18 Amazing Moments From The World's Toughest Road Race

The two-week-long Dakar Rally is among the most intense off-roading events in the world.

Each year, nearly 600 drivers on motorcycles, quad bikes, cars, and trucks take on the challenge of this endurance ride through the South American wilderness.

This year's perilous course began in Rosario, Argentina, taking racers more than 5,000 miles up through the desert of Bolivia and down the Chilean coast.

The race is also notoriously dangerous. Heading into the final stages of the course, there have already been three fatalities: Belgian motorcyclist Eric Palante and two spectators have died.

There's been plenty of drama so far, highlighted in these jaw-dropping photos.

They'll finish Jan. 18 in Valparaiso, Chile.