South American Dakar preparations on schedule in Chile

Preparations for next year's Dakar rally in South America, staged for the first time outside Africa due to security concerns, are on schedule, deputy secretary of Chile Sports Jaime Pizarro said this week.

"Preparations are progressing as planned," Pizarro told Reuters.

The 6,000 kms coast-to-coast race will begin and end in Buenos Aires with the Chilean port city of Valparaiso at the midpoint.

Organisers decided to move the event to South America after receiving what they believed to be terror threats and also the deaths of four French tourists in Mauritius in January.

Some 570 vehicles and 950 participants from 50 nations will drive along the route beginning on January 3 and ending on January 18.