Dakar rally started early today with a 175 km special stage, embedded between a longer liaison between the departure from Buenos Aires ...
Dakar rally started early today with a 175 km special stage, embedded between a longer liaison between the departure from Buenos Aires and the day's destination at Villa Carlos Paz. Religiously, bikers were the first to be flagged off, followed by quads, cars and finally the truckers.
Bikers are the bravest souls on the planet, and they were the first to tackle the opening responsibility every year at Dakar rally. #Marc_Coma from #KTM_Racing was the first to open the rally stage at 7:50am GMT-3, local time Argentina.
By the end of the stage 1, his team-mate #Sam_Sunderland took the lead with top five separating by just over a couple of minutes.#Honda_Racing rider #Paulo_Goncalves finished second fastest ahead of Marc Coma. #Indian debutant #CS_Santosh finished 85th overall to complete the day.
| Pos. | N° | Name | Hours | Time | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | SUNDERLAND SAM (GBR) | 09:18:57 | 01:18:57 | - |
| 2 | 7 | GONCALVES PAULO (PRT) | 09:21:02 | 01:19:02 | 00:00:05 |
| 3 | 1 | COMA MARC (ESP) | 09:10:09 | 01:20:09 | 00:01:12 |
| 4 | 2 | BARREDA BORT JOAN (ESP) | 09:12:38 | 01:20:38 | 00:01:41 |
| 5 | 14 | DUCLOS ALAIN (FRA) | 09:32:05 | 01:21:05 | 00:02:08 |
Quads quickly followed the bikers on the same route that shared with bikers.#Chilean quad rider #Ignacio_Casale, on his #Yamaha was the fastest, followed by #Polish rider #Rafal_Sonik and #Uruguayan #Sergio_Lafuente all on #YamahaQuads.
| Pos. | N° | Name | Hours | Time | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 250 | CASALE IGNACIO (CHL) | 10:48:08 | 01:37:08 | - |
| 2 | 251 | SONIK RAFAL (POL) | 10:49:45 | 01:38:15 | 00:01:07 |
| 3 | 252 | LAFUENTE SERGIO (URY) | 10:50:31 | 01:38:31 | 00:01:23 |
| 4 | 273 | ALMEIDA MAURO (URY) | 11:01:49 | 01:39:49 | 00:02:41 |
| 5 | 253 | ABU-ISSA MOHAMMED (QAT) | 10:52:41 | 01:40:11 | 00:03:03 |
Cars took a whole new special stage, completely different from the rest of the competition. This saves a lot of time in passing more vehicles in the same period. It also will be of great help of being no hazard to the riders who pass ahead of them, and in narrow passages it can be of great safety feature.
The country roads are limited to safe passage of the competition during the special stage, completely different to the deserted lands and sand dunes.Two times Dakar winner #Nasser_Al_Attiyah driving #MiniAll4, was the quickest of the lot behind with a tender margin of 22 seconds to his team-mate #Orlando_Terranova in another MiniAll4.
#American & #Hummer driver, #Robby_Gordon was the third quickest and with only 64seconds to the leader.
| Pos. | N° | Name | Hours | Time | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 301 | AL-ATTIYAH NASSER (QAT) | 11:47:50 | 01:12:50 | - |
| 2 | 305 | TERRANOVA ORLANDO (ARG) | 12:00:12 | 01:13:12 | 00:00:22 |
| 3 | 308 | GORDON ROBBY (USA) | 12:09:54 | 01:13:54 | 00:01:04 |
| 4 | 303 | DE VILLIERS GINIEL (ZAF) | 11:55:02 | 01:14:02 | 00:01:12 |
| 5 | 307 | HOLOWCZYC KRZYSZTOF (POL) | 12:07:06 | 01:14:06 | 00:01:16 |
The beast of #Dakar, the Trucks were the last of the competition, where the tail-enders finished the first competitive day in the dusk.#Hans_Stacey of Netherland in his #Iveco was the leader, while another compatriot and #Man driver #Marcel_Van_Vliet finished in second.
#Czech driver #Ales_Loprais in another Man truck, finishes third quickest.
| Pos. | N° | Name | Hours | Time | variation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 504 | STACEY HANS (NLD) | 14:57:43 | 01:30:43 | - |
| 2 | 508 | VAN VLIET MARCEL (NLD) | 15:04:18 | 01:31:18 | 00:00:35 |
| 3 | 503 | LOPRAIS ALES (CZE) | 14:56:30 | 01:31:30 | 00:00:47 |
| 4 | 506 | KOLOMY MARTIN (CZE) | 15:00:30 | 01:31:30 | 00:00:47 |
| 5 | 513 | VAN DEN BRINK MARTIN (NLD) | 15:12:41 | 01:31:41 | 00:00:58 |
For tomorrow, the second leg, the day's action happens between two shorter liaison sections with a huge 518km special stage to tackle. A hard gravel road finally ends with a sandy flying finish for the specials.It will be quite decisive point for the freshers and lesser experienced, and can also surprise the experienced veterans. A simple and calculated strategy with little or no risk should be the key to success. To know better what the competition would do, all we can do is wait until tomorrow!
In ERC, Shakedown and qualification went on as anticipated at JannerRallye.It was all white with freezing cold for sure, but the Austrians made sure to cheer the competitors with enthusiasm.
First competitive stage will begin tomorrow, with Kajetan Kajetanowicz being the fastest in qualifying today.
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