– Al-Rajhi and Hirvonen seventh and ninth respectively
– Tomorrow, the pairings will have to cope with WRC-like challenges
Today, the Dakar Rally finally started into its 2017 edition, with stage one taking the field from Paraguay’s capital Asuncion to Resistencia, Argentina. Prior to the border crossing the drivers had to contest a short 39-kilometre special stage.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) set the seventh-fastest time, thus finishing two positions ahead of their MINI John Cooper Works Rally team-mates Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Michel Périn (FRA). Argentinean Orlando Terranova and his German navigator Andreas Schulz came 11th.
“We just wanted to complete the stage without making mistakes,