First stage in the bag for Dakar Rally champ Sainz
- Source: Global Times
- [08:44 January 04 2011]
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France's Emmanuel Sulem rides across the Elcano stream. Photo: AFP
Spain's Carlos Sainz got his title defence off to a strong start by winning the first stage of the cars section between Victoria and Cordoba Monday.
Sainz was fastest in the day's 222km special which was troubled by some rain storms, covering the distance in 2:18:32 to finish 1 minute 31 seconds ahead of France's Stephane Peterhansel.
Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, runner-up last year to Sainz, is sitting third after finishing 2 minutes 16 seconds behind the Spaniard.
"It was a bit like the Rally of Great Britain. For about 20km, we had a lot of rain," said 48-year-old Sainz.
"At times, we just could not see anything. Moreover, I had issues with the wipers that had stopped working," added the two-time world rally champion.
A record number of eleven Chinese took part in this year's Dakar in three categories including veteran driver Lu Ningjun. Lu, on his seventh challenge to the marathon rally, failed to finish by deadline due to mechanical problems.
Zhou Yuande of Mitsubishi was the fastest Chinese driver in stage 1, finishing 73rd in a time of 3:14:21. Zhou Yong of Great Wall finished six minutes later on 86th.
KTM riders lead the way in the motorbike section, with Portugal's Ruben Faria finishing 29 seconds ahead of French titleholder Cyril Despres, with another favorite Marc Coma of Spain in third at 1 minute 15 seconds.
Faria took over where he left off last year when he won the 14th and last stage to help Despres to the title, leading the way ahead of three other KTM riders as the Austrian team showcased their powerful new 450cc engine.
A total of 140 cars, 170 motorbikes, 30 quadbikes and 67 lorries are competing in this year's race, which covers 5,000km of racing over a 9,500km-long course.
Agencies - Global Times
