Dodging the Covid bullet

 


My favourite event in all of racing and rallying is happening right now in the searing wastes of off-highway Saudi Arabia: the Dakar.

It's mad. Hammering flat out across dunes, down 'roads', over huge distances, for days at a time. The motorsport equivalent of the Tour de France.

It nearly didn't happen though. The organisers have revealed how close the race came to being stymied by fell victim to 'The Covid'. Like so many others.

Saudi Arabia announced the closure of its land, sea and air borders just 13 days before the start of the second Dakar in the Arabian Peninsula, responding to the new more virulent strain of Covid that is running rampant in Britain and has since spread to other countries.

You can imagine - that set off all the alarms at organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO). But, in the face of the restrictions imposed by Saudi Arabia to limit the spread of COVID-19, ASO chartered 18 flights to get officials, crew and competitors to the event.

In the middle of the Christmas holidays and with thousands of competitors, mechanics and other members of the Dakar bivouac worried about the cancellation of their flights to Jeddah.

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