AFP - Spain's Carlos Sainz got his title defence off to a strong start by winning the first stage of the cars section at the Dakar Rally between Victoria and here on Sunday.
Driving a Volkswagen, Sainz was fastest in the day's 222km special, which he covered in 2hr 18min 32sec to finish 1min 31sec ahead of France's Stephane Peterhansel in a BMW.
Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, runner-up last year to Sainz, is sitting third after finishing 2min 16sec behind the Spaniard.
KTM riders lead the way in the motorbike section, with Portugal's Ruben Faria finishing 29sec ahead of French titleholder Cyril Despres, with another favourite Marc Coma of Spain in third at 1min 15sec.
A total of 140 cars, 170 motorbikes, 30 quadbikes and 67 lorries are competing in this year's race, which covers 5,000km of racing over a 9,500km-long course.
After staging the event 29 times in Africa between 1979 and 2007, the rally switched continents in 2008 for security reasons, with the 2009 and 2010 editions going off well in Argentina and Chile.
"Compared to the stages in Africa it is the variety of the terrain in South America that impresses me the most. Beforehand, the talk is frequently of very special challenges," Sainz said on Volkswagen's website prior to the race.
Monday's second stage will run between Cordoba and San Miguel de Tucuman, with the race ending in Buenos Aires on January 15.
No comments:
Post a Comment