The Dakar Rally is officially underway after a short prologue on Friday that allowed the competitors to check their machinery and performances through a 158-kilometer-long stage that included a 28-km special through the Saudi Arabian desert.
“Instead of a sprint, it is a Dakar stage in concentrated form in which the competitors will slalom among rocks, on sand tracks and off-track sections,” a Dakar statement read.
“Such a rigorous test will guarantee that the prologue fulfills its fundamental purpose of separating the wheat from the chaff.”
More than 285 vehicles made it to the Dakar: 132 bikes, 70 cars, 36 SSV, and 47 trucks. Additionally, this year’s edition includes competitors from the W2RC championship, as it is now part of the official calendar.
According to the new FIA regulations, the times from the Prologue won’t be accounted, so all competitors will have the opportunity to start from a blank slate in Stage 1.
Bikes
As usual, the bikes kicked things off first in the morning. It was a mixed podium, as Monster Energy Honda’s Tosha Schareina led the pack and claimed victory of the prologue, followed by Red Bull Gas Gas’ Daniel Sanders and Hero’s Ross Branch in third.
The differences were minimal, however, and the real performances will show with Stage 1 tomorrow.
One thing is clear: the usual suspects will lead this year’s Dakar once again. Van Beveren, Luciano Benavides, Sunderland, Quintanilla, Price, and Kevin Benavides were the ones that followed behind those from the podium.
Some other known names like Brabec, Cornejo Florimo and Barreda Bort were further away below the top 10.
Quads
The prologue in the quads category was led by Argentine Francisco Moreno Flores, followed by fellow Argentine and previous winner, Manuel Andujar. Alexandre Giroud completed the top 3.
As it’s been in previous years, the quads category is not as crowded – only 10 competitors are taking part on it this year.
Cars
Nasser Al Attiyah was the first to kick things off in the car category. It is the 20th Dakar for the Qatari driver. However, some things have changed – Al Attiyah is now racing in a hunter this time, and not the Toyota we had become used to seeing him drive in previous editions.
Mister Dakar -that is, Stephane Peterhansel- is back for this 35th edition and ready to give a fight in order to achieve his dream of win number 15. Yes, you read that right.
At the front it was Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom (Team Audi Sport) who crossed the finish line first, with Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing) in second place and Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) in third.
Stay tuned for continuing coverage of the Dakar Rally here, on Action Sports Network.