Spain’s Carlos Sainz got his title defense off to a strong start by winning the first stage of the cars section at the Dakar Rally between Victoria and Cordoba, Argentina, on Sunday.
Starting first in his Volkswagen, Sainz was fastest in the day’s 222km special stage, which was troubled by some rain storms, covering the distance in 2 hours, 18 minutes, 32 seconds to finish 1 minute, 31 seconds ahead of France’s Stephane Peterhansel in a BMW.
Qatari driver Nasser al--Attiyah, runner-up last year to Sainz, is sitting third after finishing 2 minutes, 16 seconds behind Sainz.
“It was a bit like the Rally of Great Britain. For about 20km, we had a lot of rain,” 48-year-old Sainz said.
“At times, we just could not see anything. Moreover, I had issues with the wipers that had stopped working. I’m really happy the day is over,” the former two-time world rally champion added.
KTM riders lead the way in the motorbike section, with Portugal’s Ruben Faria finishing 29 seconds ahead of French titleholder Cyril Despres, with another favorite Marc Coma of Spain in third, 1 minute, 15 seconds back.
Faria took over where he left off last year when he won the 14th and final stage to help Despres to the title, leading the way ahead of three other KTM riders as the Austrian team showcased their powerful new engine.
A total of 140 cars, 170 motorbikes, 30 quadbikes and 67 trucks are competing in this year’s race, which covers 5,000km of racing over a 9,500km-long course.
After staging the event 29 times in Africa between 1979 and 2007, the rally switched continents in 2008 for security reasons, with 2009 and last year’s editions going off well in Argentina and Chile.
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