Dakar Rally's pass through Chile may be called off

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LISBON.- The organizers of the Lisbon-Dakar Rally are awaiting the return of the competition and are scheduled to present a new "project" to the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO), which controls the race in September of this year.

In an interview that was published today in the "Diario Económico", the president of Lagos Sport, Joao Lagos, stated that the race's return to Lisbon as a starting point to the final destination in Africa has already been "negotiated, confirmed and signed".

"It is not definite whether the rally will still be held in Argentina or Chile in the next couple of years, it has to return to Africa and if it does, the starting point will be in Lisbon", asserted Lagos.

Lagos also expressed his personal opinion concerning the cancellation of the rally this year due to the current situation in Mauritania.

"If it had been up to me, the rally would have gone as far as possible. During the first rallies, Thierry Sabine used to warn the drivers before they began the race saying: 'Are you all prepared to die? You have to keep that in mind, because this is dangerous'. That is the Dakar spirit", he stated.