The Sportspedia
The Dakar Rally is back in Saudi Arabia and the first stage meant a win for two former Champions as well as the first win for a woman since 2005, and troubles for Karginov, Brabec and Löeb. We review the action.
Motos
Toby Price (AUS, KTM) took the first stage, followed by Kevin Benavides (ARG, Honda) and the Enduro expert, Matthias Walkner (AUT, KTM).
Champion Ricky Brabec (USA) had a terrible start after getting lost and not finding a waypoint in the road-book. He was 24th, 18 minutes adrift. Joan Barreda (ESP, Honda) and Pablo Quintanilla (CHL, Husqvarna) also got lost at some point. They are 20th and 22nd so far.
The Super Production class was won by Martin Miczek (CZE).
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | (AUS) TOBY PRICE | RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM | 03H 17′ 49” | |||
2 | 47 | (ARG) KEVIN BENAVIDES | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 2021 | 03H 18′ 24” | + 00H 00′ 35” | ||
3 | 52 | (AUT) MATTHIAS WALKNER | RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM | 03H 18′ 24” | + 00H 00′ 35” | ||
4 | 5 | (GBR) SAM SUNDERLAND | RED BULL KTM FACTORY TEAM | 03H 19′ 52” | + 00H 02′ 03” | ||
5 | 15 | (ESP) LORENZO SANTOLINO | SHERCO FACTORY | 03H 22′ 14” | + 00H 04′ 25” |
Cars:
Champions Carlos Sainz (ESP) and Lucas Cruz (ESP) took first for the moment in their X-RAID Mini, ahead of teammates Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) and Edouard Boulanger (FRA) by a few seconds.
Another ex WRC driver, Martin Prokop (CZE), was third in his Buggy, ahead of Mathieu Serradori (FRA) and Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi (ARE). Another Arab, Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT), was 10th.
Former Rally World Champions, Sébastien Löeb (FRA) and Daniel Elena (MCO) had a flat tire and a navigation error that relegated them to 18th place, 22 minutes adrift.
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 300 | (ESP) CARLOS SAINZ(ESP) LUCAS CRUZ | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 03H 05′ 00” | |||
2 | 302 | (FRA) STÉPHANE PETERHANSEL(FRA) EDOUARD BOULANGER | X-RAID MINI JCW TEAM | 03H 05′ 22” | + 00H 00′ 22” | ||
3 | 312 | (CZE) MARTIN PROKOP(CZE) VIKTOR CHYTKA | BENZINA ORLEN TEAM | 03H 09′ 42” | + 00H 04′ 42” | 00H 01′ 00” | |
4 | 308 | (FRA) MATHIEU SERRADORI(BEL) FABIAN LURQUIN | SRT RACING | 03H 11′ 54” | + 00H 06′ 54” | ||
5 | 310 | (ARE) SHEIKH KHALID AL QASSIMI(FRA) XAVIER PANSERI | ABU DHABI RACING | 03H 13′ 34” | + 00H 08′ 34” |
Quads:
Alexandre Giroud (FRA) took the stage today by over 3 minutes over Gopvanni Enrico (CHL), Pablo Copetti (USA) Govanni Enrico (CHL), Pablo Copetti (USA) and two Argentinians: Nicolás Cavigliasso and Manuel Andújar.
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 152 | (FRA) ALEXANDRE GIROUD | TEAM GIROUD | 04H 01′ 08” | |||
2 | 159 | (CHL) GIOVANNI ENRICO | ENRICO RACING TEAM | 04H 04′ 04” | + 00H 02′ 56” | ||
3 | 163 | (USA) PABLO COPETTI | MX DEVESA BY BERTA | 04H 05′ 54” | + 00H 04′ 46” | ||
4 | 150 | (ARG) NICOLAS CAVIGLIASSO | DRAG’ON RALLY TEAM | 04H 05′ 59” | + 00H 04′ 51” | ||
5 | 154 | (ARG) MANUEL ANDUJAR | 7240 TEAM | 04H 06′ 52” | + 00H 05′ 44” |
Lightweight Vehicle:
Cristina Gutiérrez Herrero (ESP) was the great story today. A few days ago she did not have a race seat and Red Bull and other sponsors came to the call. She answered with the first victory for a woman since 2005 (Jutta Kleinschmidt).
She was followed by Austin Jones (USA) and Francisco “Chaleco” López, former motorcycle competitor. Mattias Ékstrom (SWE), who has been a Rallycross and Race of Champions winner, was 17th.
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 387 | (ESP) CRISTINA GUTIERREZ HERRERO(FRA) FRANCOIS CAZALET | RED BULL OFF-ROAD TEAM USA | 03H 35′ 56” | |||
2 | 408 | (USA) AUSTIN JONES(BRA) GUSTAVO GUGELMIN | MONSTER ENERGY CAN-AM | 03H 42′ 55” | + 00H 06′ 59” | ||
3 | 401 | (CHL) FRANCISCO LOPEZ CONTARDO(CHL) JUAN PABLO LATRACH VINAGRE | SOUTH RACING CAN-AM | 03H 43′ 32” | + 00H 07′ 36” | ||
4 | 406 | (POL) ARON DOMZALA(POL) MACIEJ MARTON | MONSTER ENERGY CAN-AM | 03H 43′ 39” | + 00H 07′ 43” | ||
5 | 404 | (BRA) REINALDO VARELA(BRA) MAYKEL JUSTO | MONSTER ENERGY CAN-AM | 03H 43′ 44” | + 00H 07′ 48” | 00H 01′ 00” |
Classic:
This is a Regularity test, meaning that the objective is not always to be fastest but to be closest to the times set at certain checkpoints. The cars must be from the Pre-1986 Dakar era.
Among the 24 teams, the best one so far is the Buggy Sunhill 1979 of Marc Douton (FRA) and Emilien Etienne (FRA).
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | POINTS | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 229 | (FRA) MARC DOUTON(FRA) EMILIEN ETIENNE | TEAM SUNHILL | 121 | ||
2 | 211 | (ESP) CARLOS VENTO SANCHEZ(ESP) JUAN CARLOS RAMIREZ MOURE | RUMBO ZERO | 176 | + 55 | 40 |
3 | 210 | (ESP) ANTONIO GUTIERREZ(ESP) LUIS HERAS RODRIGUEZ | RUMBO ZERO | 265 | + 144 | 40 |
4 | 209 | (ESP) JUAN DONATIU(ESP) PERE SERRAT PUIG | DORIA RACING | 404 | + 283 | |
5 | 213 | (FRA) FRÉDÉRIC VERDAGUER(FRA) JULIE VERDAGUER | TEAM SUNHILL | 470 | + 349 |
Trucks:
As per usual, Kamaz leads. Surprisingly, the great candidate team of Andrey Karginov (RUS) had a mechanical problem, and he is already over one hour and a half behind, in 21st!
Ales Loprais (CZE) divided the Kamaz trucks of Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) and Anton Shibalov (RUS). Chilean Ignacio Casale had a goos transition from motos and ended 6th.
Top 5 today:
POS. | N° | EXP. | DRIVE-TEAM | MARK-MODEL | TIME | VARIATION | PENALITY |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 507 | (RUS) DMITRY SOTNIKOV(RUS) RUSLAN AKHMADEEV(RUS) ILGIZ AKHMETZIANOV | KAMAZ – MASTER | 03H 16′ 47” | |||
2 | 504 | (CZE) ALES LOPRAIS(CZE) PETR POKORA(ARE) KHALID ALKENDI | INSTAFOREX LOPRAIS PRAGA | 03H 24′ 47” | + 00H 08′ 00” | ||
3 | 501 | (RUS) ANTON SHIBALOV(RUS) DMITRII NIKITIN(RUS) IVAN TATARINOV | KAMAZ – MASTER | 03H 24′ 59” | + 00H 08′ 12” | ||
4 | 502 | (BLR) SIARHEI VIAZOVICH(BLR) PAVEL HARANIN(BLR) ANTON ZAPAROSHCHANKA | MAZ-SPORTAUTO | 03H 28′ 01” | + 00H 11′ 14” | ||
5 | 503 | (CZE) MARTIN MACIK(CZE) FRANTISEK TOMASEK(CZE) DAVID SVANDA | BIG SHOCK RACING | 03H 29′ 52” | + 00H 13′ 05” |