Dakar Rally 2012: a coast-to-coast off-road race
More than 5,000 miles through the Argentine pampas, the Andes mountains and the desert dunes of Peru.
Welcome to the Dakar Rally 2012.
The 33rd edition of the off-road endurance race begins Jan. 1 in Mar del Plata in Argentina, and finishes on the Pacific coast of Peru.
The details of next year's race were unveiled yesterday in Paris. This is the fourth time the race will be held in South America.
See photos: Dakar Rally 2011
The 465 competitors include 171 cars, 185 motorbikes, 76 trucks and 33 quadbikes.
The race was run in Africa between 1979 and 2007 before switching continents in 2009.
Previous South American editions have brought competitors across Argentina and Chile, starting and ending in Buenos Aires. This is the first time Peru earned a spot on the route.