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 At the time they were made public in June, the rough schedule, the start and finish points, and the countries to be traversed were already known. But with the announcement of all the bivouacs and driving distances, the full picture of the coming competition has now emerged. Compared to the previous Dakar, which started from Marseilles and headed to Sharm al Sheikh in Egypt, this year's course reflects the orthodox layout used since the mid 90s. Making landfall in North Africa and aiming at Dakar in Senegal, it is set in five countries, as in recent years. As well as Burkino Faso, located to the south of Mali, the competitors will pass through Morocco (and West Sahara), Mauritania, Mali, and Senegal, all countries where security and political instability are not problems. It will also be the second time that Bobodioulasso in Burkino Faso has been used for a rest day. However, the organizers clearly intended to increase the level of difficulty in the final phase of the first half and the middle phase of the second half with southern Mauritania obviously the peak of the rally. Looking at the special stages, while there are long- distance sections that look like high-speed stages, the competitors were also concerned about unpleasantly short stages in the same areas. If a special stage is short, in Africa it generally means that the average speed for that stage is low and the stage takes time — in other words that the stage is difficult. With a total length of 11,052.5 kilometers and 5,424 kilometers of special stages, this is a somewhat long rally for the region. In terms of the climate too, in many places fierce heat is predicted — a complete change from last time. Overall, 2004 looks like being a long and difficult Dakar Rally.
At the end of the announcement, the competitors, who had been listening to the course explanation, discussed strategy, including the long stages, all in agreement on their difficulty. When the meeting ended, competitors from some of the well-known teams took to the stage for a photo session, but the media's attention was on the confrontation between the Nissan Team, in which Vatanen and De Villiers had now been joined by McRae and Lubert, and the Mitsubishi Team. The Nissan Team, which included Japanese rookies Yoshio Ikemachi and Jun Mihashi, attracted more interest than ever before. |
At 10 o'clock on the morning of November 18, the outline of the ASO 2004 Paris-Dakar Rally was announced at the Pavillon d'Armenonville building, a party venue in the Bois du Boulogne in Paris. Held at the same time each year, this meeting is an important event for the announcement of course details and other information. This time, around 500 people attended, including the members of the main teams, representatives of the sponsors, and local and overseas media. At the venue were works' rally vehicles, including the 2004 model Nissan pickup, Mitsubishi, Schlesser, and BMW vehicles and KTM bikes, as well as competitors in their team colors. With less than one month to the start, the atmosphere at the venue was highly charged. 
