Rally Dakar 2008 cancelled

[InfinitYFX]

Most likely the Dakar Rally 2008 will be canceled because of terror warnings in Mauritania where four French tourists were killed last month.

The technical scrutineering and all other official events were stopped at 10:00 CET today morning.

Officials of the work-teams confirmed to reporters from marathonrally.com, that the rally will be canceled definitely at 12:00 CET. "This information is 99%" said one member of the German Volkswagen crew in a conversation. Currently news are pouring in from different places supporting this informal information. Officially this is unconfirmed by the ASO. At noon local time a press conference is scheduled.
Source (http://www.marathonrally.com/news/_dakar_rally_2008_will_be_cancelled_at_12_00.8677. 0.html)

I don't want to know how much money the teams wasted for development and journey just to get the information one day before the start it was all for nothing.

[tomz777lv]

damn.... i wanted to see latvian dakar racers with new OcCar.http://www.laf.lv/sadmin/upload/oscar07.bmp.

[StickyFinga]

About 12 hours ago, on the midnight news, I heard that the Rally is not going
to be canceled but instead a lot of military personnel were going to be placed
on the track to provide safety.

[Racegod]

aw man, that sucks. I was always a big fan of the Dakar.. Still thanks for the info Ifyx.

[B-Buster]

I was like wth when I heared the rally was cancelled. Always looking forward to it, is a great event.

Really dissapointing for the teams and the fans.

[DLT]

Why they don`t just change the route a little bit, to avoid that place, wouldn`t that work :?

[Mario_13]

I've heard that today. I'm not a fan of Dakar but I liked to watch.

[InfinitYFX]

Why they don`t just change the route a little bit, to avoid that place, wouldn`t that work :?
Basically yes but I think it's because half of the stages are in Mauretania and Mauretania has the most sandy desert from all countries they're crossing.
Otherwise it would be more of a rumble than a desert rally.

But very unlucky decision anyway since they knew months before that Mauretania is critical.

[boilerpride03]

Damn, my favorite race, I have loved Schelesser since I can remember, i have a model of his Renault buggy prominently displayed in my room, this news is really disapointing. This is my favorite race every year, even got a new TV package partly to get this race.