After 4 days of preparation, administrative and technical scrutineerings in Jeddah, the Dakar Rally started this morning, celebrating new year with a stage heading to Ha’il.
A fairly short ‘prologue’ special stage followed by a long liaison of 600km was proposed to start the competition, a good way to enter 2022!
Stage 1A: a 19km ‘prologue’ to start the Dakar.
After Dakar’s race director online briefing, Cyril Neveu gave his last advices prior to the start, telling Jerome and Mika to « take it easy », keeping in mind that to « finish first, we first have to finish ».
The special stage of the day took place around Badr city, situated north of jeddah on the way to Ha’il and offered a « mini-dakar » on its own, with a mixed terrain made of sand and soil tracks offering the first dunes of the rally.
A decent drive that secured 13th position in T4 category
Following Cyril Neveu advices, Jerome took the start of this first stage without much stress and pressure but excitement, with Mika Metge, impatient to finally measure themselves to the world’s toughest rally.
Decision was taken to avoid any risk nor hazardous driving, and that worked well! The crew finished 13th over 48 competitors registered in T4 category. This result proves it was the right strategy to start the rally that will last 14 days.
Tomorrow, we will be back to Ha’il as the stage will consist in a loop in the northern regions of the city.
Jerome de Sadeleer – Driver : « I had to get used to driving the car again since our last rally in Morocco. My intention was, above all, not to disappoint the people involved in the Team Galag project since its creation once year ago and not to attack too hard from the start of the prologue. The car is behaving well, and we still have a few tweaks here and there for an optimal handling of the suspensions, in these conditions offering a lot of sand, rocks and broken dunes. »
Mika Metge – Navigator : « The day was actually very long with a lot of liaison sections, cutted in half by a short special stage made up of fast tracks and a lot of sand. It was also a perfect warm-up for me on the navigation side, with many conditions we will encounter during the Dakar. Jerome managed this stage very well, taking good care of the car while being fast and consistent. We will continue with this pace and increase it as we will go through the stages of the rally! »
Cyril Neveu – Team Manager : « I asked them to take care of the car, as the Dakar is not to be decided in the first day. It is satisfying to see the results of the day showing a 13th place in our class. The rally is still very very long and many things can happen any time. But my confidence in Jerome and Mika has again been confirmed today. We are established in the first quarter of the T4 competitors and will do all it needs to remain in this position. I am proud of their performance! »