Considered the most dangerous race on the planet, the Dakar Rally starts Saturday with 378 drivers taking part in the second edition staged in South America because of security concerns. Dunes, desert, mountains and other hostile terrain lie in wait for 138 cars, 161 motorbikes, 29 quads and 50 trucks in the 16-stage race that covers 9,030 kilometers across Argentina and Chile before finishing Jan. 16 in Buenos Aires. Last year's winner, Ginield De Villiers of South Africa, leads the favorites. The 2009 champions in other categories also return: Spanish motorbike rider Marc Coma, Czech quad driver Josef Machacek and Russian truck driver Firdaus Kabirov. The symbolic start of the race will take place Friday, with a 349-kilometer drive from emblematic Buenos Aires monument, the Obelisk, to the city of Colon. Racing begins the following day from Colon with a 684-kilometer first stage to Cordoba. Drivers then head to La Rioja and Fiambala in Argentina before going to Copiapo on Jan. 5, the first Chilean city to host the Dakar, followed by Antofogasta, Iquique, La Serena and Santiago. The race returns to Argentina, passing through San Juan, San Rafael, Santa Rosa and finally Buenos Aires. The only rest day in the 32nd edition of the Dakar Rally will be Jan. 9. In order to reduce accidents, organizers have decided to make motorbikes and quads race almost 100 kilometers less than the other vehicles, along with special sections to avoid crashes with cars and trucks and prevent the problems from 2009. The 2008 race was canceled after the deaths of four French tourists in Mauritania in December 2007. The deaths were linked to Al-Qaida. It was the first time the rally had been suspended since the first race in 1979. After the cancellation, organizers vowed to prevent the rally disappearing and decided to move to South America.
