizing at Le Havre. December 31/January 2 2009: second phase of technical and administrative scrutinizing at "La Rural" Palace in Buenos Aires. January 3: start of the first stage from Buenos Aires, on the "Plaza de la Republica". January 10: rest day at Valparaiso. January 18: finish in Buenos Aires.