Dakar 2023 will be longer and tougher than previous years, with more dune sections. It’ll be the longest Dakar Rally since 2014, with just shy of 5,000 km in special stages (on average a 450 km special stage each day) and a total distance of 8,500 km over 14 stages. It will run from December 31, 2022, to January 15, 2023, in Saudi Arabia.

If you are a Dakar Rally follower, you know major rulebook changes have been par for the course in recent years. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all the updates. From limiting how many spare tires you could use (what a disaster that was) to only handing out the roadbooks in the morning at the start of the stage, there’s been constant evolution of the regulations.

All the rule changes normally have two main aims at their core: To make the race safer and more competitive.

While there is a slew of definition changes like “Service” to “Assistance,” “Hidden Waypoint” to “Masked Waypoint,” “Sporting Penalty” to “Stage Penalty” (an attempt to de-Frenchify the Dakar maybe?), we will be looking at the bigger, more far-reaching changes for 2023. The FIM released a rather bulky document with all the updates, and we’ll do our best to condense them.

It’s important to note that these rule changes are not just for Dakar but for the 2023 World Championships in Rally-Raid and World Cup Rally.

There are four motorcycle classes in Dakar, and different rules sometimes apply to different classes:

1. RallyGP—FIM Rally-Raid World Championship. Moto rally up to 450cc
2. Rally2—FIM Rally-Raid World Cup. Moto rally up to 450cc
3. Rally3—FIM Rally-Raid World Cup. Moto enduro adapted for rally use.
4. Quad

While the new rules are not necessarily groundbreaking, they will have a significant impact on the race standings, so let’s jump in.

• Digital Roadbooks

 For those clamoring for the digital revolution, it would seem we will have to wait (yet again) until the Rally of Morocco in 2023, where RallyGP will use 100% digital roadbooks. As with previous years, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), and the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) have made a U-turn when it comes to this after saying Dakar 2023 would be all digital.

Things look different for the Quads and Rally 2 and 3. For the Quads, digital roadbooks will be compulsory for Dakar 2023, and for Rally 2 and 3, they will have a choice between digital or paper.

Rolls of paper roadbooks might become history if digital roadbooks are fully implemented.

• Starting Order 

The starting order rules were pretty confusing for the 2022 race—and they still are.

All RallyGP riders will be required to choose their starting order for Stage 1 as follows (let “N” be the number of RallyGP riders):

• These competitors must be present to make their choice
• They will be able to choose their starting position in the N first places of the starting list
• The competitor classified last RallyGP (N) will choose a position in the first N places of the starting list
• The competitor ranked N-1 in RallyGP will then choose a position in the top N places of the starting list. If he chooses the place taken by the previous one, the latter will see his position shifted (priority towards the first places of the list)
• The competitor classified N-2 in RallyGP will in turn choose his position and so on until the competitor who has set the best time in the prologue
• The first Rally2, Rally3 or Quad competitor will be ranked in position N+1 of the start list for Stage 1. The other drivers in these categories will follow in the ranking order of the Prologue

Example: There are 30 RallyGP riders (N-30). Rider ranked No. 30 after the Prologue (N-30), chooses their position first. Say they choose position six. The rider ranked No. 29 (N-1) chooses next. If rider No. 29 also chooses position six, rider No. 30 is then bumped down to position seven. The rider ranked No. 28 (N-2) chooses next and so on until the rider ranked #1 from the Prologue gets the last choice of position.

According to the official rulebook, a “Prologue” is a selective sector used to establish the starting order of the event. All competitors must participate in it, and the result will count for the classification of the event as well as any road penalties relating thereto.

• Time Bonus

The time bonus, or “Opener Rider Advantage,” is still under discussion by the FIM, and thus, it isn’t 100% clear as to how it would work. They have changed the time bonus from the first three riders to the first five. We will only know for certain once the race starts. Since the stage openers are at a disadvantage, the top three (possibly five) riders opening the timed special section of the stage will be given a time bonus. This will make scoring more complicated for the organization, but they claim that the system is instantaneous upon waypoint validation.

The time bonus will likely be awarded to the top three riders who arrive at a waypoint, and it will look something like this:

• 1st rider—1.5 seconds x distances traveled since the previous waypoint
• 2nd rider—1 second x distances traveled since the previous waypoint
• 3rd rider—0.5 seconds x distances traveled since the previous waypoint

Example: The first rider to open the first 200 km will get a five-minute bonus (1.5s x 200 km = 300s or 5 min), the second will get a 3.3-minute bonus, and the third rider will get a 1.6-minute bonus. The bonus will be rounded down to the whole second.

• Standings

Going forward, the winner of the Rally2 class in the FIM World Rally-Raid Cup will be automatically upgraded to the RallyGP class the following year. It does not seem that the rider will have a choice in the matter, but to soften the blow and to support new talent, the ASO will be footing the entry fee for the entire FIM World Rally-Raid Championship the following year—a pretty sweet upgrade. In real terms, this means that 2022 rookie sensation Mason Klein with be competing in the RallyGP class for 2023, and that the ASO will be paying his entry fee to the FIM World Rally-Raid Cup.

• Penalties

Rally 2, 3 and Quad categories have been updated as well. If a rider happens does not start a stage or for some reason is unable to finish a stage, they will still be able to receive championship points but will be given a stage penalty.

There are caveats though:

• They are not allowed more than one stage penalty per race
• It also does not apply to the last stage of a rally, and in order to be classified as a finisher, the rider will need to cross the start and finish lines of the last stage and have his/her bike in the Parc Fermé

For RallyGP, if you receive a DNF or DNS, you are disqualified and will not receive any points for the FIM World Championship. You will also not be allowed to continue the event unranked—pretty rough.

• Mirror Route

It is important to note that the FIM is testing the option of a so-called “Mirror Route,” but we are unsure how exactly it will be implemented. It is proposed as follows.

Stages will be split into two different parts, “A” and “B,” for example. The roadbooks will follow parts of the same route, but then at some point will split in two, with different waypoints for roadbook A and B, and thus the route a rider takes (and the waypoint he/she needs to validate) will depend on which roadbook they were given. The roadbooks will be assigned randomly, making it risky to follow the rider in front of you. Navigation will become key, concentrating on your roadbook rather than the rider ahead of you, unless you want to risk massive penalties for missing waypoints.

• Top Speed

The top speeds for RallyGP and Rally2 will be limited to 160 km/h—that’s 100 mph for those who don’t speak rally.

• More Interesting Facts

• Phones: If you were thinking that you might use your Relive, Maps.me, Gaia, Locus, or OnX app for Dakar, forget about it. The official line is that “the use of mobile phones is forbidden during the stage.” However, you are allowed a satellite or GSM phone for safety reasons if it is registered with the organizers. So, if you are posting to your social media mid-stage, you could be disqualified or heavily penalized.
• Tires: RallyGP competitors must declare the make and type of the rear tire used throughout the rally during the technical inspection. Only this type of declared tire may be used by the competitor—they are not allowed to change between tire makes or brands. For Rally 2, 3 and Quad, changing tire brands during the race is allowed.

If you want to stay abreast of all things Dakar, Freedom Rally’s RallyCentral has the ambitious goal of aggregating and more importantly, organizing all news and media around rally, Dakar, and the emerging North American rally scene, creating a one-stop-shop for all things rally.

https://media.freedomrallyracing.com/category/dakar/dakar2023/.

For more technical insights and navigation explained, follow Willem Avenant Racing or the hashtag #unpackingrally.

Willem Avenant is a rally rider and roadbook maker who likes to share his love, passion, and philosophy on rally racing. He spends most of his time between South Africa and the U.S., always in search of new adventures and trying to grow the sport of rally racing. Check him out at WillemAvenantRacing.com, Insta @willemavenant, Facebook @wilemavenant282.