The international motorsport calendar commenced today with the 2021 Dakar Stage 1. As was the case for the 2020 race, this year’s event will take place completely within the borders of Saudia Arabia.
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The opening stage took place between the towns of Jeddah and Bisha. Total stage length was over 600 km. After 345 km of liaison the teams competed in a 277 km timed special section. When all the frontrunners made their way through the finish line it was former winner, Carlos Sainz who led home teammate Stephane Peterhansel to give the Mini X-Raid team an early 1-2.
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Many of the top teams suffered punctures and navigational errors which shook up the order and left some of the pre-race favourites already losing time to the leading Minis. Martin Prokop, who was the first non-Mini home in a Ford, lies third in the overall classification. Toyota Gazoo Racing had a slow but steady start to the race. The leading Hilux was SA lad Giniel de Villiers in seventh place. De Villiers teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who was quickest in the prologue, and therefore first on the road, rounded out the top ten.
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Al-Attiyah said: “We decided to win the prologue, and we expected to lose time opening the road today. Tomorrow’s stage is what really matters. I’m really happy with how it went because we made no mistakes…”
Check out video highlights from the 2021 Dakar Stage 1 at the bottom of this post.
- Carlos Sainz Mini 3 hours 12 min 20 sec
- Stephane Peterhansel Mini +8s
- Martin Prokop Ford +2 min 59 sec
- Mathieu Serradori Century 6 min 31 sec
- Yasir Seaidan Century 7 min 53 sec
- Khalid Al Qassimi Peugeot 7 min 53 sec
- Giniel de Villiers Toyota 8 min 43 sec
- Nani Roma BRX 9 min 22 sec
- Jakub Przygonski Toyota 9 min 22 sec
- Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota 11 min 58 sec
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