1.  Rally Pro

The Rally Pro category is the real stuff, open to the more experienced drivers of cars, trucks, buggies, SSV’s, quads and motorbikes. About 75% of the competitors enters this category. Navigation is by a FIA-style road book and the GPS UNIK 2. This device, built by the French company ERTF, is used in all world championship rallies (FIA/FIM) and long distance rally raids like the Dakar.

The introduction of the “GPS UNIK” means the days of driving from waypoint to waypoint are over. Correct navigation, guided by a detailed roadbook, therefore has become an important ingredient. The GPS UNIK stays in “sleeping mode” during most of the day and switches on automatically when you’re close to a waypoint. It also registers speed excess in certain zones and tells the race management immediately at the finish line how many waypoints you’ve reached.

Integrated in this device is also the “Sentinel”, a kind of alarm/warning system which allows safe overtaking. If you want to overtake another rider you push the button of your Sentinel, the pilot driving in front of you gets a warning on his device (alarm & stroboscopic light) and knows a faster vehicle wants to overtake him/her. Those who, after 3 warnings, refuse to give way, automatically get a penalty time.

The introduction of these systems (GPS UNIK & Sentinel) makes the rally more professional, a lot safer and allows the race director to publish a correct ranking in a very short time frame. Plus: being able to practice with this tool in the -relatively cheap- Tunisia Desert Challenge, is ideal if you have the ambition to do a Dakar or another FIA/FIM rally in the future.

A beautiful competition for those who want to measure themselves against the best. About 85% of those who register chose this option. Participants are provided with accurate road books covering daily stages varying between 250-500km (depending on the terrain). Official officers supervise the competition. It is the ideal preparation for the more difficult Dakar stages combined with breath-taking landscapes.

Tunisia Desert Challenge is no FIA or FIM event. That would not fit in our philosophy to have a race that is open to anyone. Nevertheless we make use of the official guidelines concerning road books, GPS, penalties, checkpoints et cetera, because TDC is often used as a stepping stone to the Dakar, Silk Way Rally or FIA/FIM world championship rallies and thereby our competitors can get used to terminology and rules of those events.

Rally Pro competitors are divided in subcategories.

2. The Classic category

The Tunesia Desert Challenge Classic is a regularity race for all-terrain vehicles that participated in Rally-Raid or Baja before 2000.

For these 'Classic Cars', we foresee an adapted route through the Tunisian desert landscape, a nice mix of challenging tracks and sandy areas with beautiful dunes where the average speed varies between 30 and 90 km/h. You will get 7 fantastic stages in this Classic category, starting in Djerba and finishing in Monastir with a rest day in Ksar Ghilane in between.

The route of the TDC Classic is only suitable for classic 4x4 rally cars and 2- or 4-wheel drive buggies built for rally-raid which are at least 20 years old.

The Tunisia Desert Challenge Classic is not just a fun ride through the desert. It is a competitive rally for classic rally cars. This means that not only will you be part of the great atmosphere and facilities in the bivouac, but that during the race you will also have access to all the safety measures that apply to the other race categories: the medical team, helicopters, the crisis centre in the race headquarters, the sweepers, etc. are all there for you.

Relive the early days of the rally-raid at the wheel of a classic car in the region that was the birthplace of this discipline!

​​​​​​​3. The Raid

For the adventurers who are not driven by the stopwatch & for the less experienced who want to live the rally from nearby, we have a unique concept: the RAID category, an off-road challenge via the same rally tracks allowing you to follow the event in the footsteps of the rally pilots.

• You will drive about 70% of the rally tracks
• You will drive with a Sentinel

Included from now onwards (only in the Raid-category) is the rent of a SENTINEL. This warning system produces a loud sound when a vehicle, driving behind you, wants to overtake you. By having this system in your car, you can drive on the race track without worries and pull over immediately as soon as a racer want to overtake you.

Because the time-chrono doesn't make you nervous, your average speed is much lower, which increases your safety. For this reason, several safety measures are NOT compulsory in the raid-category, such as: wearing a helmet or racing seatbelts, racing seats or roll bars. Also a race insurance is not obligatory.

​​​​​​​4. Assistance

Nothing is as good as an ice cold drink waiting for you at the end of hundreds kilometres of special stage. Just relax and leave the maintenance of your vehicle to your service crew. More and more competitors bring their own assistance teams to the Tunisia Desert Challenge.

The entry fee for an assistance vehicle is much lower than the fee for a race car or truck. The restriction is of course that assistance cars can’t enter the race track. They have to follow the liaison route directly from bivouac to bivouac. Only in case of emergency they can enter the race track but only after strict permission from the race direction.

On the principle of ‘The more the merrier’ we offer friends, family and partners the opportunity to follow the Tunisia Desert Challenge on a friendly rate. If you want to bring sponsors, friends or family to enjoy the Tunisia Desert Challenge and share your adventure with you, in the bivouac every day and at some of the easy to reach CP’s, the assistance option is one way to do so.