JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Carlos Sainz Sr. took the early lead in the Dakar Rally by winning the opening stage of the event on Sunday in Saudi Arabia.
Sainz started down the order after his Mini X-Raid was stopped by a tire puncture during the prologue on Saturday and lost three minutes late in Sunday’s 277 kilometer stage, but he was able to win the stage by 25 seconds.
That leaves Sainz eight seconds ahead of his X-Raid teammate Stephane Peterhansel, who finished second in the opening stage. Martin Prokop finished the stage third and is currently more than three minutes behind Sainz.
In the motorcycle class, Toby Price began his quest for his third Dakar Rally triumph with a stage victory on Sunday. He beat Kevin Benavides by 31 seconds to move into the class lead by 23 seconds.
American Ricky Brabec started first in the motorcycle class after winning the motorcycle portion of the prologue, but navigation problems almost immediately dropped him down the running order and he is now more than 18 minutes behind Price.
Alexandre Giroud controlled the opening stage for the Quad class, winning by nearly three minutes to take the class lead. Dmitry Sotnikov put the Kamaz program on top in the truck class after one stage, winning Sunday’s stage by more than seven minutes.