Dakar Auto, Stage 1: De Mevius surprises, beats Sainz | FP

Unexpected victory

The negative performance of Carlos Sainz Sr. in the Prologue of the Dakar Rally, which today presented the first stage Al Ula to Al Henakiyah, had foreshadowed some difficulties for the Spaniard in Saudi Arabia. Instead, in the test from 414 kmthe initial concerns were denied by an excellent performance which earned 2nd place for the Ferrari driver's father, who came behind a real surprise like the Belgian Guillaume De Meviusauthor of the best time behind the wheel of Toyota unofficial.

Fear at the start

One stage, the one reserved for cars, however began with a bad unexpected event: the test, in fact, was interrupted for about an hour due to an accident which occurred 200 meters after the start, with Lionel Baud that has hit a spectator. The drivers who had already started previously were obviously forced to suspend the race themselves, only to then resume on the instructions of the stewards after the spectator had been rescued and taken to hospital. Since then, the ranking has confirmed the Swede in the lead Mattias Ekströmalready winner yesterday in the Prologue and followed by Sainz's other Audi, with the first significant twists appearing after an hour of the race.

Prodrive disappointment

From that stage of the test, in fact, we witnessed a progressive loss of ground by Nasser Al-Attiyah, as well as for Stephane Peterhansel and Guerlain Chicherit. The Qatari, winner of the last two editions of the Dakar, had to deal with some problems of his own Prodriveexactly as happened to Sebastien Loeb, nine-time world rally champion. The two, in fact, concluded the first test respectively in 22nd and 20th position (both just over 20 minutes away from the leader), all while witnessing the great comeback of De Mevius on Overdrive Racing, who took the lead after three hours after overtaking Sainz. An unexpected success which allowed the Belgian, winner with cars for the first time, to distance himself from the Spaniard by one minute and 44 seconds. Ekström was only 10th in the final standings, with the podium finally completed by the other Toyota Of Giniel de Villiers.

Dakar 2024, Car ranking – Stage 1 (Top-10)