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Supplied 
January 3, 2021
BISHA – The first day of racing at Dakar 2021 turned out to be a real test of mettle on Sunday.
Most of the competitors who qualified well on Saturday encountered major navigation problems, almost from the start. That gave the advantage to those who had been patient, or actually struggled in the Prologue, as Carlos Sainz, who started 28th, won the day in the cars. Toby Price won an equally dramatic first day on two wheels for KTM from a ninth place start.
Poland’s Nasser Al Attiyah’s Gazoo Toyota Hilux, second starter, Brian Baragwanath’s Century Corvette and Yazeen Al Rajhi’s Hilux, third, were immediately in trouble in the first sector of the 277 km from Jeddah to Bisha. The organizers promised a sailing test and thus proved, and something else, that the majority of the top ten finishers struggled to find their way.
The exceptions were Sheikh Al Qassimi’s Peugeot, Orlando Terranova’s Mini and Jakub Pzygonski’s Toyota, which remained in the top ten. There they were joined by the Mini buggies of Sainz and Peterhansel, who climbed from 19 to fight for the lead, the Mini of Viadotas Zala, Martin Prokop in a Ford Raptor and Giniel de Villiers having a good race in their Gazoo Racing Hilux. They had all started in some way in the field, while Shameer Variyawa was also doing well in another Hilux.
A further ten top finishers fared even worse, as Heinrich Lategan’s fourth factory Hilux and Sebastien Loeb’s new Hunter BRX came out of the top fifty after getting lost in the Arabian desert.
Sainz eventually beat Peterhansel by just 25 seconds, with Prokop third from Frenchman Mattieu Serradori and Saudi local hero Yazeen Seidan in a pair of SA-made Centurys. Al Qassimi was sixth to De Villiers, Nani Roma eighth in the Dakar stage debut of the Hunter BRX and Przygonski.
Al Attiyah rallied for a provisional top-ten spot ahead of Variyawa and another century driven by Brazilian Marcelo Gastaldi, and Lategan and Baragwanath provisionally 13-17.
Even before the cars took the stage, the drama started all over between the bikes. The four riders who qualified up front were lost before the first checkpoint. The Honda riders, pole man Ricky Brabec lost 13 minutes, second starter Joan Barreda ten and third and fourth men, KTM rookie Daniel Sanders and Botswana hero Yamaha Ross Branch nine minutes each. They regrouped and moved on when Branch finished 15th, Sanders 18th and the others 20th or worse.
Price, Kevin Benavides, who finished second for Honda after starting seventh, and KTM men Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland, who started 18 and 26 respectively, and finished third and fourth, had the advantage of following the tracks of their rivals to help to find the way from the beginning. .
Ditto for Lorenzo Santolino on a Sherco, Husqvarna man Xavier from Soultrait, and Franco Caimi’s Yamaha, all of whom started outside but finished well in the top ten.
In other action, driver Cristina Guittirez-Hernando led WRC star Kris Meeke and Jose-Antonio Hinojo Lopea in the light cars at medium distance at the time of writing. Anton Shibalov’s Kamaz was ahead of Iveco and Maertin Macik’s Aliaksei Vishneuski in a MAZ in the truck race. Meanwhile, Alexander Giroud edged out Giovanni Enrico and Pablo Copetti to win the Quads.
So both the order of the Dakar cars and bikes were totally altered as the first competitors on the road were lost en masse and it seems that several others struggled to find the right path.
That left questions about whether the Dakar organizers had taken too big a step directly towards their new digital navigation system. Or are the crews still not used to it? One thing’s for sure, patience in the Prologue paid off as most of the top Dakar finishers suffered on day one, leaving the laggards to take day one glory.
Motorsports media
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