The 2023 Dakar Rally wasted no time in serving up drama on the sands of Saudi Arabia. Stage One of the brutal rally saw the bike race’s defending champion crash out while fresh-faced challengers put their own names in the frame across the categories.
Following the relative calm of yesterday’s Prologue Stage, New Year’s Day brought with it an ultra-tough 368km loop stage around the Dakar’s Sea Camp in Yanbu. The terrain swung between sandy ground and stoney tracks before finishing up on the dunes. Let’s take a look at who came out on top…
It’s a new year and a new Dakar, but a stage win for Carlos Sainz is a very familiar result – it’s the 42nd stage win of El Matador’s illustrious Dakar career! The three-time Dakar winner guided his Audi RS Q e-tron E2 to top spot on day one alongside co-driver Lucas Cruz thanks to a real push for the line over the final 200km.
« We had one puncture at the beginning so after that we proceeded with caution over the stones. Then we were able to up the speed towards the end of the stage. » – Carlos Sainz
Sainz was joined on the podium by Sébastien Loeb/Fabian Lurquin in their BRX Hunter. Also landing in the car race overall Top 10 were Kuba Przygoński/Armand Monleon in a MINI John Cooper Works Plus and Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger in their own Audi RS Q e-tron E2. Adding to the varied mix of manufacturers at the head of the race are defending champions Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel in the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+.
One of the biggest smiles at the Stage One finish line belonged to Dakar rookie Lucas Moraes. The Brazilian and his co-driver Timo Gottschalk guided their Toyota Hilux back to the Sea Camp at Yanbu at the end of a successful opening stage.
« There were tricky parts in the rocks and narrow canyons, but it was great. To finish my first stage makes me very happy. » – Lucas Moraes
Topping the timesheets in the bike race was 2020 Dakar winner Ricky Brabec on his Honda. Within a minute of Brabec are the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo of Kevin Benavides and Toby Price as the early leaderboard starts to emerge.
« Today was a really long stage, but a good one. I think every day now will be really long until the Rest Day. » – Kevin Benavides
Daniel Sanders of Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing missed pretty much all of the previous year of racing through injury and is determined make each day count at this Dakar. Sanders is currently placed in the Top 10 despite picking up a three minute speeding penalty on Stage One.
« It’s been a long time since I raced a stage like that, a whole year! I kept clear of any big mistakes and just kept cruising, it was fun out there » – Daniel Sanders
Sam Sunderland’s defence of his Dakar bike race title ended 52km into today’s stage. The Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing rider crashed out of the rally and was airlifted to hospital in Yanbu where he was diagnosed with a broken shoulder blade. We wish Sam a speedy recovery. The two-time Dakar champion was helped at the scene of his accident by fellow biker Matthias Walkner.
« It’s been a long time since I raced and I found it really tough. What was really sad was finding my best buddy Sam on the ground at around 60km. I hope he’s OK. » – Matthias Walkner
Chaleco López’s new Dakar has started where his last one finished, in the overall lead of the T3 category. The defending champion took the stage win for the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team alongside co-driver Juan Pablo Latrach. Their T3 team-mates Cristina Gutiérrez/Pablo Moreno finished eighth fastest in class while Rokas Baciuška/Oriol Vidal delivered another winning result in the T4 category.
« This was just the first stage, but it already feels like proper Dakar. I think it’ll stay like this now for all 14 days. » – Rokas Baciuška
Taking second place on the T3 stage was Guillaume De Mevius/François Cazalet in their OT3. Then came all three crews of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich. Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz, AJ Jones/Gustavo Gugelmin and Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch were third, fourth and seventh respectively on the stage.
« We’ve still got thousands and thousands of kilometres to go. A lot is going to happen in these next two weeks. » – Seth Quintero
Tomorrow’s Stage Two sees the Dakar convoy leave the Sea Camp at Yanbu and head east to Alula. Giant boulders and deep canyons will feature throughout the 430km timed special stage as well as a chain of desert dunes. Things will only get tougher from here!
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Selected Overall Standings after Stage 1
T1 Car Class
1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) AUDI 03:28:55
2. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) BRX +00:10
3. Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) TOYOTA +02:01…
6. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) TOYOTA +07:07…
8. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) AUDI +08:51
9. Kuba Przygoński (POL) MINI +08:54…
13. Lucas Moraes (BRA) TOYOTA +15:28
14. Mattias Ekström (SWE) AUDI +15:33…
18. Giniel De Villiers (ZAF) TOYOTA +18:31…
25. Laia Sanz (ESP) ASTARA +22:56…
T3 Lightweight Prototype
1. Chaleco López (CHL) CAN-AM 03:57:40
2. Guillaume De Mevius (BEL) OT3 +01:49
3. Seth Quintero (USA) CAN-AM +03:07
4. AJ Jones (USA) CAN-AM +03:32
5. Ignacio Casale (CHL) YAMAHA +04:00…
7. Mitch Guthrie (USA) MCE5 +11:17…
10. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) CAN-AM +19:07…
T4 SSV
1. Rokas Baciuška (LTU) CAN-AM 04:09:44
2. Eryk Goczal (POL) CAN-AM +02:14
3. Pau Navarro (ESP) CAN-AM +03:45
BIKES
1. Ricky Brabec (USA) HONDA 04:14:10
2. Kevin Benavides (ARG) KTM +00:19
3. Toby Price (AUS) KTM +00:39…
5. Daniel Sanders (AUS) GASGAS +00:45…
19. Štefan Svitko (SVK) KTM +13:54…
21. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM +17:52…
25. Camille Chapelière (FRA) HUSQVARNA +25:48…
50. Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) HUSQVARNA +52:19…
QUOTES
Carlos Sainz: « We had one puncture at the start so after that we proceeded with caution over the stones. Then we were able to up the speed towards the end of the stage. We had no problems with the car. Now we see what tomorrow brings. »
Sébastien Loeb: « It was a good stage for us. A clear stage with good speed and no punctures, that was the aim for us. We knew that there would be a lot of stones on the track so we decided to take it easy to avoid problems. On the second half of the stage we were able to increase the rhythm. »
Mattias Ekström: « We started very well and had a good rhythm. One point I felt our pace was a little bit too fast, so we slowed down a little bit. It’s nice to finish the first stage but we have so much more to come at this rally. We hope to fight to the very end. »
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « We lost about seven minutes to Carlos, but it’s only day one so there’s plenty of distance left to race. We will start in a good position tomorrow and we will do our best to recover as much time as possible. »
Stéphane Peterhansel: « It’s already an improvement on last year when we stopped for a long time on the first stage. Today we had two punctures and because we only carry two spares we would have been in trouble if we had got a third puncture. We had to drive slowly to make sure we didn’t get that third puncture. »
Kuba Przygoński: « The stage was really nice, also quite tough with the stones. We had one puncture but that was our only issue, the car was very good. This is great for us because you never know what will happen with a completely new car at the Dakar. »
Lucas Moraes: « This is my first-ever Dakar stage so I don’t have any other to compare it to! But it was nice. There were tricky parts in the rocks and narrow canyons, but it was great. To finish my first stage makes me very happy. »
Giniel De Villiers: « It wasn’t a good stage for us. We had a puncture after about 50km so I was a little bit careful after that because we didn’t want to use both our spares so early. We ended up getting lost quite badly about 30km from the end, that cost us a lot of time. »
Kevin Benavides: « Today was a really long stage, but a good one. I think every day now will be really long until the Rest Day. I think I did a good job. I’m only a minute behind the leader so I’m in a good position for tomorrow. »
Toby Price: « Unfortunately I saw Sammy quite early in the stage after he’d had a crash. I hope he’s all good. It’s never good to see one of your best mate’s head out of the race so early. After that I just kept my focus on staying on two wheels and staying in the race. »
Daniel Sanders: « It’s been a long time since I raced a stage like that, a whole year! For the first part of the stage I was getting to grips with the new bike, it’s the first rally I’ve done with it. Then I caught up to Kevin and we rode together for the rest of it. I kept clear of any big mistakes and just kept cruising, it was fun out there! »
Matthias Walkner: « It’s been a long time since I raced and I found it really tough. What was really sad was finding my best buddy Sam on the ground at around 60km. I hope he’s OK. For most of the day I was riding alone and when you do that it’s hard to know what pace you have. It was a much tougher day than I expected. »
Camille Chapelière: « I took my time today because it was a complicated track with some big stones. Staying safe was the mission today. Unfortunately I crashed once in the first part of the stage, but thankfully I was OK. »
Mohammed Balooshi: « Today I got to open the stage and for me it was an honour. Normally, it’s only guys who win stages that open. So today is a Dakar memory that I’ll keep forever. I’m really happy with how I rode this challenging stage. »
Seth Quintero: « I’m excited to have Stage One done and we’ve still got thousands and thousands of kilometres to go. A lot is going to happen in these next two weeks. »
Cristina Gutiérrez: « We started very good, with a good rhythm. Then at 160km we had two punctures so after that we went into survival mode until the finish. I’m still learning and adapting my driving style to the new car. I’m happy to be at the finish line. »
AJ Jones: « The stage was a good mix of rocks, dunes and fast tracks. We had a good, clean run with no problems at all. »
Rokas Baciuška: « Things went good today. We had to take it easy in the big rocks because you could have got a puncture easily. This was just the first stage, but it already feels like proper Dakar. I think it’ll stay like this now for all 14 days. »