Driving his Dacia, Loeb lost 11 and a half minutes compared to the leader. However, considering the opening stage spanned a massive 499 kilometres, the time gap was relatively manageable. Loeb ultimately finished the day in 21st position.
The stage win went to Guerlain Chicherit in a Mini, who beat Toyota driver Seth Quintero by 50 seconds. Saood Variawa, also driving a Toyota, secured third place. Czech veteran Martin Prokop finished fourth, ahead of Dacia’s Cristina Gutierrez.
In addition to Loeb, other favourites such as Ford’s Mattias Ekström and Dacia’s Nasser Al-Attiyah also ended up far behind the leaders on the first stage. It’s possible that the experienced trio employed strategic tactics, as Sunday’s schedule features a grueling 48-hour marathon stage. Over the two days, competitors will tackle 967 kilometres of timed stages and over 1,000 kilometres of liaison sections.
It’s clear that none of the top drivers want to open the route on the highly demanding marathon stage.
“Last year we showed how tactics and the strategy of not opening the track in the 48-hour stage was very important, and this year there will be five special stages where there will be no bikes in front (because of their different routes). Therefore, I think we will have a somewhat tactical Dakar, and that on the first day, we might see things that are a bit strange,” said Carlos Sainz, last year’s winner and seventh-placed finisher on stage one, in an interview with Motorsport.com.
Loeb also admitted after the stage that it turned into a tactical game.
“The goal wasn’t to set the fastest time, so we decided to stop for a few minutes at the end to lose some time and avoid starting first tomorrow. Everyone played the same game… Now we just have to wait and see our exact position in the standings.”
The Dakar Rally consists of 13 stages and spans two weeks, with only one rest day. As in recent years, the race is being held in Saudi Arabia.
Dakar Rally standings after stage 1/13:
1. Guerlain Chicherit Mini 4:35:53
2. Seth Quintero Toyota +0:50
3. Saood Variawa Toyota +1:03
4. Martin Prokop Ford +1:04
5. Cristina Gutierrez Dacia +1:28
6. Joao Ferreira Mini +1:53
7. Carlos Sainz Ford +2:32
8. Lucas Moraes Toyota +2:33
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16. Mattias Ekström Ford +7:17
20. Nasser Al-Attiyah Dacia +10:28
24. Sebastien Loeb Dacia +11:31
