At the end of stage 1A, the top 15 classified in RallyGP had the opportunity to choose their starting position in the day’s special. They will be followed later by the rest of the representatives of the category in the order of the result in the qualifying special. Six minutes after the last RallyGP rider it will be the turn of the Top 10 of the Rally2 category and the Top 5 of quads in reverse order. Then the rest of the Rally2 and quads riders will start in a mixed list following the order of qualification in the first special.
After the hard blow of the Covid positives that have forced Mitch Guthrie and Guillame de Mevius’ co-driver, Tom Colsoul, to renounce this Dakar, Red Bull has stood out in stage 1A by placing three of its representatives in the top four . Andreas Mikkelsen and Kellon Walch have turned out to be luxury substitutes. Everything indicates that the Red Bull drivers could also grab the top places in the general classification at the end of stage 1B.
This Sunday the action continues with stage 1B – Ha’il> Ha’il: 546 km with 334 of special.
Northern Saudi Arabia offers mountainous landscapes that add to the contrasts on the Dakar journey. The sand makes an appearance, although at this stage it will still be mainly in the form of tracks. In any case, there will be no lack of navigation difficulties characteristic of the country. The pilots will immediately enter into the matter: no taking liberties with the road book, since they will be penalized with chronometric sanctions.
This Saturday’s postcard
The Spanish Cristina Gutiérrez (Red Bull Off-Road Team USA) finished the prologue 44 seconds behind the first classified, the American Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA), in the category of light prototypes.
The Argentine Manuel Andujar (7240 Team), champion in 2021, prevailed in the quad category with a time of 1 hour, 10 minutes and 10 seconds, leading by 1 minute and 35 seconds to the second classified, the French (Yamaha) Alexandre Giroud.
Trucks Eduard Nikolaev claims victory at the end of the special. The leader of the ranks of the Kamaz clan prevails in front of Dmity Sotnikov, Andrey Karginov and Anton Shibalov. Ignacio Casale concluded the exercise in fifth position ahead of Gert Huzink, Janus Van Kasteren and Martin Macik, who for the moment must be content with eighth place just 41 seconds behind Nikolaev.
In motorcycles, the Austrian Daniel Sanders (Gas Gas) took the victory in the prologue of the Dakar 2022, which had 19 timed kilometers, with a time of 55 minutes and 30 seconds, beating the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda ) and in one minute and 55 seconds to the Botswana Ross Branch (Yamaha).
On the 19-kilometer special, Al Attiyah finished with a time of 10 minutes and 56 seconds. That allowed him to overtake Spaniard Carlos Sainz (Audi), who placed his hybrid vehicle in second place at 12 seconds, while third place went to South African Henk Lategan (Toyota).
Qatar’s Nasser Al Attiyah (Toyota), in cars, and Australian Daniel Sanders (KTM), in motorcycles, prevailed in the prologue of the 2022 Dakar Rally classifications, between Jeddah and Ha’il this Saturday.
Night fell in Saudi Arabia and the Dakar Rally continues.
You can also follow the broadcast of the Dakar Rally here.
This is how the Dakar 2022 started.
The gesture of a motorcyclist in the middle of the race.
This is how the results were on the first day in the truck category.
The Presidents welcome Stéphane Peterhansel.
Statement from Kevin Benavides.
Nasser S Al Attiyah led the table on the first day in the car category.
Yazeed Racing ready to compete in the Dakar 2022.
Statements by Nacho Cornejo.
Stéphane Peterhansel in action.
The 2022 Dakar Rally will be held in Saudi Arabia. The start and finish of the event will take place in Jeddah. In addition, you will visit other regions: Hail, Al Artawiyah, Al Qaisumah, Riyadh, Ad Dawadimi, Wadi ad-Dawasir and Bisha.
Statements by Stéphane Peterhansel.
You can see the Dakar 2022 event from Saudi Arabia on the ESPN signal or follow the minute by minute in El Comercio, enter here .
Daniel Sanders led the table on day one in the motorcycle category
The bikes are already getting ready to start their journey in the Dakar 2022.
Schedules and route of the Dakar 2022.
Welcome, friends of El Comercio, to the minute by minute of the Dakar 2022 ! Here we will show you the latest news from this important event.
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Summary of the best of the first day of Dakar 2022