DAKAR MOTORSPORT NEWS

You don’t win Dakar on first stage

Andries van der WaltComments Off on You don’t win Dakar on first stage

The Dakar cannot be won in the first stage, but it sure can be lost. A tough lesson for defending champion Nani Roma, who had to stop after tackling a bump a few kilometres into today’s special. The Spaniard stopped for several hours, and it would take a miracle for him to win in Buenos Aires

Nani Roma
Nani Roma

. The other side of the coin is his teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who made the most out of his supercharged Mini and is on the hunt for a second overall victory to go with the one he earned for Volkswagen in 2011. Today, the Qatari backed up his ambitions, claiming his first win this year by 22 seconds over Argentina’s Orlando Terranova, also part of the X-Raid Armada.
Robby Gordon, still looking for his maiden overall win after taking several stages, sits in third place, one minute behind the winner, while Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) also has good reason to be hopeful.

The eagerly awaited Peugeots had a so-so start to the rally, with Carlos Sainz in eighth place, two minutes behind Al-Attiyah and two places ahead of Stéphane Peterhansel, who probably was expecting something more from his debut with the brand of the lion. Cyril Despres, on the other hand, has already lost 10 minutes to the leader.

Leeroy Poulter in the second Imperial Toyoya Hi-Lux finished the stage 14th overall after being stuck in another competitor’s dust for a long time.

Giniel de Villiers Photo:Marc Bow
Giniel de Villiers
Photo:Marc Bow

“We didn’t take any risks”: Nasser Al Attiyah

The stage was a bit too fast, but we got off to a good start. We needed to know where everyone stands. We might be able to be more aggressive tomorrow. There were a few tricky spots where we didn’t take any risks. The car worked perfectly and, if we win, it’ll also be great to open the track tomorrow. We saw Nani stopped on the side of the road, but they were still inside their car. It might have been an electric problem. A stroke of bad luck, that’s the way it is. I hope he can patch up the car and continue the rally. It’s a big surprise, but it can happen.
“I didn’t really go on the attack”:Stephane  Peterhansel“It was a bit stressful to tackle the first special when you don’t know how strong you are. You have to early mistakes on fast courses that require good braking timing. We eased into the race without taking too many risks, gently, keeping a watchful eye on all the dials… We’re trying to learn about the car. We had no clue how far we could go. I wasn’t really at ease when taking risks and driving, I can still do better. I didn’t really go on the attack. We didn’t drive as much as we would’ve liked, let alone on courses as fast as this one.”
Top fifteen after stage 1
Pos. N° Name Hours Time variation

1

 301 11:47:50 01:12:50 –

2

 305 12:00:12 01:13:12 00:00:22

3

 308 12:09:54 01:13:54 00:01:04

4

 303 11:55:02 01:14:02 00:01:12

5

 307 12:07:06 01:14:06 00:01:16

6

 316
  • SPATARO EMILIANO (ARG)
 12:27:08 01:14:08 00:01:18

7

 315 12:25:28 01:14:28 00:01:38

8

 304 11:58:56 01:14:56 00:02:06

9

 314 12:24:10 01:15:10 00:02:20

10

 302 11:53:25 01:15:25 00:02:35

11

 309 12:14:46 01:15:46 00:02:56

12

 306 12:05:54 01:15:54 00:03:04

13

 310 12:17:04 01:16:04 00:03:14

14

 327 12:52:30 01:17:30 00:04:40

15

 311 12:20:47 01:17:47 00:04:57
More to follow