Dakar Day 1: Al-Attiyah leads over Saniz Sr.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, with six stage wins to his name last year, is a serious contender for the 44th Dakar. The Toyota driver dispelled any doubts from the get-go, beating Carlos Sainz Sr. and his hybrid Audi by a slim margin of 12 seconds in Stage 1 (Jeddah to Ha’il) of the 2022 Dakar Rally.

Al-Attiyah said: “It was a short stage today. I’m quite happy to win because it’s good for our starting position tomorrow. I’m happy with the performance of our new car. The team’s hard work is helping us a lot.”

202 Sainz Carlos Sr. (spa), Cruz Lucas (spa), Team Audi Sport, Audi RS Q e-tron, Auto FIA T1/T2, action during the Stage 1A of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Jeddah and Hail, on January 1st 2022 in Hail, Saudi Arabia – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

Sanz said: “It was a good prologue stage for us. The feeling was good throughout. We stayed really calm. Maybe we could have pushed a bit more, but it was the first day. Tomorrow starts the real race and we will see what our base level is.”

Henk Lategan and Brian Baragwanath are tied in third and fourth place, respectively, while Sébastien Loeb drove his Hunter T1+ into fifth place.

Stéphane Peterhansel is further adrift, sitting in 14th place, behind Lucio Álvarez, after conceding over 1’12’ to Al-Attiyah in 19 km of racing.

200 Peterhansel Stephane (fra), Boulanger Edouard (fra), Team Audi Sport, Audi RS Q e-tron, Auto FIA T1/T2, action during the Stage 1A of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Jeddah and Hail, on January 1st 2022 in Hail, Saudi Arabia – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI

After Alexandre Pesci’s Rebellion caught fire during shakedown a few days ago, his teammate Romain Dumas offered him his own vehicle to enter the Dakar. However, Dumas’s good deed did not go unnoticed. In turn, Nasser Al-Attiyah decided to lend him the very same Toyota Hilux that he drove in last year’s edition. Only in the Dakar!

Prologue Top-15 Results – Car

Pos	No.	Crew	Brand	Behind
1	201	N. Al-Attiyah (Qat) M. Baumel (And)	Toyota Gazoo Racing	00:00m00s
2	202	C. Sainz Sr. (Esp) L. Cruz (Esp)	Team Audi Sport	00:00m12s
3	230	B. Baragwanath (Zaf) L. Cremer (Zaf)	Century Racing	00:00m36s
4	225	H. Lategan (Zaf) B. Cummings (Zaf)	Toyota Gazoo Racing	00:00m36s
5	211	S. Loeb (Fra) F. Lurquin (Bel)	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	00:00m37s
6	205	Y. Al Rajhi (Sau) M. Orr (Gbr)	Overdrive Toyota	00:00m47s
7	204	N. Roma (Esp) A. Haro Bravo (Esp)	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	00:00m49s
8	207	G. De Villiers (Zaf) D. Murphy (Zaf)	Toyota Gazoo Racing	00:00m50s
9	203	J. Przygonski (Pol) T. Gottschalk (Deu)	Orlen Team	00:01m01s
10	221	O. Terranova (Arg) D. Oliveras Carreras (Esp)	Bahrain Raid Xtreme	00:01m06s
11	208	V. Vasilyev () O. Uperenko (Lva)	Vrt Team	00:01m06s
12	217	B. Ten Brinke (Nld) S. Delaunay (Fra)	Overdrive Toyota	00:01m08s
13	222	L. Alvarez (Arg) A. Monleon (Esp)	Overdrive Toyota	00:01m11s
14	200	S. Peterhansel (Fra) E. Boulanger (Fra)	Team Audi Sport	00:01m12s
15	224	M. Ekstrom (Swe) E. Bergkvist (Swe)	Team Audi Sport	00:01m14s

Top three overall results in each category

Car
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Toyota Gazoo Racing 10m56s
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP) Team Audi Sport +00:12
3. Brian Baragwanath (ZAF) Century Racing +00:36

Bike
1. Daniel Sanders (AUS) Gas Gas 55m30s
2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL) Honda Team 2022 +01:00
3. Ross Branch (BWA) Yamaha Rally Team +01:55

Truck
1. Eduard Nikolaev (RUS) Kamaz Master 13m01s
2. Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz Master +00:07
3. Andrey Karginov (RUS) Kamaz Master +00:15

Lightweight Prototype
1. Seth Quintero (USA) Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team 13m07s
2. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR) Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team +00:03
3. Francisco Lopez Contardo (CHL) EKS – South Racing +00:05