Mauritania with eight stages of major theater of 2008 Dakar Rally. This was announced by the organizers a sea of sand. Sometimes whole sections lead with only hundreds of miles through the dunes.

Unfortunately, there seems to be currently in Mauritania safety problems. In the last week were four French tourists and four Mauritanian soldiers killed. The organizers of the Dakar (ASO) has decided not to change the Dakar rally route . It will of course be careful inside and outside of Mauritania, and evaluate the situation constantly new. In addition to information from sportlive.at Mauritanian soldiers in 2008 to increase the security of the Dakar 2000th Here's another source that is based on an AFP report.

Without downplaying the seriousness of the current situation to try: security problems and the threat of attacks in the Dakar are nothing new. Last year was the route of the rally last in the short term because the area should be too unsafe to Timbuktu. In the Dakar 2001, terrorist attacks in the Moroccan Sahara threatened. On the Dakar 2000 stage was one canceled due to security concerns in Niger. Presumably, this result is only an excerpt of a Kurzrecherche of terror alerts and the corresponding reactions of the Dakar rally in the last 30 years.

King stages through the dunes of Mauritania Mountains

"From the king Atar stages of the Dakar Rally wait for us, our teammates and competitors" says Dirk von Zitzewitz. "For the route goes from Atar to Nouakchott - where is the day of rest - and then about Nouadhibou to Atar through many dune areas. There you can very easily leave much time. In particular, the stage after the rest day is usually very tough. The following day from Nouadhibou to Atar was last driven in 1994 and then took care of numerous plays, as many teams to be stuck far into the night in a sand mountain. "

Giniel de Villiers added: "From Atar to Tidjikja and then on to Kiffa leads the second marathon stage on which we - apart from the support of the race trucks - are on our own. On these days our challenging off-piste expect a higher proportion of stones as in the days before. Here again there is great danger of getting a puncture einzuhandeln.

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