Dakar Rally

The 2024 Dakar Rally plunged the convoy straight into the deep end on a bruising Stage One. A vast expanse of volcanic rocks greeted competitors on the 405-kilometre timed special between AlUla and Al Hanakiyah. It was such a physical opening to the toughest race on the planet that one biker commented ‘it feels like we’ve done five days already’.

THE STORY OF STAGE ONE: VOLCANIC ROCK GARDEN

The opening stage of this Dakar will live long in the memory of Guillaume de Mévius who charged over the rocks to set the day’s fastest time. It was a maiden stage win in the Ultimate category as the Belgian makes his debut in the elite car class after being handed the keys to a Toyota Hilux Overdrive.

“I’m quite surprised with the timings. The key was avoiding punctures and staying calm in the dust.” – Guillaume de Mévius

Finishing Stage One in second place was Carlos Sainz’s Audi RS Q e-tron as the three-time winner managed to maintain a fierce rhythm even when rocks threatened to suck the air out of his race.

“We had one puncture, then a second puncture and then a third puncture. When you have three punctures and only two spares then reaching the finish is a reason to be happy.” – Carlos Sainz

Completing the Ultimate category’s podium on Stage One was 2009 Dakar winner Giniel De Villiers. The South African had to use all of his vast Dakar experience to guide his Toyota GR DKR Hilux through the stage.

“I knew today was going to be very tricky in the dust with all the cars we had to get past. We just did our best to have a clean day.” – Giniel De Villiers

Also placing inside the Top 10 were Lucas Moraes and Mattias Ekström who picked up one puncture apiece on an opening stage that will surely go down as a modern Dakar legend.

“I felt in the beginning we had a good flow, but things got very difficult when we arrived to the stones.” – Mattias Ekström

A little further back came a group of five Dakar contenders who lost between 20 and 30 minutes to race leader De Mévius. Sébastien Loeb, Seth Quintero, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Laia Sanz and Stéphane Peterhansel will all be hopeful a favourable starting position for tomorrow’s 470-kilometre stage to Al Duwadimi will help them claw back their early deficit.

“Today was probably the hardest Dakar stage we’ve ever seen. We got a puncture around 35k and that kind of set the tone for our day. I wish everybody that’s still out there all the best. It’s going to be a long night for some.” – Seth Quintero

Opening today’s mammoth stage for the entire Dakar convoy were the bikers. Various riders described the stage as ‘400 kilometres of Enduro’ and ‘the toughest opening bike stage that the rally has ever seen’.

Defending Dakar champion Kevin Benavides kept the early leaders in sight, a remarkable achievement on such a physical stage considering he’s recovering from a broken tibia sustained just a month ago.

“The scenery changed a lot between sand, rivers and black volcanic stone. I tried my best to maintain a good pace.” – Kevin Benavides

Also keeping their heads down and getting through the stage as best they could were the Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing pair of Daniel Sanders and Sam Sunderland. Both remain within striking distance of the overall podium.

“After the refuel it was some of the worst kilometres I’ve done in my life. It was rocks on rocks on rocks. It’s the Dakar so I guess it should be tough.” – Sam Sunderland

Luciano Benavides on his Husqvarna and two-time Dakar winner Toby Price onboard a KTM 450 Rally Factory will be well placed to attack tomorrow after they finished just outside the Top 10 on the route to Al Hanakiyah.

“It was incredible how many kilometres we did over the stones, the riding was really technical, slow and in places almost impossible.” – Luciano Benavides