Dakar: Al-Attiyah wins first stage

The 48-year-old was unbeatable in his Toyota Hilux after 84 kilometers between the Peruvian capital Lima and the port city of Pisco. He relegated last year's winner Carlos Sainz (Spain/1:59 minutes back) and Jakub Przygonski (Poland/2:00), both of whom compete for the German team X-raid, to their places. “I had a good feeling in the car, everything went well. The car works really well. We had no problems, we want to continue like this,” Al-Attiyah told the Sport Informationsdienst.

Dakar record winner Stephane Peterhansel (France) finished the first section in the JCW buggy from X-raid in seventh place, 2:57 minutes behind Al-Attiyah. Rally icon Sebastien Loeb (France) finished 13th in the Peugeot, which means he is already 6:07 minutes behind the leaders.

Peugeot had dominated the long-distance rally over the past three years and celebrated victories with Peterhansel (2016 and 2017) and Sainz (2018). Afterwards, however, the French manufacturer withdrew from the factory; the Peugeots used this year are privately operated and are probably no longer competitive compared to the strong Mini and Toyota.

The profile of the first stage of the 41st Dakar Rally was more suited to motorcycle riders. The Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort (Honda) was the fastest in 57:36 minutes, significantly beating Al-Attiyah's time of 1:01:41 hours. Pablo Quintanilla (Chile/Husqvarna) followed in second place, 1:34 minutes behind.

The second part is on the program on Tuesday. The 342 kilometers between Pisco and San Juan de Marcona present the pilots with their first real endurance test.

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Dakar: Al-Attiyah wins first stage

Two-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) won the first stage of the Dakar Rally and put an exclamation mark in the expected duel between Toyota and Mini.

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