The 45th edition of the Dakar is already underway after a short prologue free of problems for the drivers and which brought good results to the Spanish drivers. Although the victory in cars went, surprisingly, to the Swede Mattias Ekström (Audi), Carlos Sainz achieved an excellent sixth place that will allow him to choose the starting position. Among the favourites, Sébastien Loeb finished second, Stéphane Peterhansel third, Nasser Al-Attiyah fourth, and Yazeed Al Rajhi seventh. «It has been a normal start, without surprises and without problems. Everything has gone perfectly, without any problem in the car. Now we have to focus on this Sunday’s day, which is the first of the real rally and then see where we are”, pointed out the man from Madrid, who is looking for his fourth Dakar behind the wheel of a powerful Audi.
Cristina Gutiérrez also started strong, who achieved the best time in the T3 category, within the light vehicles. The woman from Burgos achieved her second partial victory in the toughest rally in the world with her Can-AM Maverick, beating her partner, Seth Quintero, who last year won almost all the stages, and the current winner of the Dakar and the W2RC World Championship in the category, the Chilean Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López.
In the motorcycle category, victory went to two-time champion Toby Price in a start in which Joan Barreda achieved fourth position on a very slippery track.
