Famed Dakar Road Rally gets underway

Some 400 cars, motorcycles and trucks took off on Thursday from this steamy West African port in the start of the famed Dakar Rally.

Some 400 cars, motorcycles and trucks took off on Thursday from this steamy West African port in the start of the famed Dakar Rally.

The 22nd edition of the race that tests speed, endurance and strength of equipment this year takes participants across rugged mountains and deserts in Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Libya and finally Egypt.

It is the first time the 10,863-kilometer (6,735-mile), 17-day race bypasses Europe. It traditionally began in Paris and ended in Dakar.

At the end of the first day, car racer Carlos Sousa of Portugal was in first place in a Mitsubishi. Defending champion Jean-Louis Schlesser, driving a self-designed two-wheel-drive buggy, was in sixth place.

In the motorcycle competition, defending champion Richard Sainct of France took his BMW to first place. Russian Vladimir Tchaguine was leading the truck section.

Last year's race was marred by an armed robbery in Mauritania in which a number of competitors lost vehicles and money.