ARRAS (France), Dec 28: Dakar Rally entrants completed their final preparations on Friday before setting off after dark for the opening stage of one of motor sport’s toughest tests.

The first motorcycle rider was scheduled to leave the northern town of Arras at around 1900 GMT for a straightforward and untimed 441-km trek to the first ‘bivouac’ at Chateauroux south of Paris.

The cars, including the Mitsubishi of Germany’s 2001 winner and first female champion Jutta Kleinschmidt, were due to follow at 2040 GMT after a send off from the town’s cobbled market square.

The trucks were to depart two hours later.

“This stage is a chance to see the vehicles in action but the race will really start with the first special stage on Saturday,” said event organiser Hubert Auriol.

Competitors will snatch a few hours sleep overnight in Chateauroux before heading for the short six km special stage around an activity park near La Souterraine.

This year’s rally, which ends in Senegal on January 13 after crossing the Sahara desert and rugged African terrain, has been shortened slightly to 9,436 km.

It crosses just three African countries after wending its way through France and Spain to Morocco.—Reuters