2015 Dakar Rally preview

Four Australians will compete in the 9295km 13-stage epic, with Toby Price the standout on his factory satellite KTM

Australia's desert master, Toby Price, will compete in his first Dakar Rally in 2015, with the marathon event to start and finish in Buenos Aires

Price (pictured) is a KTM factory satellite rider in his debut Dakar, and will compete on machine #26 against a plethora of off-road stars, including defending champion Marc Coma (KTM), Yamaha's Olivier Pain, Honda's Helder Rodrigues and Spaniard Jordi Viladoms (KTM). Price contested his first international rally in Morocco in October, where he finished a solid eighth.

Coma is again the man to beat in 2015 after just coming off another successful year. He won the 2014 Dakar by almost two hours and went on to take his sixth Cross Country Rallies World Championship.

“This next edition of the Dakar will be even harder than before," said Coma. "We all have to be prepared for long hours of intense fighting. After the world championship events and on the various tests we have completed, the KTM 450 Rally continues to give us excellent results and reliability and that allows us to face this next challenge with enthusiasm. We all now look forward to getting started."

Last year's Dakar win was the fourth for Coma, and continued a remarkable run of dominance by KTM, which hasn't been defeated since 2001 thanks to riders like Cyril Despres (five wins) and Fabrizio Meoni (two wins).

As well as Coma, the KTM factory team also includes Viladoms, who was second in 2014, Portugal's Ruben Faria and Briton Sam Sunderland, while other factory supported riders include Matthias Walkner, the first Austrian to compete on a KTM since Heinz Kinigadner 15 years ago, and Jakub Przygonski.

Meanwhile, Honda and Yamaha aren't content to allow KTM to dominate, and both have new machines for 2015, based on the CRF450 and WR450F respectively. Honda, which last won the Dakar Rally 25 years ago, has enlisted its racing arm, HRC, to prepare its machine, and even flew out its top brass from Japan for the team launch in Buenos Aires on January 3.

Honda's roster includes Rodrigues, Joan Barreda and Paulo Goncalves, and Yamaha's three-pronged attack comes from Olivier Pain, Michael Metge and Alessandro Botturi.

The Dakar 2015 starts and finishes in Buenos Aires, spanning between January 4 and January 17. The route sees riders travel west across the Andes into Chile then north to Bolivia. They then cross the Andes again from west to east and head back to the Argentine capital on a different route. On this journey they will ride 9295km over vastly different terrain, more than half of it as timed specials. The one respite on this epic journey is the rest day on January 10.

In 2015 there is a starting list of 161 in the motorcycle class. As well as Price, three other Australians will be in action, all KTM mounted: Llewellyn Sullivan-Pavey, Simon Pavey and Clayton Jacobsen.

As well as the bikes, there will be 45 quads, 137 cars and 63 trucks.

2015 DAKAR STAGES

4.1 - Stage 1: Buenos Aires to Villa Carlos Paz – 663 km liaison, 175 km special (838 km)
5.1 - Stage 2: Villa Carlos Paz to San Juan – 107 km liaison, 518 km special (625 km)
6.1 - Stage 3: San Juan to Chilecito – 437 km liaison, 220 km special (657 km)
7.1 - Stage 4: Chilecito to Copiapó – 594 km liaison, 315 km special (909 km)
8.1 - Stage 5: Copiapó to Antofagasta - 235 km liaison, 458 km special (697 km)
9.1 - Stage 6: Antofagasta to Iquique - 369 km liaison, 319 km special (688 km)
REST DAY IQUIQUE (January 10)
11.1 - Stage 7: Iquique to Uyuni - 395 km liaison, 321 km special (717 km)
12.1 - Stage 8: Uyuni to Iquique - 24 liaison, 781 km special (805 km)
13.1 - Stage 9: Iquique to Calama – 88 km liaison, 451 km special (539 km)
14.1 - Stage 10: Calama Marathon Stage – 520 km liaison, 371 km special (891 km)
15.1 - Stage 11: Marathon Stage to Termas Rio Honda - 161 km liaison, 351 km special (512 km)
16.1 - Stage 12: Termas Rio Honda to Rosario - 725 km liaison, 298 km special (1024 km)
17.1 - Stage 13: Rosario to Buenos Aires 219 km liaison, 174 km special (393 km)
Total liaison distance: 4543km; total timed distance: 4752km
Total distance 9294 km

DAKAR 2015 BY THE NUMBERS

Dates for start and finish of the 2014 Dakar Rally: January 4-17 – Official ceremonial start in Buenos Aires on January 3)
Rest Day: January 10
Total route: 9295km
Total timed specials: 4752km
Longest distance in a single day: 1024km (Stage 12)
Longest timed special: 781km (Stage 8)
Shortest distance in a single day: 393km (Stage 13)
Support vehicles: 3 x 26-ton MAN support trucks; 4 x air-conditioned Adria motorhomes for riders’ sleeping quarters 10-12 hours on the bike
Average rainfall in the Atacama Desert (Chile): 0mm
Total number of competitors (in motorcycle class): 168

For more information on the 2015 Dakar Rally, visit www.dakar.com.

2015 Dakar Rally preview

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