Hispanic Carl Sainz from the Audi Sport team became the winner of the first stage of the Dakar rally marathon in the touring car category.
Sainz on a stage with a 367 km long special set a time of 3 hours 20 minutes 41 seconds. Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (BRX, 23 seconds behind) finished second, followed by Saudi Yazid Al-Raji (Overdrive Racing, +1.59) who completed the top three. Russian pilot Denis Krotov (X-Raid Mini JCW, +33.20) flying the Kyrgyz flag took 27th place.
In the general classification, Sainz is also in the lead, Loeb is 10 seconds behind him, Al-Raji (+2 minutes 1 second) is third, Krotov (+34.38) is on the 27th line.
In trucks, the first stage was won by the Czech crew Martin Machik at the wheel of an Iveco from the MM Technology team (3’46.35). Second place was taken by his compatriot Ales Loprais driving PRAGA (+5.46), Mitchell van den Brink from the Netherlands driving Iveco (Europ Team De Rooy Iveco, +10.13) finished third . In the general classification, Machik is 6 minutes 1 second ahead of Loprais, 10 minutes 18 seconds over van den Brink. The Russian KAMAZ-master team does not participate in Dakar because it refused to sign a document condemning the SVO in Ukraine.
American Ricky Brabets (Monster Energy Honda Team) won the motorcycle category with a time of 3 hours 31 minutes 10 seconds. Argentinian Kevin Benavidez (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, +44 seconds) is second, followed by American Mason Kline (BAS world KTM racing team, +44 seconds). Brabec leads the general classification, Benavidez (+19 seconds) is second, the Australian Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, +39 seconds) is third.
In the MTB category, the stage was won by Argentinian Manuel Andujar (Team 7240, 4:10.34), Frenchman Alexandre Giroud (Yamaha Racing – SMX – Drag’ON, +44 seconds) showed the second result, Argentinian Francisco Moreno Flores (Drag’ON Rally Tean, +10.49) finished third. In the general classification, Giroud leads, Andujar is 21 seconds behind him, the Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros (Taguatur Racing Team, +12.52) is in third place.
Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska (Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing) finished first in the mountain bike category, but was penalized 15 minutes after the end of the stage and dropped to 10th place. After this decision of the judges, the Polish Erik Gochal (Energylandia Rally Team, 4:02.44) became the winner of the first stage, the Spaniard Pau Navarro (FN Speed Team, +1.26) became the second. The leading trio was closed by Michal Gochal (Energylandia Rally Team, +1.51) from Poland. The crew of Saudi Yasser Seidan and Russian navigator Aleksey Kuzmich, flying the flag of the United Arab Emirates, encountered problems on the stage. In the general classification, Eric Gochal is in the lead, followed by Navarro (+1.31) and Michal Gochal (+1.51).
Dakar takes place in Saudi Arabia, the marathon rally will last until January 15.
Source : MatchTV
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