"A challenge for those who go and a dream for those who stay." Thierry Sabine

Dakar Rally 2011 Argentina-Chile

1) South America	Determined as the rally site based on factors such as the outstandingly beautiful landscape, varied road surfaces, enthusiastic audience, support from both host countries, and security.
2) Outline and Characteristics of the Courses	"An Extreme North Dakar" "A Land of Contrasts," "The Extreme North," and "Another Type of Desert." Overall distance: Approximately 9,000 km (Special Stage: Approximately 5,000 km)
	Argentina: The route takes competitors into a land of contrasts where in a single day, the landscape changes drastically from extensive flatland to grassland, and the courses change to rocky road surfaces. The driving skills required also change between dry and wet. The ability to adapt will be rewarded and those with a taste for changes of scenery will feel most at home. Over the first three days, the Dakar ventures into the provinces of Jujuy and Salta and comes closest to Bolivia. Entrants will go over the Andes mountain ranges with an altitude of over 4,800 km and enter Chile.
	Chile: The Atacama desert will once again become the stage which captivates Dakar competitors. The route this time extends to Arica, located at the extreme north of Chile, on the border with neighboring Peru, where the entrants will have a rest day. The route involves difficult tasks of climbing over the dunes and complicated navigation where rally expertise is given its toughest test.
	Back to Argentina: The entrants will enter an exuberant stage in the white Fiambala dunes, after crossing the frontier near Paso San Francisco and racing down the Andes Cordillera high plateaux. The stage to San Juan is a new and unfamiliar course for competitors coupled with complex and difficult roads through the canyons and riverbeds which cut deep into the desert.
3) Timeline	Documentation screening and vehicle inspections: December 30-31, 2010 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
	Race starts: January 1, 2010 (Buenos Aires)
	Rest day: January 8, 2010 (Arica, Chile)
	Finish: January 16, 2010 (Buenos Aires)