Nasser Al Attiyah in action during the opening stage of Rally Dakar 2017
Image by Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool
Today’s stage – from Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, to Resistencia in Argentina – was 454 km long and contained a 39 km timed section before the competitors crossed the border into Argentina. The timed section was narrow and tricky which resulted in a few errors by some of the competitors.
Two-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah, however, didn’t put a wheel wrong on his way to setting the fastest time of the day in the car category. His only problem came after the finish when a broken oil line caused a small fire after oil spayed onto the exhaust. Luckily the fire was extinguished before any major damage could result and, after being towed to the bivouac by teammate Geniel de Villiers, will start tomorrow’s stage at the head of the field.
He said afterwards:
“We did great to win the stage, but soon after we saw the smoke coming from our car. We caught fire and we stopped it which was big for us as otherwise we lose the car completely. A small pipe was broken which meant oil sprayed on the exhaust. There is not a lot of damage but we were scared to start the engine again and maybe get a bigger problem. Our mechanics will work on it tonight and we will be back on the road again tomorrow.”
Pons surprised many with his performance in the Ford Ranger. The Spaniard led a trio of his countrymen with Roma just behind him and Carlos Sainz, in the first of the Peugeots, four seconds behind Roma. De Villiers made it four South African built cars in the top five by bringing his Toyota Hilux home in fifth.
Sebastien Loeb (Peugeot) finished in sixth ahead of the first of the MINIs piloted by Saudi Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Cyril Despres (Peugeot), Mikko Hirvonen (MINI) and Erik van Loon (Toyota) completed the top ten.
Defending champion Stephane Peterhansel (Peugeot) could only manage twelfth place while South African Rob Howie, doing the navigating for Zimbabwean Conrad Rautenbach, Is in fifteenth.
Ricky Brabec ended the first stage in second place
Image by Honda Racing Corporation
So near and yet so far was the story of the day for Xavier de Soultrait (Yamaha) in the bike category. After withdrawing in 2016, he quite simply grabbed his first special stage victory ahead of two other outsiders, Juan Pedrero (Sherco) and Ricky Brabec (Honda). However, the Frenchman exceeded the speed limit on the link stage and is received a one-minute penalty which dropped him down to tenth and put Pedrero at the top of the general standings.
After de Soultrait’s penalty, Michael Metge is in third in the overall standings ahead of another Honda rider Paulo Goncalves. Sam Sunderland is the first of the KTM riders in fifth place ahead of Joan Barreda (Honda).
Seventh to ninth places are occupied by a trio of KTMs, Matthias Walkner having the advantage over Gerard Farres Guell and Ivan Cervantes Montero.
Defending champion Toby Price (KTM), who opened the road and lost some time when he encountered dogs on the route, is satisfied with his 17th in the overall standings.
“It was good today. I had to lead the stage out and that’s the first time I’ve got to do that at the Dakar. To do it out of Paraguay was really good. I had a couple of pet dogs on the track in the second half and that slowed us down a bit. But all in all I’m only a minute off the lead and its very, very early days and plenty more to go. Paraguay definitely set the tone and to be the first rider out is something I can put down in my own history book. Hopefully we can come back and do plenty more here.”
Of the Southern African two-wheelers David Thomas enjoyed a positive Prologue to end up 44th on his Husqvarna, while Botswana rider Vince Crosbie ended 68th and SA men Joey Evans and Walter Terblanche in 107th and 121st respectively.
In the quad category it was all Yamaha at the top of the leader board, the top five positions occupied by the Japanese marque. Marcelo Medeiros leads the way from Gaston Gonzalez and Nelson Augusto Sanbria Galeano. Pablo Copetti and Axel Dutrie are in fourth and fifth respectively.
Martin Kolomy, Rene Kilian and David Kilian won the opening stage in the truck category
Image by Frederic Le Floc’h / DPPI
In the truck race, Martin Kolomy let the power of his brand new Tatra Phoenix do the talking, to win the first stage just in front of Dutchman Ton Van Genugten (Iveco) with the Renault of Martin van den Brink in third.
Defending champion Gerard de Rooy (Iveco) finished the day in fifth behind Ales Loprais (Tatra).
Tomorrow’s stage, from Resistencia to San Miguel de Tucuman, sees the competitors on the road for 803 km, 275 of which is special stage.
