Dakar 2023 Stage 1 Results: Sainz & Brabec Win As Sunderland Crashes Out

Stage 1 of Dakar 2023 saw Carlos Sainz and Ricky Brabec claim wins in the cars and bikes categories. The dramatic first day also saw defending champion Sam Sunderland crash out of Dakar 2023 at the kilometre 52 mark.

Updated: Tuesday, January 3, 2023, 10:12 [IST]

Stage 1 of Dakar 2023 saw Carlos Sainz and Ricky Brabec claim wins in the cars and bikes categories. The dramatic first day also saw defending champion Sam Sunderland crash out of Dakar 2023 at the kilometre 52 mark of the special stage.

Stage 1 of Dakar 2023 saw riders and drivers travel around a route to and from the Sea camp on the Red Sea. Today's stage featured a 367-kilometre-long special stage as part of the 602.56km route.

Bikes

Dakar 2020 winner Ricky Brabec came home to claim the top spot in the bikes category, finishing Stage 1 in a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes and 10 seconds.

Brabec pipped KTM factory rider Kevin Benavides to the top spot by 19 seconds with the Argentinian finishing the stage in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 29 seconds. Rounding off the podium was another KTM factory rider, Toby Price with the Australian, a two-time Dakar winner, ending the stage 39 seconds behind Brabec with a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds.

Of the two teams best known to Indian fans in the fray, it was Hero that once again came out ahead with Portugal's Joaquim Rodrigues ending the stage in 10th with a time of 4 hours 21 minutes and 20 seconds, 7 minutes and 10 seconds behind Brabec. One place behind him was Sherco (formerly Sherco TVS) rider Lorenzo Santolino who finished the stage in 4 hours 22 minutes and 32 seconds.

Hero's Ross Branch, who finished the Prologue Stage on the podium, ended Stage 1 in 12th place with a time of 4 hours, 22 minutes and 37 seconds. His fellow teammate, Sebastian Buhler would have finished slightly higher if not for a 1-minute penalty which saw his time drop to 4 hours, 22 minutes and 49 seconds. The final Hero rider in Dakar 2023, Argentina's Franco Caimi ended Stage 1 in the 18th spot with a time of 4:28:04. Caimi also had a 1-minute time penalty.

Indian privateer (sponsored by TVS) Harith Noah was the second-best Sherco rider, finishing Stage 1 with a time of 4 hours, 39 minutes and 8 seconds. Noah currently lies 24 minutes and 58 seconds behind stage winner Brabec. The final Sherco rider in the fray, Rui Goncalves finished the day in the 40th spot with the Portuguese rider recording a time of 4 hours, 50 minutes and 20 seconds after being hit with a 5-minute time penalty.

Cars

Audi's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz Sr, the three-time Dakar Rally winner, claimed his 42 career stage win at the world's toughest rally. Sainz blasted across the Saudi sands posting a time of 3 hours, 28 minutes and 55 seconds over the 602.56km long first stage of Dakar 2023.

World Rally Championship legend Sebastian Loeb, who is hunting for his first overall Dakar win in 6 attempts after 2 second-place finishes found himself in a familiar spot. The French driver prevented what could have been an Audi Sport 1-2, finishing the stage, 10 seconds behind Sainz's hybrid Audi in his Bahrain Raid Xtreme Prodrive Hunter.

Claiming the final podium spot in the cars category was Saudi Driver Yazeed Al Rajhi in his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux. Rajhi finished the stage in 3 hours, 30 minutes and 56 seconds, 2 minutes and 1 second behind Sainz.

GCK Motorsport's Guerlain Chicherit claimed the fourth spot in his Prodrive Huner with a time of 3:30:58 after he was slapped with a 1-minute time penalty. Sebastien Loeb's Bahrain Raid Xtreme teammate, Orlando Terranova rounded off the top 5 with a time of 3 hours and 36 minutes.

Defending champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah ended the first stage of Dakar 2023 in the sixth spot with a time of 3 hours, 36 minutes and 12 seconds, 7 minutes and 17 seconds behind Sainz. Prologue stage winner Ekstrom finished the stage in third and lead for most of the way but dropped to 14th overall after he was slapped with a 15-minute time penalty.

Thoughts About Dakar 2023 Stage 1

The first stage of Dakar 2023 was full of surprises and the usual suspects. Carlos Sainz Sr took his 42nd overall stage victory at the Dakar while 2020 winner Brabec pushed in the final section of the special stage to power to a hard-fought victory. Defending bikes champion Sam Sunderland crashed out of this year's rally in the early part of the special stage while 2022 cars category winner Nasser Al-Attiyah found himself over 7 minutes behind Sainz.

Tomorrow, the Dakar Rally heads inland from the sea to Alula over a 589km long route so expect the going to get a lot tougher.