Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah was stripped of his victory for exceeding the speed limit in the opening stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, while defending champion Nani Roma saw his hopes of taking a second consecutive title shattered.
Mini driver al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion, had finished first on the 170km timed stage between Buenos Aires and Villa Carlos Paz in Argentina, clocking a time of 1 hour and 12 minutes.
That was 22 seconds faster than Argentina’s Orlando Terranova, also in a Mini, and 1:04 ahead of the US’ Robby Gordon behind the wheel of a Hummer.
Photo: Reuters
However, seven hours later, the Qatari was punished for traveling at 68kph in a section of the stage where the limit was 50kph.
He was penalized two minutes and relegated to seventh place on the stage, with Terranova declared the winner ahead of Gordon and South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers in a Toyota.
Veteran Peugeot drivers Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel placed eighth and 10th respectively at 2:06 and 2:35 adrift.
Photo: AFP
It was also a miserable first day for Roma, as the Spaniard’s Mini broke down after just 10km and he eventually ended the day being towed home in 135th place and six-and-a-half hours off the lead.
The 11-time champion admitted that he did not drive flat out, with a marathon stint to follow over the next two weeks.
“It was a bit stressful to tackle the first special when you don’t know how strong you are,” the Frenchman said. “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.”
In the motorbike section, Britain’s Sam Sunderland on a KTM was fastest in 1 hour, 18 minutes and 57 seconds, five seconds faster than Paulo Goncalves of Portugal on a Honda and 1:12 ahead of last year’s winner Marc Coma on a KTM.
This year’s rally features a grueling 9,000km trek through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia before arriving back in Buenos Aires for a Jan. 17 finish.
Former winners Sainz and Peterhansel were spearheading the Peugeot campaign as the French carmakers returned to the Dakar Rally for the first time in 25 years.
Their ultimate goal was to win the race, but at the very least they were expected to prevent the Minis from completing another clean sweep of the auto podium.
Peterhansel took second place last year for Mini behind then teammate Roma.
Peugeot won the Dakar for four successive years from 1987 to 1990, when it was still staged in Africa.
This year’s event, the seventh in South America since its enforced transfer for security reasons from Africa, is the 37th of all time.
The race takes the Dakar caravan from the Atacama — the driest spot on the planet — to the Iquique dunes and crossing the Andes Mountrais at the highest point on Argentina’s Route 40: the 4,970m mountain pass of Abra del Acay.
In all, there will be 4,600km of special stages, including a 781km time trial from the Bolivian city of Uyuni to Chile’s Pacific Coast.
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