Formula One news

Dakar rally cancellation to cost £26million

Just hours before the start of the 2008 edition of the legendary Dakar Rally, organiser ASO officially announced that the event would be cancelled after certain stages of the event had been threatened by terrorists, particularly through the Mauritanian legs.

"Our primary responsibility is to guarantee the safety of everyone including that of the
people in the countries visited," Dakar Rally director Etienne Lavigne said.

Rally participants who had prepared for months to take on the event were left stunned and disappointed that less than a day before the event, things were called off. The cancellation is set to leave organisers in excess of £26million out of pocket.

Inside sources at the Dakar Rally told GPUpdate.net that the real reason the event was called off is because no insurance company would agree to cover the event following the terror threats, not simply that the organisers decided to call it off on their own merit.

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