After the success of last year's event, race organizers have announced that the 2010 Dakar Rally will return to Argentina and Chile. The location marks a handful of events in the 32 years of the rally that do not include Dakar as a checkpoint.
The 31st running of the race -- event organizers cancelled the 2008 event due to terrorist threats -- starts January 1 in Buenos Aires. From there, competitors travel northwards towards Antofagasta, a port city in Chile. The route returns towards the Argentine capitol, traveling as south as Santa Rosa before ending on January 17.
The 2009 Dakar, which was relocated to South America for safety reasons, saw entrants from 49 countries, 3 million spectators, and a TV audience estimated at more than 2.2 billion. Volkswagen took first and second places overall with a pair of diesel-powered Touaregs modified for racing duty.
As we've reported, event organizers hope to return the Dakar to Africa by 2012.
Source: Dakar Rally