2011 Dakar News

As the 2011 Dakar gets closer, nearly 5,000 competitors are preparing for the race that will take to them to the extreme northern regions of Argentina and Chile, to the Bolivian and Peru borders, just until the rest day at Arica, before heading back towards Buenos Aires.

This YouTube teaser video shows the excitement that competitors are feeling leading up to the Jan. 1-16 event that will lead riders through 9,000 km of roads, tracks and dunes.

Beyond the numbers, another accomplishment has already been achieved with the finalization of a plan to intensify the competition: the elite in the motorcycle division will compete on bikes with engine capacities inferior to 450cc.

This major change has sparked the interest of manufacturers who have entered strong line-ups in the battle for victory.

KTM is back with Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, who have combined to win the last five Dakars, and now will race with equal power against Aprilia (Lopez, Duclos...), BMW (Frétigné, Verhoeven...),Yamaha (Viladoms, Rodrigues...), Sherco (Casteu), Honda (Bethys,
Pisano...) as well as Beta (Boano).