The 44th edition of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia may be canceled.

The French government classifies an explosion in the vehicle of Frenchman Philippe Boutron before the start of the event as a possible act of terrorism.

“We thought about whether it would be best to cancel this sporting event.

A decision has not yet been made, "said Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday in an interview with the TV broadcaster BFM:" There may have been a terrorist attack against the Dakar. "The public prosecutor has launched an investigation.

The incident occurred on December 30th in Jeddah. The 61-year-old Boutron suffered serious leg injuries in the explosion. On Thursday, his son announced that Boutron had awakened from his coma. Boutron has now returned to France. The Dakar is organized by the French company Amaury Sport Organization (ASO), which also organizes the Tour de France. Like the OSA, the Saudi authorities had announced that they had no evidence of a crime.

The race originally ran from Paris to Dakar in Senegal.

In 2008 the event was canceled due to terrorist threats in North Africa.

The Dakar was subsequently held in South America, and Saudi Arabia has been the host since 2020.

The sixth stage with start and finish in Riyadh is on the plan on Friday.

Saturday will be the first and only day of rest; the end of the race is scheduled for January 14th.

The French Sebastien Loeb is currently the first pursuer of front runner Nasser Al-Attiyah.

The nine-time WRC champion finished the 348-kilometer special stage around the Saudi capital Riyadh in second and shortened the gap to Al-Attiyah (Qatar), who reached the finish in the Toyota in eighth.

Loeb's deficit on Al-Attiyah (35:10 minutes) is still large.

The winner of the day was Henk Lategan from South Africa (Toyota).

Timo Gottschalk (Berlin) took sixth place as co-driver of Poland's Jakub Przygonski in the Mini.

The three-time champion Carlos Sainz (Spain), winner of the third stage, had problems with the suspension and crossed the finish line in the Audi more than an hour behind the winner of the day.

On Friday the route leads back to the area around Riyadh.

There are 421 scoring kilometers to be completed.