Paris, France - The 2019 Dakar Rally will be run entirely in Peru, the first time it has been held in just one country, after other South American nations stayed out for economic reasons.
Presenting the route on Friday, organisers said the 41st edition of the rally would run from 6-17 January with a start and finish in Lima.
"Mapped around the Peruvian deserts," the Dakar website said, "the 2019 Dakar promises to be one of the sandiest in the history of the rally,"
Rally director Etienne Lavigne said the stages would be made more technical and difficult because it was not possible to develop 400km special stages in the available terrain.
In another novelty, cars and trucks stopped by incidents in the opening week will be allowed to rejoin the rally from the rest day but under special conditions and in a separate classification.
The 2018 edition started in Lima and ended in Argentina after running through Bolivia. Organisers had hoped initially to schedule the 2019 edition from Chile through Peru to Ecuador.
The Dakar Rally, which started out as a race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital, moved to South America in 2009 for security reasons.