Motor sport: Sainz wins Dakar first stage, bike champion Sunderland crashes out
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Team Audi Sport's Carlos Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz in action during stage 1 of the Dakar Rally.
PHOTO: REUTERS
YANBU, Saudi Arabia – Three-time winner Carlos Sainz took the overall lead in the car section of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, after winning the first stage despite suffering a puncture early on.
Sainz, 60, seeking to add the 2023 edition to his wins in 2010, 2018 and 2020, finished 23 seconds ahead of fellow former world rally champion Sebastien Loeb of France for his 42nd career stage win.
Saturday’s prologue winner and Sainz’s Audi hybrid teammate Mattias Ekstrom was third, 47 seconds adrift. However, Ekstrom was later slapped with a 15-minute penalty for missing a crossing point – Saudi driver Yazeed Al Rajhi moving up to third in the stage, just under two minutes slower than the winner.
Spaniard Sainz leads Loeb by 10sec in the overall standings.
“Everything went smoothly except for a puncture near the start of the special, which also meant I was extra cautious the rest of the stage,” said Sainz, whose son races for Ferrari in Formula One.
“From then on, we had no problems and the car worked like a charm. We’ll see what approach we take tomorrow (Monday).”
For the 48-year-old Loeb – who is seeking to go one better than 2022’s runner-up spot – it was a largely satisfying day.
“It was a nice special overall, but there were big rocks at the beginning, so we stayed vigilant to avoid punctures,” said Loeb, who has won a record nine world rally titles.
“I took it easy in this part, but then we upped the pace gradually.
“We lost just under a minute due to navigation, but it was no big deal, so it was a good special for us.
“Tomorrow we will be second on the road, which is probably not a great place to be if you want to attack.”
Defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah is a daunting seven minutes behind Sainz, but at least he is still in the race.
There will be a new winner of the motorcycle category, as 2022 champion Sam Sunderland came to grief after 52km of the 368km ride down the west coast of Saudi Arabia.
The 33-year-old Englishman suffered a concussion and a broken shoulder when he came off his GasGas bike.
British biker Sam Sunderland suffered a concussion and a broken shoulder at the 52nd kilometre of the Dakar Rally.
PHOTO: AFP
The motorbike stage was a messy one overall, with Sunderland’s Australian teammate Daniel Sanders being stripped of the victory.
He, along with second-placed Pablo Quintanilla of Chile and Spaniard Joan Barreda, were given time penalties for exceeding the speed limit of 160kmh.
Sanders and Quintilla were docked two minutes (for exceeding by 20-40kmh) and Barreda one (exceeding by less than 20kmh). Their punishments saw Honda’s American rider Ricky Brabec being awarded the stage win.
The 2023 Dakar race stretches 8,549km over 15 days, including a four-day excursion into the unexplored desert dunes of the vast Rub al-Khali, or Empty Quarter.
Some 790 riders, drivers and co-drivers set off in an array of motorcycles, cars, quads, trucks and light vehicles when the race started on the shores of the Red Sea.
It finishes in the eastern Saudi city of Dammam on Jan 15. AFP
