The traditional desert race got properly under way on Sunday with the first actual stage on the programme.
Swedish driver Mattias Ekström, who won the prologue yesterday on Saturday, looked set to take the opening stage for a long time, but right at the very end Belgian driver Guillaume de Mévius snatched the lead.
Split times from Mévius were only received right at the end of the stage, which is why his first place came as a surprise to everyone.
The Swede Ekström eventually dropped to fourth. Mévius took the lead 40 seconds ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah and 1:27 ahead of Martin Prokop.
Ekström is now 1:38 off the lead. He has set exactly the same time as Poland’s Marek Goczał.
“A stage win always feels good, but it wasn’t really our strategy for the day. Even so, it’s a positive sign, because we didn’t feel that we had quite enough pace to win the stage,” Mévius commented at the finish of the stage.
Rallying legends Carlos Sainz and Sébastien Loeb have so far not managed to get involved in the fight at the front. Sainz is sixth and Loeb tenth.
“We have to get used to such long special stages again – it’s been a while. Overall, though, the day went well. A couple of small punctures at the start cost a bit of time, but in terms of the final result it doesn’t matter much. We are three minutes off the lead in the overall classification. We didn’t want to drive against the clock today with tomorrow’s conditions in mind, so for us the day went exactly as it should have,” Loeb commented.
Dakar Rally standings after the first stage:
| POS | Driver | Car | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Guillaume de Mévius | Mini | 3:07.49 |
| 2. | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Dacia | +40.0 |
| 3. | Martin Prokop | Ford | +1:27.0 |
| 4. | Mattias Ekström | Ford | +1:38.0 |
| 4. | Marek Goczał | Toyota | +1:38.0 |
| 6. | Carlos Sainz | Ford | +1:54.0 |
