The Dakar Rally got under way today on Saturday with a 22-kilometre prologue, and Ekström’s pace was immediately on point.
The Ford driver clocked a time of 10:48.7 on the 22-kilometre stage.
Ford Racing secured a one-two from the opening stage, as Mitch Guthrie finished eight seconds behind Ekström to take second place on the stage.
X-raid team’s Belgian driver Guillaume de Mévius set the same time as Guthrie and was third on the stage. Top driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, also seen in Saudi Arabia in the World Rally Championship, was fourth – likewise with the same time.
This would be the sixth Dakar stage win of Ekström’s career and his third prologue victory. He also won the prologue in 2023 and 2024.
At the same time, he would become the most successful Swedish driver of all time in the Dakar Rally, overtaking Kenneth Eriksson in the number of stage wins.
“I had a very good prologue, it was much more difficult than I expected from navigation and stones and, for me, this was a small stage,” Ekström commented.
“if someone goes quicker now, I can only say well done because we cannot go quicker than this, that was [the] maximum for us,” Ekström continued.
Carlos Sainz was eighth on the stage. The two-time world champion in rallying was 15 seconds off the fastest time. However, in terms of Sainz’s victory hopes, this does not have major significance, as although the prologue determines the starting order, it is nevertheless a long marathon competition.
The Dakar Rally properly gets under way tomorrow on Sunday, when the first full competitive stage of the event is on the programme.
