The world’s biggest rally raid is coming to MAVTV for the first time in 2024 under a new deal that gives the network same-day broadcast rights to the Dakar Rally through 2026.
MAVTV will deliver one-hour daily highlight shows from Dakar from Jan. 5 through the finish on Jan. 19, airing at noon ET and PT with an encore at 7pm ET/PT.
The 46th edition of Dakar, the fifth to be based in Saudi Arabia, will be a 7,891km/4903-mile trek on roads, tracks and dunes, including 4,727km/2937 miles of specials.
“We took it upon ourselves to make the fifth edition of Saudi Arabia the toughest one since the race came to the Middle East,” said rally director David Castera when unveiling the details of the marathon event, which will start in AlUla on Jan. 5 and finish in Yanbu, on the shores of the Red Sea. Among new challenges facing the competitors this year is a new paradigm for exploring the Empty Quarter desert: a “48h chrono” held over two days in which the competitors, scattered among eight bivouacs, will be basically left to their own devices.
