The Dakar Rally is considered to be one of, if not the, toughest off-road races in the world. Thierry Sabine provided the inspiration for this race after getting lost in the Libyan Desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally back in 1977. He plotted a route starting in Europe that continued to Algiers and crossing Agadez and then finishing in Dakar – and hence the Paris-Dakar rally was born. Security issues threatened the long history of this brutal off-road test, and after having to cancel the 2008 running of the event, the 31st edition of the Dakar was moved to Latin America in 2009 traveling through Argentina and Chile where it has thrived since.

Check back with Off-Road.com for the latest Dakar Rally news, and be sure to check out photo highlights of the action in our 2014 Dakar Photo Gallery.