Carlos Sainz, Kevin Benavides and Chaleco López all dug deep to shine in Sunday’s tricky Stage One of the 45th edition of motorsport’s toughest test of endurance, the Dakar Rally.
The 2023 Dakar Rally wasted no time in serving up drama on the sands of Saudi Arabia as Sunday’s stage one saw the bike race’s defending champion crash out, while fresh-faced challengers excelled.
New Year’s Day brought with it an ultra-tough 368km loop stage around the Dakar’s Sea Camp in Yanbu with motorsport legend Carlos Sainz claiming his 42nd Dakar stage win in an Audi RS Q e-tron E2 alongside co-driver Lucas Cruz.
“We had one puncture at the beginning, so after that we proceeded with caution over the stones,” Sainz said.
Sam Sunderland’s defense of his bike title ended 52km into the stage with 2020 winner Ricky Brabec topping the timesheets leaving Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo Kevin Benavides and Toby Price within a minute of him as well as Australian Daniel Sanders.
“I kept clear of any big mistakes and just kept cruising, it was fun out there,” Sanders said.
Chilean Chaleco López’s new Dakar has started where his last one finished, in the overall lead of the T3 category as the defending champion took the stage win for the Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team alongside co-driver Juan Pablo Latrach while Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal delivered another winning result in the T4 category.
“This was just the first stage, but it already feels like proper Dakar,” Vidal said.
Monday’s stage two sees the convoy leave the Sea Camp and head east to Alula. Giant boulders and deep canyons will feature throughout the 430km timed special stage as well as a chain of desert dunes.