Australian rider Daniel Sanders has powered into an early lead on the Dakar Rally after profitable the race prologue in Saudi Arabia and opening a one-minute hole over his pursuers.
Key factors:
- Daniel Sanders gained his first Dakar Rally stage within the prologue
- Molly Taylor, Australia’s first lady Dakar Rally competitor, completed sixth on the stage
- Nasser Al-Attiyah leads the automotive standings from Carlos Sainz, who’s driving an electric-powered Audi
The 27-year-old from Victoria, who made a big effect on his debut ultimately 12 months’s race by ending prime rookie and fourth total within the motorbike class, began the 12 months in sensible type on Saturday in considered one of motorsport’s most celebrated and hardest endurance races.
“It is cool to win my first Dakar particular,” mentioned Sanders, who hails from the agricultural city of Three Bridges, 70km east of Melbourne.
“I used to be actually snug within the stage, the bike was dealing with unreal. It is cool to point out some pace, however now the navigation has to begin tomorrow.”
Sanders hopes to observe within the tracks of Queenslander Toby Value, a two-time motorbike winner in Dakar who was in eighth after the 19km dash prologue to the two-week marathon.
On his KTM 450 and representing the Spanish GasGas manufacturing facility group, Sanders impressively negotiated the powerful dunes and filth tracks on the opening slog to Ha’il within the north west of Saudi Arabia to complete a minute away from Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla.
“I knew I needed to be quick within the prologue. If there’s not an excessive amount of navigation, I knew I may very well be within the prime three or 5,” mentioned Sanders, whose win has given him the benefit of a beginning place of his selection in Sunday’s stage.
Molly Taylor enjoys sturdy begin to maiden Dakar Rally
Molly Taylor, competing with Dale Moscatt within the SSV class for the CAN-AM Manufacturing unit South Racing group, completed in sixth spot, one minute and one second behind the leaders.
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Taylor and Moscatt are the second-fastest rookies within the class behind Brazil’s Rodrigo Luppi de Oliveira and Maykel Justo.
Taylor, the primary Australian lady to compete within the Dakar, mentioned the stage was “tough” however accomplished a “good clear run”.
“A tough 19km stage however went nicely and obtained a superb clear run ending sixth,” she wrote on Instagram.
“Additionally means a superb highway place for the 333km stage tomorrow. Cannot wait to get out on my first lengthy Dakar stage!”
That is the forty fourth version of the rally however solely the third to be contested completely in Saudi Arabia.
The occasion started in 1978 as a race from Paris to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, however moved from Africa to South America for security causes in 2009 after which to Saudi Arabia in 2020.
Within the automotive rankings, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah leads as final 12 months’s total runner-up made a powerful begin to his bid for a fourth victory.
The Toyota Hilux driver was 12 seconds faster than Spain’s three-times winner Carlos Sainz, driving the electrical Audi RS Q e-tron.
Audi, with reigning champion and 14-times winner Stephane Peterhansel becoming a member of Sainz and Sweden’s Mattias Ekstroem within the group, is in search of to turn into the primary producer to win the Dakar with an electrified powertrain.
Peterhansel was ranked 14th, 1:12 off the tempo, with Ekstroem fifteenth.
AAP/ABC