Yesterday, during the prologue du Dakar Rally is Danilo Petrucci who was surprised, mainly by the length of the connection (595 km) but also admitting half-heartedly to having concealed the multiplication by 5 of the differences during this first confrontation.
The fourth rider of the KTM team nevertheless finished the 19 km special in a very honorable 23rd position, ahead of 121 other competitors.
Today, 514 kilometers were on the program around Ha'il, including a 333 km special which symbolized the entry into the heart of the marathon event.
Like yesterday, this one was won by Daniel sanders (GasGas), in the lead from the first score, with a lead of 2'07'' over Paul Quintanilla (Sling), Matthias walkner (KTM) completing the leading trio with a delay of 8'31 on the winner. Daniel Sanders dominated stage 1B to claim his second Dakar victory, the second in a row!
Danilo Petrucci was favorably surprised by achieving the 13th time. The Italian driver certainly conceded 24 minutes and 59 seconds, plus a minute penalty, but for a rookie this is quite exceptional, only surpassed in this category by the American Mason Klein, 5th on his KTM!
The Californian Mason Klein living a real dream: “I wasn't very comfortable in the dunes at the beginning, that's why I was happy to see stones and even the crazy hill that we had and where I lost a little time. The navigation is very complicated, but I took note after note and I saw that, up front, they had regularly made mistakes, while I tried to stick to the road book. But I'm definitely not in my element in the dunes. 4th, I never would have imagined that! It's incredible to be here. I think Skyler, who is my mentor and the main reason I'm here, will have quite a bit to tell me! »
Conversely, several favorites got lost in the second part of the stage, conceding 34 minutes for the Argentinian Kevin Benavidez , almost 39 for the Spaniard Joan Barreda , 42 for the American Andrew Short , 44 for the Australian Toby Price and for the Chilean Nacho Cornejo, 56 for the American Ricky brabec and 59 for the Argentinian Luciano Benavides placeholder image . A real disaster for many contenders for victory!
The general classification is still dominated by the Australian Daniel sanders (GasGas) in front Paul Quintanilla (Sling), Matthias walkner (KTM) and the French Adrien van beveren (Yamaha).
In cars, the event is not over at the time we publish these lines, but Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) seems the big winner of the day, ahead Sébastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) 12 minutes behind. Stephane Peterhansel (Team Audi Sport) was in second place in the special at km 120 behind Nasser Al-Attiyah before tearing off his rear axle and stopping to wait for assistance at km 153. A first hard blow for “Monsieur Dakar”.
Tomorrow, a connection of 230 km and an special of 338 km are on the program, with the first real dune cordons of the rally and the first marathon event. No assistance in the evening, apart from that between drivers registered in the race!
