Excellent start. Czech Iveco truck driver Macík dominated the prologue of the Dakar Rally

At the front are Swede Mattias Ekström with Audi and KTM factory rider Toby Price from Australia. Both won by just one second over Frenchman Sébastien Loeb and Australian Daniel Sanders respectively.

Thirty-three-year-old Macík completed the thirteen kilometer course in 9:43 and beat second-placed Mitchel van den Brink from the Netherlands by five seconds. “It’s the first victory, only in the prologue, but it also counts. All the trucks we built in MM Technology are in the top 15, so the satisfaction is great. Now we need to prepare the first stage, in which the track will open. It doesn’t always pay off, but we’ll see, maybe this time it will” Macík said.

The fourth Šoltys is also satisfied. “It was very fast. We made a small misstep at the start and went off the track because the navigator forgot to tell me there was a right-hand bend. We overtook people a bit and stayed there for ten -fifteen seconds, but then it was going well. The car runs, but it was only a few kilometers, so you can’t really prove anything,” said Šoltys.

Prokop was 22 seconds behind Ekström. Last year’s second man Loeb finished behind the Audi driver, while his compatriot and fourteen-times champion Stéphane Peterhansel finished third.

“It wasn’t bad, but we’ll see how it pans out in terms of results. I hope we’ll be behind the elite ten so we don’t start in the front cars on Sunday,” said Prokop shortly after reaching the finish line. And his wish came true.

Michek reached the finish line on the shore of the Red Sea about 200km from Jeddah with a loss of 23 seconds to the fastest Price, who has already won the rally twice in the past.

“I liked the prologue, it was fast. Twentieth place is definitely not a bad start, I would definitely like to move here, preferably even higher,” said Michek. “During the prologue you could lean against the sand walls, it was pleasantly lively. I just had to reorient myself a bit, because my motocross bike brakes in place, the long distance special behaves a little differently in fast passages on the track “, described Michek, a multiple national motocross champion. “I had to find the right balance in those few kilometres, however I think it was nice”.

Michek of the ORION – Moto Racing Group team was only four seconds away from fifteenth place. His teammate took 46th place. “The prologue was quick and easy, the whole thing was driven without a roadbook. I had fun, it was mostly about not doing shit,” said Engel. The fifteenth fastest rider in the prologue will start stage one, the order rotates.

“So Martin’s place in the final is better than him starting first or second. With Milan, we expect that the prologue wasn’t his coffee, and that he will slowly move forward. It’s important that tomorrow he doesn’t remain unnecessarily behind slower which will give him dust”, said Ervín Krajčovič, head of the ORION – Moto Racing Group team, at the start of the Dakar. “The bikes are riding great, the guys have KTM factory made suspension, they are completely race ready.”

Even if the whole world will celebrate the arrival of the new year on Saturday, in Saudi Arabia the Dakar will be more about work. “You can’t celebrate much here in the evening, alcohol is prohibited here. But we have enough work, for sure we will all be up around midnight and wish we could call home,” described Krajčovič. The first bike will leave on Sunday at 6:10. “We will have a wake up call at five in the morning at the latest, so Dakar mode will be on.”

Jan Brabec took 51st place in the same category on Saturday, David Pabiška 60th and Libor Podmol 77th.

Among the four-wheelers, Zdeněk Tůma was initially 15th, Josef Macháček sixteenth in the light prototype category.