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  Rally Raid

Destination: Dakar

The 2005 racing season proper will start with the Dakar Rally already under way. Eschewing its usual French start, the 2005 edition of the world's toughest motorsport event will begin in Barcelona on New Year's Eve with the four kilometre stage with the second stage on January 2, before crossing the Mediterranean. The real rally starts with a 123 km stage across Morocco before crossing into Mauritania, Mali and finally Senegal after 16 days, a shorter route than is the norm.

Topping the car entry are Jean-Louis Schlesser's Ford-powered buggies with Schlesser himself climbing aboard car 300 and his teammate of recent years Josep Maria Servia in car 301. The first six entries are all buggies, with Thierry Magnaldi's Honda-powered car which ran in the top ten last year a feature along with the former factory Volkswagen Desert Nardos driven by Stephane Henrard and Jean-Francois Guinot. Magnaldi will have a teammate this year in sports car veteran Cor Euser.

Stephane Peterhansel leads the first of the cars in the first of the Mitsubishi Pajeros. Hiroshi Masuoka returns as Peterhansel's teammate to defend their 1-2 finish from last year with the third Evolution Pajero to be driven this year by Luc Alphand. Alphand joins the team after running in the privately funded X-Raid BMW X5 diesels whose impressive results belied the team's non-factory status. Andrea Mayer will drive the team's fourth entry, the L200 Strakar with a fourth Pajero also being entered. Following in the footsteps of Peterhansel, a winner on cars and bikes, is last year's Motorcycle champion Nani Roma.

The X-Raid team steps back in profile this year and will be lead by last year's most impressive newcomer to the Dakar, Nasser Al Attiyah, with Jose Luis Monterde driving the second X5.

As with last year, it should be the South African-based Nissan Pick-ups who challenge Mitsubishi most directly with Colin McRae, Ari Vatanen and Giniel de Villiers returning in an unchanged line-up. In addition to the factory Nissans, the semi-factory Nissan Dessoude team should also be in the running for high finishes with Kenjiro Shinozuka to be joined by former Mitsubishi driver Carlos Sousa and former BMW X-Raid driver Gregoire de Mevius. Former Formula One driver Paul Belmondo will be driving a Nissan X-Trail under the same banner with Isabelle Patissier fronting the team's Terrano.

Volkswagen have stepped up their efforts and are fielding four Touaregs. Jutta Kleinschmidt and Bruno Saby return, joined by four time World Rally Champion Juha Kankkunen, while interestingly NASCAR racer Robby Gordon will drive the team's fourth car.

Other cars of note include former Ford WRC driver Simon Jean-Joseph in a Mercedes Benz, while Japanese former Formula One driver Ukyo Katayama is in a Toyota, as is Frenchman Eric Bernard.

In the Motorcycle classification, the defection of Nani Roma to four wheeled vehicles has seen a change in the factory KTM squad. Cyril Despres, Alfie Cox and Jean Brucy will lead the factory KTM squad of 660 Rallys. The team have also ceased the development of the big 950cc bike and Fabrizio Meoni will step back onto one of the team 660 Rallys. There follows a long list of potential front runners riding KTMs, but the joker in the pack will not be the surprise he was last year, as all eyes will be watching David Fretigne on the Yamaha 450WR 2WD factory entry from Yamaha France.

Kamaz return with the team which dominated last year's results claiming first, second and fourth for Vladimir Tchaguine, Firdaus Kabirov and Ilgizar Mardeev. The Dutch DAF family De Rooy team of Gerard and Jan de Rooy and the teams third 'car' of Hugo Duisters. The Tatras of Andre de Azavedo and Karel Loprais will be pushing for pace with the Hino Rangers of Yoshimasa and Teruhito Sugawara not far behind while former World Rally Champion and ex-Mitsubishi Pajero driver Miki Biaison will add another chapter to his career at the wheel of an Iveco along with fellow WRC champ, veteran Markku Alen.

Security Among Many Risks For Dakar Racers

By Andrew Gray

Ronn Bailey is a computer security expert but he will be worrying more about low-tech threats when he takes part in the Dakar rally.

Like all the participants, the American millionaire adventurer is well aware that two stages of the 2004 rally were cancelled because of a planned attack by Islamic militants.

This month authorities in Mauritania said they had arrested a man with links to al Qaeda who was planning to attack Americans taking part in the 2005 rally, which begins this New Year's Eve in Barcelona and ends in Dakar on Jan. 16.

Wiretaps revealed the suspect was in touch with people connected to Osama Bin Laden's network in Saudi Arabia, according to officials in the Muslim West African country which is due to host six stages of the ultimate off-road rally.

The U.S. embassy has issued a note telling all Americans involved in the rally to exercise "special caution".

Bailey and his team, Vanguard Racing, have also been advised not to display any American flags or symbols on their custom-built vehicle.

"So we're not doing anything of that nature -- we're not painting any bullseyes on our car," Bailey joked in a telephone interview from his staging base in Paris last week.

But the first-time Dakar participant knows the risks he runs could be serious. The final document he signed before leaving the United States was his last will and testament.

"There's a possibility that something could happen and I just considered it to be proper to put the right things in place so that it wouldn't be such a burden on my family and on my employees if something should happen," he explained.

That said, Bailey is most worried about the normal hazards that go with a gruelling course of more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles) which includes driving over Sahara dunes in blazing heat.

"I'm more concerned about the straightforward risk," said Bailey, whose previous adventures include driving a motorbike inside the Arctic Circle.

"I believe the number one risk, really, is dehydration."

The organisers of the race, which began life 26 years ago as the Paris-Dakar rally but no longer starts from the French capital, believe the security threat is lower this time.

The Islamic militant group behind the threat in 2004, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, has been attacked by security forces in Mali and Niger and a rebel group in Chad.

The group's number two was captured by Chadian rebels in March and later handed over to his native Algeria.

"I believe some elements remain, very widely dispersed in the vast Sahara, of course, which is very difficult to control," said Etienne Lavigne, the race's director of organisation.

"But in the region where we are going," he added, "there is no concern at all."

The route for the 2005 rally snakes down from Spain through Morocco and stays on the western side of the Sahara desert in Mauritania and Mali before heading for the Atlantic coast and then finishing in the Senegalese capital.

Lavigne says he is in regular contact with authorities in Paris, where the secret service played a central role in foiling last year's plot in former French colony Mali, and the governments of the host countries to discuss security risks.

He insists the recent arrest in Mauritania should be seen as a good sign rather than a cause for concern.

"That reassures me more than it worries me because it shows the authorities have the means and the capacity to detect internal threats," he said.

Lavigne also points out that the host governments of countries such as Mali and Mauritania, which rarely get the chance to present themselves to a large international audience, have a big interest in ensuring the event goes smoothly.

"They are very sensitive to the fact that if there are threats, that's bad for them too. So they are very keen to ensure security for the Dakar," he said.

Ronn Bailey and the other competitors, racing through the emptiness of the Sahara, will be hoping he is right.

Security risks report provided by Reuters

  Rally

Australia's Atkinson Steps Onto World Stage With Subaru

Australian Chris Atkinson will drive for Subaru in next year's World Rally Championship, the team said last Friday week.

The 25-year-old Queenslander will contest most of the 16 round season for the British-based team, starting with the second event of the year in Sweden in February.

Subaru have Norway's 2003 world champion Petter Solberg and French newcomer Stephane Sarrazin on board already and expect to run three cars at many rallies even though only two can score manufacturers' points.

"With Chris, Petter and Stephane I believe that we've got the most dynamic and exciting driver line-up of any WRC team," said team boss David Lapworth.

"I've been most impressed with what Chris has achieved this year. I believe his performance in Australia, where he set fastest stage times and beat drivers with far more experience, is a strong indication of his potential."

Atkinson finished fifth in the Rally of Australia in a Group N category Subaru this year and finished a close second in his national championship.

"Our objective is to find another Subaru world champion and we'll do all that we can to help Chris and Stephane reach that goal," added Lapworth.

Sarrazin arrives at Subaru with experience of asphalt rallying, while Atkinson has shown good pace on gravel but is an unknown quantity on the smooth surfaces.

"It's been extremely hard work but now I've got the chance," said Atkinson. "I guess I'm out to prove that an Australian can be fast in Australia and fast in the rest of the world too."

Report provided by Reuters

  Briefs

• Champ Car team Herdez Competicion is in mouring after the recent deaths of team mechanics Kenny Ferris and Vitor Pinto in a traffic accident in Arkansas shortly before Christmas.

  Meanwhile several Champ Car teams have been out testing, with Walker Racing testing Dutch drivers Christijan Albers and Nicky Pastorelli at Sebring. 2004 DTM racer Albers has since signed with Minardi to race in Formula One for 2005. Estonian Tonis Kasemets was also presnt at the same test driving for Dale Coyne Racing. The following week Porsche GT racer Romain Dumas and Formula 3000 racer Ricardo Sperafico tested for Conquest Racing. Ricardo's cousin Alex drove for the team this year.

• In the 'cross-town' adversaries, the IRL, Canadian Patrick Carpentier has joined the Cheever Racing team for the 2005 season. The team will run Toyota engines in their Dallaras this year after running as a Chevrolet team in recent times. Panther Racing continued to test as well, with Formula Nippon racer Andre Lotterer and IRL fringe dweller Ed Carpenter driving the team's Dallara-Chevrolet. The team already have Tomas Scheckter under contract so speculation has centred on the possibility of a second car. A distinctly ANZAC flavour look like forming at the Chip Ganassi team, with strong speculation placing Australian Toyota Formula One test driver Ryan Briscoe alongside New Zealander Scott Dixon at the team.

• In touring car news, DTM have announced there will be a new manufacturer joining the DTM for 2005. While DTM organisers stopped short of naming the company, speculation centres on the MG Rover group. Most recently MG was a part of the British Touring Car Championship after a brief Le Mans attack early in the decade. The news comes as a fillip for DTM after the announcement that Opel will be leaving the series at the end of 2005.

  MG will have to compete with the ever expanding WTCC for drivers however, with another signing linked to SEAT. Peter Terting, most recently of the Abt Sportsline DTM squad will join SEAT after finishing as runner up in the 2004 German SEAT Cupra Cup series. Terting will join the team's existing driver Jordi Gene and former BTCC Champ Rickard Rydell.

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