Carlos Sainz hits an ax blow on Dakar stage 1 and Al-Attiyah and Loeb are in trouble

Carlos Sainz pulled with pride. He comes out with a knife between his teeth, angry about what happened the day before, wanting to redeem himself and make it clear that he is more alive than ever in the race. And with his co-pilot Lucas Cruzcorrected the mistake made in the prologue stage of Dakar with devilish speed in stage 1 this Saturday. He hit the table. The kind that hurts just to hear. An ax blow. He broke it. It came out. The Spaniard could have been big by winning the stage, but it slipped in the last part, leaving it in the hands of a surprise. By Mevius, Belgian debutant in the top category after his T3 podium in 2023. But it doesn’t matter. What is important is a good career position. And the boy Carlos after a good start. He was 2nd on the stage, 1’44” behind the Belgian winner and none of the theoretical favorites were on his level.

The previous day, the Spanish crew got lost at a point in the 27-kilometer prologue and made a miscalculation, stopping longer than they should have before reaching the finish line in order to have a good starting position. Ideally start stage 1 now between the 10th and 20th. Sainz had to start 48th. The signs were not good and Carlos assumed that this Saturday, starting behind the slower cars, with dust in front, he could lose 8 or 10 minutes. His great rival wiped his hands, Nasser Al-Attiyah, who started on the 12th. Also Sebastien Loebtwo of the top favorites to win the Dakar in their Hunter of the group BRX. Some of the candidates were also smiling. toyota. But Carlos He returned the situation to the best he knew: accelerating to the maximum at the wheel of his electrified Audi.

He forced everything

The Spaniard began passing cars and more cars, with a furious pace from the start. The matador‘ he began to kill. He was 59″ behind the best at kilometer 38, 41″ at kilometer 87″ and half a minute at km 127. He was there. He lost 2’42” at kilometer 170, but that’s when he changed the pace. In the next 55 kilometers, Ekström, until then the best, was diluted and Carlos acted. The man from Madrid was 52″ from the lead at kilometer 225 and was ahead 30 kilometers later, with De Mevius 43″ behind. However, some minor navigation problems have caused it to lose a bit of steam since then. He passed kilometer 367 in 5’41”. Finally, Carlos reached the finish line second, in 1’44”, doing his homework very well.

Bad start for Al-Attiyah, Loeb and Quintero

The most important thing for the Spanish is that Nasser Al-AttiyahLoeb and company, suffered greatly and cursed the first episode. Al-Attiyahunlike other years, without his Toyota, where he dominated his will, this time with his Hunter BRX he began to fail.

The current Dakar champion, winner of the last two editions, started 18th, losing 25’02” to the winner, no less than 23’18” compared to Carlos Sainz. Sébastien Loeb was 16th, 23’01” behind the winner and lost in 21’17” compared to Carlos. Set Quintero, The young Toyota star started 17th, 24’16” behind the winner and more than 21 minutes behind Carlos. And his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel was 19th, 24’47 behind the best (23’03” behind Carlos).

In its part, Nani Roma, in his Ford debut, was 14th, 21’31 behind the winner. Luke Moraesanother Toyota candidate with a Catalan Armand Monleon as co-driver, he was 5th, 13’25” behind the winner.

In this way, Carlos Sainz faces stage 2 of the Dakar 2024 from the second position overall, although he knows that this Sunday he will have a very difficult trial by fire by starting at the front, with only one car in in front of him, almost opening the track for cars.