Dakar-Like Rally Might Include Romania

"We’ve been contacted by the team that let us our assistance trucks, Epsilon, and we’ve been told that organizer ASO is considering organizing a consolation race, largely on Romanian territory. The race would take place in April and would start in Hungary, through Romania, then Bulgaria and Turkey. Considering it is a seven-day race, it would be at least 5,000 kilometers long,” Nicolae told a news conference.

 

The 2008 edition of the Dakar Rally has been cancelled because of a terror threat in Mauritania, where most of the stages would have taken place.

 

Chile and Argentina have offered to host the rally, but French sports minister Bernard Laporte argued for the rally to remain "on the African continent, without which there would be no Dakar."

 

Spanish media noted that this year could see the organization of a similar race, which would go through Hungary, Romania and even countries of the former Soviet Union.