Epically, after bursting a wheel, Carlos Sainz (Audi) nailed the first blow in the premiere of the Dakar 2023, in which the penalties took their toll on his teammate Mattias Ekstrom (15 minutes). In motorbikes, the reigning champion, Briton Sam Sunderland of the Gas Gas team, had to retire due to an accident when he was leading.
Sainz scored his forty-second victory in the Dakar with a great comeback in the first special, in which he managed to go tenth to 3.17 of Ekstrom after suffering a puncture. He dethroned the Swede in the last 90 kilometers, in which he also overtook the French Sébastien Loeb (Bahrain). He thus equaled Nasser Al-Attihad (Toyota) in stage victories, and remains seven behind Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) – both active – and eight behind Finnish Ari Vatanen. The Madrid driver was the one who invested the least time in the 367 kilometers of the special (3h20:41). With the application of penalties, Ekstrom was relegated to fifteenth place and his place on the podium went to Yazeed al Rajhi (Overdrive), who also benefited from the minute endorsed to Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsport).
The Dakar lost in the first stage to the reigning champion. British Sam Sunderland (GasGas) suffered an accident at kilometer 52 of the first endurance test special and had to retire. Although he was “conscious and fully mobile”, according to the organization, the double winner of the Dakar (2017 and 2022), who was leading the stage before the fall, had to be transferred to the hospital of Yanbu. No longer with Sunderland in the competition, the classification took a turn a few hours later following the sanctions applied to Sanders (two minutes), Quintanilla (two minutes) and Barreda (one minute). The triumph went to Ricky Brabec, with Argentine Kevin Benavides (KTM) and Klein on the podium.
Regarding the Girona representation, Txema Vilallobos and Dani Oliveras, co-drivers of Isidre Esteve and Juan Cruz (Hylux) were 28s and 30s in cars. As for T-3 prepared light Buggy, the Lagosteren Santi Navarro (FN Speed Race) was eighth, while in T-4, his son Pau was ninth. Sergi Brugué was 24th in T-3 with Jordi Segura.
On the other hand, the KH-7 Epsilon Team, led by Barcelona’s Jordi Juvanteny, reported that the International Automobile Federation (FIA) had canceled at the last minute the creation of the T5.O Hydrogen category, which had to gather the animated trucks with this alternative fuel. The ASO, the organization of the Dakar announced the creation of a new division, the Challenge New Energy.
