Audi has taken the lead in the Dakar but the prominence has not been for Carlos Sainz nor Stephane Peterhansel, the first two ‘swords’ of the brand with the four rings, who were rather discreet today in the prologue held in the Saudi desert of Al Ula. This time it was his companion, the Swede Mattias Ekström who has taken the lead and has ‘flew’ aboard the RS Q e-tron prototypepowered by electric energy, in which Audi seeks a historic victory in what will likely be its farewell to the rally.
On motorcycles, meanwhile, the Valencian rider Tosha Schareinawho debuts with a motorcycle from the official Honda team in the king of rallies, achieved his first victory in the Dakar al win the motorcycle prologuewhile Swedish driver Mattias Ekström dazzled at the premiere of the car test, with Carlos Sainz far from the best of times.
Schareina He won with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds, twelve seconds less than the Australian Daniel Sanders, who came second. The Spaniard led a short 27 kilometer special in which Botswana driver Ross Branch finished third and in which the current champion, Argentine Kevin Benavides, finished ninth.
On four wheels, Ekström took the victory in a 27 km special that served as an appetizer and that does not count towards the general classification, but does count towards establishing the starting order for tomorrow, in the first stage, which will now be held over 414 kilometers and with 127 timed. The Swede set a final time of 16 minutes and 30 seconds and was 23 seconds ahead of the Colombian driver Seth Quintero, who this year made the jump to the premier class with Toyota and started strong.
After finishing second on the podium in the last two editions of the Dakar, he aims to take his first Touareg this year. For now, the Frenchman has started ahead of his new and fearsome teammate, Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari, current champion, has closed his time with Toyota and is seeking what would be his third consecutive title (sixth in total) with the Hunter and Prrodrive, in a year of transition while waiting to make his debut with Dacia in 2025.
This Friday he made a small navigation error at a junction, with no consequences in the general classification, but which left him far from the ‘top ten’ in the prologue. Even worse has been the debut of Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz, who have fallen to 31st position. Nothing that the Madrid native, triple winner of the Dakar, cannot solve starting tomorrow. Upon arrival at the bivouac, Sainz explained that it was about strategy. Do not panic.
2024-01-05 10:04:15
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