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  Rally Raid

Dakar To Feature Egyptian Finish

The Dakar Rally celebrates its quarter century on Wednesday by turning away from Senegal and the western Sahara and heading east for new desert challenges in Libya and Egypt. The 25th edition of the world's most challenging long-distance rally starts with a night prologue from Marseille to Narbonne before the 342 competitors head for Spain and a ferry crossing from Valencia to Tunis on January 5.

The caravan of cars, bikes and trucks then blazes a trail across North Africa to the finish in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on January 19. After a total of 8,552 kilometres, including 5,216 on special stages, the rally that was created in 1978 as the Paris-Dakar will reach journey's end without visiting either the French or Senegalese capital. Organisers and competitors say that the rally will not be any less arduous, with the Libyan desert dune stages ranking among the hardest ever tackled.

"This will be a difficult Dakar and not to be under-estimated," said 2001 winner Jutta Kleinschmidt, the first woman to take the title. "It will also be a sandy one. The landscape of the three countries we'll be crossing is characterised by sand dunes. With a rear-wheel drive car like the Buggy, this is going to be difficult terrain."

The Dakar has finished outside Senegal before now, notably in 1992 when the rally headed for Cape Town and in 2000 when Cairo marked the end of the road.

Finland's former world rally champion and four times Dakar winner Ari Vatanen returns at the wheel of a Nissan after a six year absence. The favourites will still be former winner Jean-Louis Schlesser of France and Japan's defending champion Hiroshi Masuoka in a Mitsubishi as well as compatriot Kenjiro Shinozuka and Italian Miki Biasion in a Mitsubishi. Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, regular winner of the motorcycle category, is making his fifth attempt to win with four wheels in a Mitsubishi.

Japan's Ukyo Katayama, a former Formula One and Le Mans sportscar driver, is starting for the second time in a Toyota. "I achieved one of my life's dreams two months ago when I climbed Everest," he told the Dakar website. "But the Dakar is much tougher. Tougher than the Le Mans 24 Hours and Formula One. For me, it's the toughest race in the world."

Germany's Kleinschmidt, who won in a Mitsubishi, is now driving for Volkswagen and is not expecting to figure among the frontrunners. "The Buggy is an experimental car and it's not conceived especially to meet the demands of the Dakar," she told Eurosport television. "The Dakar 2003 will be a training session for the newly-formed Volkswagen team...the goal is to get accustomed to competition as soon as possible. For this year, fifth place would be a super result."

The motorcycle category is again dominated by the KTM brand, with Italian Fabrizio Meoni defending his title and chasing his third win in the event.

Report provided by Reuters

  CART

New Teams Might Save The Day

The Johansson Motorsport squad, last seen as the 2001 European Le Mans champions with an Audi R8, have been reborn as a CART entrant. American Spirit Team Johansson has announced they will be taking advantage of CART's generous assistance package to enter the 2003 CART season with a two car team. The team have made no announcements about who will drive for the team other than they will be 'American.'

This is a welcome addition to CART's ranks but still is short of what CART requires to get the 18 cars it needs to prevent it from folding. At the moment, Player's/Forsythe have confirmed their all-Canadian outfit of Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier, and appear to be contractually obligated to place Alex Tagliani with another team. They cannot run 'Tags' themselves because of Canadian tobacco sponsorship laws which limits them to two cars.

Newman-Haas is the other gun team staying in CART although will front with two new drivers next year, with Bruno Junqueira signed away from IRL-bound Chip Ganassi. Team Rahal will run a car for the ever-consistent Michel Jordain Jr and are looking how to fund a second; although rumblings of a Rahal-entered IRL entry for Kenny Brack may well put a logistical cap on a second CART car.

Fernandez Racing will continue with Adrian Fernandez committed to running himself again, and hopefully one other car. Herdez Competition will be running Mario Dominguez and possibly a second car. Sportscar racer Eric Bachelart has moved his former Indy Lights operation and acquired Reynards to run a car for Formula 3000 veteran Mario Haberfeld under the banner of Mi-Jack Conquest Racing.

Patrick Racing has Oriol Servia signed up and a set of new Lolas on the way. Walker Racing have signed Formula Nissan driver Roberto Gonzalez. No word as yet on Walker's second driver. Dale Coyne Racing is also committed to a two-car operation for Formula 3000 refugee Joel Camathias. Paul Gentilozzi's Trans-Am focused Rocketsports team has announced its intentions to make the jump into a two-car CART team, although Gentilozzi himself will not be driving.

At its most optimistic projection only 17 cars are currently running CART for 2003 and a lot of them are far from certain. There are continuing rumours of Formula 3000 teams being enticed into CART, but the recent folding of Nordic Racing suggests that the CART assistance package may not be enough of an enticement for the Europeans.

The 2003 CART World Series calendar:

Date            Event
February 23     St Petersburg   
March 23        Monterrey       
April 13        Long Beach      
April 27        Europe (tentative)
May 18          Chicago (tentative)        
June 1          Milwaukee       
June 15         Laguna Seca     
June 22         Portland        
July 6          Cleveland       
July 13         Toronto         
July 27         Vancouver       
August 3        Elkhart Lake    
August 17       Mid-Ohio        
August 31       Denver          
September 7     Montreal        
September 28    Miami           
October 12      Mexico City     
October 26      Australia       
November 2      Fontana