The Lithuanian pilot Vaidotas Zala (Mini) kicked off the Dakar this Sunday by winning the first stage ahead of all the rally’s favorite drivers, including Fernando Alonso (Toyota), which debuted with a remarkable performance where he was 15 minutes behind the first leader of the race.
At the wheel of one of Mini’s 4x4s, Zala was the car faster of the day by completing in 3 hours, 19 minutes and 4 seconds the timed section of the opening stage, which was 319 kilometers between the Saudi cities of Jeddah and Al Wajh.
Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini), a thirteen-time Dakar winner, was second at 2 minutes and 14 seconds, while Carlos Sainz (Mini), third, was left alone 36 seconds of the French pilot.
For his part, Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota), current Dakar champion, set the best times in the first sets of the stage, but did not win the day because of three punctures in the final part of the route.
Likewise, the Spanish Joan ‘Nani’ Roma, who was second in the general classification last year, had a bad debut at the wheel of the German brand Borgward at the end of the day 28 minutes from Zala.
The Lithuanian took center stage in a day that began with his sights set on Fernando Alonso’s debut in the Dakar, where he had a remarkable performance when he finished in eleventh position, 15 minutes behind the fastest time.
The Asturian was able to roll at the pace of the best of the Dakar caravan in some sectors, but the lack of experience and a couple of punctures they did not allow him to be up in his debut in the race.
Contrary to recent years, where the Dakar was inaugurated with a prologue stage of a few kilometers as a warm-up, this time the rally began hard, and a route on its first day of 752 kilometers, of which 319 timed.
Navigation was not easy either, as it had a bit of everything. First a series of winding tracks in dry canyons and rivers and then give way to the first dunes of this Dakar.
The pilots then traversed a section of interconnected dirt roads where it was easy to get disoriented then to give way to another segment of dry rivers that ended in a fast and long canyon.
The first Dakar in Arabia will be held from January 5 to 17, starting in Jeddah and ending in Qiddiya and a route of almost 8,000 kilometers, of which more than 5,000 timed kilometers, which have been divided into twelve stages plus a rest day in the capital Riyadh.
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