VILLA CARLOS PAZ, Argentina — Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Mini won the first stage of the Dakar Rally Sunday between Buenos Aires and Villa Carlos Paz as the annual race got under way in front of huge crowds.
Al-Attiyah, who won the title in 2011, clocked 1 hour 12 minutes for the 170 km timed section of 833 km stage.
That was 22 secs faster than Argentina’s Orlando Terranova, also in a Mini, and 1min 04secs ahead of American Robby Gordon.
Veteran Peugeot drivers Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel placed sixth and seventh respectively at 2 mins 06secs and 2 mins 35secs, but last year’s winner, Nani Roma, struggled in his Mini to end the day some 20 minutes behind the leaders.
In the motorbike section, Britain’s Sam Sunderland on a KTM was fastest in 1hr 18min 57secs, five seconds faster than Paulo Goncalves of Portugal on a Honda and 1min 12secs ahead of last year’s winner Marc Coma on a KTM.
This year’s rally features a grueling 9,000 km trek through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia before arriving back in Buenos Aires for a Jan. 17 finish.
Former winners Sainz and Peterhansel were spearheading the Peugeot campaign as the French car-makers returned to the Dakar Rally for the first time in 25 years.
Their ultimate goal was to win but at the very least they were expected to prevent the Minis from completing another clean sweep of the auto podium.
Peterhansel took second place last year for Mini behind then teammate Roma. Peugeot won the Dakar for four successive years from 1987-1990 when it was still staged in Africa.
This year’s event, the seventh in South America since its enforced transfer for security reasons from Africa, is the 37th of all time.
The 2014 race takes the Dakar caravan from the Atacama, the driest spot on the planet, to the Iquique dunes and crossing the Andes at the highest point on Argentina’s Route 40, the 4,970m mountain pass of Abra del Acay.
In all, there will be 4,600km of special stages including a 781km time trial from the Bolivian city of Uyuni to Chile’s Pacific Coast. — AFP
