2022 Dakar Rally Stage 1b was the first real test of this year’s race after yesterday’s prologue. The timed section consisted of a 377 km loop from yesterday’s finish in Ha’il to end in the same location.

Follow Double Apex on Instagram and Facebook where we share more car content.

Front runners

Nasser Al-Attiyah confirmed himself as a firm favourite for this year’s event by setting the quickest time in the prologue. That gave the Qatari his preferred starting slot, which was the tenth place. The early pace was set by the Toyota driver. Other fast crews were the BRX Hunter T1+ machines and the Audi RS Q E-tron cars.

Learn more about the main contenders in the 2022 race by clicking here.

Early drama

Reigning Dakar Rally champion Stephane Peterhansel fell out of contention about halfway through the day. The Frenchman suffered an accident in his Audi Sport racer that broke the rear axle of his car. He was stranded at km 153 for over two and half hours as he waited for his assistance truck to arrive. Mr Dakar’s hopes of a 2022 victory are effectively over.

Another early casualty was the SA crew of Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings. After a quick time that netted them fourth in the qualifying special, the pair suffered a puncture in their Hilux and lost one of their rear wheels at km 142. The fast South African could now be relegated to playing a backup role for the Toyota Gazoo Racing squad.

Former WRC champ and Dakar Rally winner Carlos Sainz, ranked in the top 10 until km 239. The Spaniard and his co-driver Lucas Cruz lost their bearings near km 250. The pair lost loads of time and their deficit at the last waypoint of the day was two hours and counting. Audi Sport is having a torrid start to their debut Dakar Rally.

Stage winner

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb have finished the timed section at the time of writing. Without any major surprises, the Qatari has taken the stage win. Loeb was second quickest ahead of Martin Prokop/Viktor Chytka (Ford). Lucio Alvarez/Armand Monleon (Toyota) were fourth. Vasilyev/Uperenko were fifth.

The quickest South African crew today was that of Giniel de Villiers/Dennis Murphy in seventh place. Their teammates Shameer Variawa/Danie Stassen were 16th. Brian Baragwanath/Leonard Cremer were 21st at the end of the timed section.

General classification after 2022 Dakar Stage 1b

  1. Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota 3 hr 30 min 53 sec
  2. Sebastien Loeb BRX +12 min 44 sec
  3. Martin Prokop Benzina Orlen +22 min 39 sec 
  4. Lucio Alvarez Toyota +27 min 42 sec
  5. Vladimir Vasilyev VRT +28 min 58 sec
  6. Sebastian Halpern Mini +29 min 37 sec
  7. Giniel de Villiers Toyota +33 min 33 sec
  8. Jakub Przygonski Mini +41 min 51 sec
  9. Yazeed Al Rajhi +43 min 40 sec
  10. Cyril Depres GPX +48 min 53 sec