New event to replace Dakar Rally

Auriol won the Dakar Rally both on two and four wheels

Three-time Dakar Rally winner Hubert Auriol is planning a new event across the Sahara to replace the famous race after it was switched to South America.

The new race will start in southern Europe and cross Morocco and Mauritania to finish in Dakar and would take place later this year or early 2009.

"This competition will be a great sporting and human event," said the 55-year-old Frenchman.

"It will offer international exposure to this fabulous continent of Africa."

Auriol was the first person to win the Dakar Rally in both the motorcycle and car categories, and the new event will consist of motorbikes, quad vehicles, cars and lorries.

The French organisers of the Dakar Rally cancelled the event after receiving threats from "terrorist organisations".

They said the 2009 race will now take place in Argentina and Chile, a decision which has prompted an outcry in Mauritania and Senegal, which earned millions of dollars from tourism because of the high-profile event.