13 May: The Dakar Rally 2009 was announced at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris. Patrice Clerc, president of A.S.O. the organizer, and Étienne Lavigne, rally director, announced the outline of the Dakar Rally 2009. Étienne Lavigne had just arrived home from Chile, where he had been surveying the course (see photos)*. Argentina's ministry of tourism and Chile's minister of sports were also present at the announcement.

The Dakar Rally 2009 will take place over a large loop of 9,000 kilometers, of which about 6,000 kilometers are SS*. Starting in Buenos Aires on 3 January, the racers will race southward, cross the Cordillera in the Andes Mountains, and reach *Valparaiso on the Pacific coast, where the teams will have a day of rest. The race then switches back through the Atacama desert, traversing Catamarca, Rioja, and Cordoba in Argentina, and arriving at the goal in Buenos Aires on 18 January.