A car race sting in the tail as bikes deliver epic day 1
Dakar’s first official stage delivered epic racing in both the car and bike races as South African men and machines once again starred on a tricky the loop around Bisha, Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Tough for some, the day’s final car sector sorted the men from the boys in a cruel sting in the tail.
Frenchmen Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq’s Mini shrugged off the ado around them to score a surprise win over Toyota Gazoo Racing crews, American Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, and South African Saood Variawa driving with French navigator Francois Cazalet. Quinteiro was however later credited with the victory after stopping to assist Laia Sainz who crashed her Century.
On two wheels meanwhile, Australian Daniel Sanders’ Red Bull KTM held Californian 2024 winner Ricky Brabec’s Honda, Botswana World Champion Ross Branch on his Hero Moto, and Spaniard Tosha Schareina’s Honda off for a memorable victory following a hard fought stage between the four.
Mini, Toyota thrashed Dacia and Ford on day 1
Friday’s first 413 kilometre full stage day 1 switched between sand, dirt and gravel tracks in a loop around Bisha described as a mosaic of terrains ready to test even the most experienced navigators to the very limit. Many observers had predicted Ford and Dacia to fight it out for the Dakar 2025 car crown, but that seemed wide of the mark as two Minis sandwiched five Toyotas in the top seven at the first checkpoint.
Chicherit led early on, from Gazoo Hilux young guns, Variawa, Brazilian Lucas Moraes and another South African, Guy Botterill. The leading trio took turns to lead en route as Moraes led Chicherit, Variawa and Botterill, all of them running well back in the pack, into the final sector. Which is where the trouble started…
Young Variawa did South Africa proud
Chicherit emerged as the stage winner as a charging Quintero came out of the blue to pip Gazoo teammate Variawa to second. Czech Raptor privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka also came out of nowhere to put one over the entire factory Ford team in fourth. Quinteiro and Zenz were however later handed 95 seconds credit after they stopped to assist Laia Sanz who crashed her Century at mid-distance, so they won the day from Chicherit and Variawa.
Leader Moraes and Botterill from fourth, plummeted to a provisional 8th and 14th respectively, while lady hero Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno’s Dacia Sandrider similarly made a last minute appearance in fifth ahead of the Ferreira Mini.
2024 winners, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz were another crew to find an amazing six minutes in the final sector to pop up from 17th to seventh in the best of the factory Ford Raptors. They edged Moraes, Price and Prologue winner Lategan in tenth. Other South Africans in the top 20 included Daniel Schröder and Henry Köhne’s privateer WCT Amarok in a fine 14th ahead of Botterill, Baragwanath 17th in the Century, and Giniel de Villiers and Dirk von Zitzewitz’s Gazoo Hilux in 19th ahead of Al Attiyah, Loeb and several other big names.
Sanders topped a brilliant Day 1 bike battle
Just as a tremendous battle played out in the bikes, where Ricky Brabec initially led, before Ross Branch took over and then Daniel Sanders went ahead. Less than a minute separated those three and Tosha Schareina. Sanders soon went ahead from Schareina but the Spaniard slipped behind Brabec and Branch on the final sector. Behind them, KTM rider Luciano Benavides held Honda trio, Pablo Quintanilla, Skyler Howes and Adrien van Beveren at bay. KTM men, Tobias Ebster edged Edgar Canet for the Rally 2 win.
South Africans, 2024 World Rally 2 Champion, Bradley Cox was a handy 11th on day 1 on his BAS World KTM after he and Rally 2 teammate Michael Docherty raced on the fringes of the top ten for most of the morning. Docherty lost time at mid distance, fell back and then recovered to a provisional 32nd. Compatriot Aaron Mare also lost time early on, en route to 53rd on his Husqvarna. Rally 2 men Dwain Barnard and Willem Avenant were running around 70th and 110th at the time of writing.
A strong start for Ross Branch on Day 1
Judging by all that, quite literally anything can happen on Sunday’s first half of Dakar’s thousand-kilometre 2-day 48H Chrono stage. While the day starts as usual, crews must report to the closest of six overnight rest areas after 5 pm, where they will camp under the stars, before setting off to finish the balance of the stage on Monday. No outside assistance is allowed, leaving crews to rely on one another to do any repairs. The Chrono stage will also see the bikes racing a different route to the cars.
