Lima finish for 2012 Dakar Rally

World's most grueling race features stages in Peru for the first time

PARIS - The 2012 Dakar Rally will be staged in South America for a fourth time, with next year's route taking in the familiar terrain of Argentina and Chile as well as, for the first time Peru, organizers said.

The grueling rally was switched to South America in 2009 after a terrorist threat in Mauritania led to the cancellation of the 2008 edition the day before the event, then known as the Paris-Dakar, began.