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Bisha (Saudi Arabia) – Spaniard Carlos Sainz finished the first stage of the 2021 Dakar Rally, which began on Sunday in Saudi Arabia, in first place after covering a distance of 277 km in three hours 18 minutes and 56 seconds, while Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah finished tenth, and Frenchman Sebastian Loeb, who was disappointed in 22nd place.
The owner
Sainz, the defending champion, overtook his “Mini” by 25 seconds over his French colleague Stephane Peterhansel, the record holder for the number of titles (7 in the car category and 6 on the bike). Czech Martin Prokop (Ford) finished third. Sainz, nicknamed “Matador”, started in 28th place in this first stage and, despite the presence of a hole in one of his tires, managed to finish first despite the difficult roads.
The “Red Bull” athletes took the first places on the first day of the Dakar Rally held in Saudi Arabia. A statement issued by “Red Bull” indicated that its Australian rider Toby Price achieved first place in the motorcycle category, passing the specified path between Jeddah and Bisha, in 3 hours and 26 minutes, with a score of 26.
The other “Red Bull” competitor, Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel, also took second place in the car category, 25 seconds behind Sainz. The “Red Bull” racers also took first place in the light car category, as Christina Gutiérrez Herrero finished first by crossing the specified track in 3 hours, 41 minutes and 37 seconds. The “Red Bull” is an Austrian Formula One racing team, based in Milton Keynes, England, and is the first team of the beverage company “Red Bull” in Formula 1 racing.
The most complicated
But things got more complicated for Loeb and his navigator Daniel Elena, who had suffered three holes since the start and was 24 minutes behind Sainz at the finish. At the end of the stage, Al-Attiyah, who arrived in tenth with a difference of 12 minutes and 34 seconds, said: “Time was not on our side, but tomorrow I will start tenth and we will have other words.”
“On Monday the stage is more difficult, more than 400 km,” he added. “The difference between the tenth and the first is about 30 minutes.” We will be comfortable ”, referring to his sacrifice in the first stage to start from behind on Monday, after he started Sunday in first place as a result of his victory the day before in the exhibition stage. Al-Attiyah wins a fourth Dakar Rally title after 2011, 2015 and 2019. Contestants will have to travel 685 kilometers on Monday, including 457 kilometers between Bisha and Wadi Al-Dawasir, with the first sand dunes of the program.
And on Sunday the activities of the 43rd edition of the “Dakar Rally 2021”, the global automotive world, began in Saudi Arabia and is scheduled to continue until mid-January. The Dakar Rally is a race for cars on the roughest roads, it started from the French capital, Paris in 1979, until it reached Dakar, the capital of Senegal, and every year it had a different track, but normally it ends in Dakar, and in 2009 moved to South America until 2019..
