2024-01-06 12:12:26
The Spanish Carlos Sainz A great gift from Three Kings was given in the first stage of the Dakar 2024, in which, despite the triumph of the Belgian Guillaume de Mevius (Toyota), he exhibited his quality on the Arab stones to gain at least ten minutes over each of the great favorites of the event and finish second.
Sainz ‘flew’ over his vehicle, which started in forty-eighth position from Al Ula (Saudi Arabia) and had 27 cars packed in the desert ahead of it, Because from the twentieth to start, they left every minute, instead of every two, as the first twenty did, which caused more dust and worse visibility for the Madrid native.
Nevertheless, Sainz and his co-driver Lucas Cruz finished second, just one minute and 44 seconds behind the Belgianfrom the Overdrive Racing team, who, aboard a Toyota, captained a first stage that at the halfway point seemed to be controlled by the Swede Mattias Ekström.
However, at the end of the stage, Sainz was more than ten minutes ahead of himself. Ekström and also about the Brazilian Lucas Moraes; almost 20 minutes over the Spanish Nani Roma, more than 22 over the Frenchman Sébastien Loeb and almost 25 minutes over the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah, current champion, who did not have a good start to the rally raid by finishing twenty-first.
And, from the beginning, the day was atypical, with several unforeseen events, which made the day slower than normal. Early in the morning, the first two to take to the track, the South African driver Brian Baragwanath and the Czech Martin Prokop, arrived late to the starting line, so it was the Frenchman Lionel Baud who did it.
However, after starting the section, He turned back just two hundred meters away and notified the organization that a spectator needed to be attended to. Although Dakar sources did not indicate whether it was an accident, the organization explained that the person was “injured” and was taken to the nearest hospital.
Thus, the departure, initially scheduled at 10:15 a.m. for the first of the pilots, It was delayed until 11:15 a.m. The minutes passed and the first of the big favorites to come out was the Frenchman Stéphane Peterhanselwhich finished in a poor twenty-second place and more than 32 minutes behind the new Belgian leader.
The one who did it better was Ekström, who wanted to repeat the prologue victory and already led the race in the first stage, although Sainz placed eighth in one of his slowest sections.
Moraes also appeared in the top positions, as did Al-Attiyah, who however dropped from fourth to seventeenth place between the first waypoint and the second, which began to dig the Qatari’s chances of adding a victory and, in fact, little by little it distanced itself more and more from the first places.
At this second ‘waypoint’, Sainz already placed second, a position that alternated with third and first place, which he reached halfway through his career. However, the good work of the Toyotas, with De Mevius at the helm, prevented the Spaniard from taking first place and a mistake looking for the penultimate waypoint made victory impossible.
However, Sainz’s race was an excellent race and if he did not make a “good calculation” in the prologue yesterdayhe did have a good strategy on this Saturday, and even more so in comparison with the other big favorites, who lost time along the way in a long stage that the Belgian driver covered in four hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds, just 104 seconds less than the Audi driver.
Now it’s the turn of other big favorites, like Al-Attiyah, Peterhansel -who finished more than 30 minutes behind Sainz- or Loeb, have to take risks in the next stageson the way to the Empty Quarter, the largest desert on the Arabian Peninsula, while the Spaniard can play a little with the time gained and take advantage of any opportunity that opens up ahead.
The first stage of this Dakar 2024 covered a route of 541 kilometers, 414 of them timed, between the cities of Al Ula and Al Henakiyah, both from Saudi Arabia, and whose end was very close to Medina, a city that however has restricted entry to all non-Muslims.
Withdrawal of Schareina
The Spanish pilot Tosha Schareina He retired this Saturday after fall at kilometer 240 of the special and injure his armjust one day after winning the Dakar prologue in his debut with Honda and minutes after setting the second fastest time at the last passing point of the stage.
The Valencian was evacuated from the special by the organization’s medical service, in the first stage of his third Dakar, the first with Honda, in which after his good performance this Friday It seemed to be the great Spanish asset in motorcycles.
The driver had achieved his first Spanish victory in the Dakar this past Fridaywhen, with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds, he surpassed the Australian Daniel Sanders, who came second.
28-year-old Schareina joined Honda in the summer and was second in the Sonora Rally and first in the Baja España Aragón rally in his first races with the official Japanese team vehicle.
After that, it was fifth in the demanding rally from Moroccoso its good results imagined that it could become the great Spanish bet on motorcycles.
The stage ended with victory for Botswana Ross Branchwho crossed the finish line ten minutes ahead of the American Ricky Brabec.
Branch, from the Hero team, spent about 25 minutes and 30 seconds with Schareina, when the Spaniard suffered the accident, a time that the Dakar took away from the pilot at the end of the stage, which certified his victory.
In addition to Schareina’s withdrawal, the Portuguese Joaquim Rodrigues and the South African Michael Docherty also had to abandon the race in the first stage after two falls, while the Castilian-Leonese Lorenzo Santolino finished seventh, first of the Spaniards, ahead of the Castellón-born Joan Barreda, who also stopped to help Rodrigues.
This first demanding stage covered a stage of 514 kilometres, 414 of them timed, between the city of Al Ula, where the rally began this Friday in a 27 kilometer prologue, and Al Henakiyah, south of Al Ula and just an hour away. by car from Medina, a sacred city for Muslims.
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