The 2024 Dakar Rally started with a Prologue. The short timed section was used to determine the starting order of 2024 Dakar stage 1. Those times do not count towards the overall standings, so the real race started today. The first competitive stage was an all-new, 414-km route from from Al-Ula to Henakiyah.

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

Early Pace

Prologue Winner Mattias Ekström clocked the fastest time at the first checkpoint. Guerlain Chicherit (Overdrive Toyota) was breathing down his neck at 11 seconds. Lucas Moraes, the top rookie in 2023, was third at 33 seconds. Moraes showed his pace in last year’s event and has been signed as a works driver in the Toyota Gazoo Racing squad.

BRX teammates Al-Attiyah and Sebastien Loeb were both slow through the early part of the stage, conceding five minutes each to the frontrunners. The Qatari driver conceded even more time further into the stage.

Wide Open Competition

Rookie Seth Quintero (TGR) showed the seasoned drivers that he means business by finishing second in the prologue. Another rookie to the class, Guillaume de Mevius (Overdrive Toyota), did the same by running at the same pace as the leaders in today’s stage.

There were several, usual frontrunners far down the starting order, which means that it would be some time before the true pace of all crews was shown on the timesheets. This included former Dakar winners Carlos Sainz (Audi) and Giniel de Villiers. El Matador didn’t let the dust and traffic slow him down though. He set the second quickest time through the 127-km mark. The SA driver steadily rose through the time sheets as the day progressed.

Click here to learn more about the SA-built Hilux race machine.

Trading Blows

It was Audi and Toyota trading times at the top of the sheets. Ekstrom’s teammate Sainz arrived quickly to challenge, rocketing himself up the virtual leaderboard. But Guillaume de Mevius was not letting the German cars have it all their own way. The Overdrive Toyota driver set a stonking pace through the latter part of the stage.

The CR7 buggies of Matthieu Serradori and Urvo Männama were keeping pace as well. SA rookie Guy Botterill announced his name to the rally raid world with time that was within seconds of the leaders about three quarter way through the stage.

At the Flag

Ekstrom’s initial rapid pace faded as the stage progressed. There were just two in contention in the latter part of the day: Carlos Sainz and Guillaume de Mevius. The former WRC champ underlined why he is a three-time Dakar winner. He pushed hard from a lowly starting position. But even his experience was no match for the Belgian Toyota driver De Mevius who claimed his first Dakar stage win in this category.

Old hand Giniel de Villiers showed why he is always a threat by rocketing up the leaderboard to finish the day in third place. The 2009 winner started the day in a lowly 68th, so his day must’ve been very busy dealing with cars that started ahead.

Vaidotas Zala (Mini) had a quiet, but fast, day to finish fourth ahead of Le Mans winner Romain Dumas (Toyota). Dumas’ finish made it three SA-built Hiluxes in the top five. Al Attiyah and Loeb, two dominant figures of the Dakar lost over 20 minutes to the leaders today. Could this perhaps open the way to a new champion…?

Standings after 2024 Dakar Stage 1

  1. Guillaume de Mevius (Overdrive Racing) 4 hr 35 min 59 sec
  2. Carlos Sainz (Audi) +1 min 44 sec
  3. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +9 min 18 sec
  4. Vaidotas Zala (Mini) +10 min 42 sec
  5. Romain Dumas (Rebellion Racing) +12 min 18 sec
  6. Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +13 min 25 sec
  7. Guy Botteril (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +13 min 39 sec
  8. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) +13 min 39 sec
  9. Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing Team) +14 min 12 sec
  10. Mattias Ekstrom (Audi) +14 min 20 sec