Zala takes maiden stage win on Day 1 of Dakar

Vaidotas Zala has pulled off a surprise first-time Dakar stage win as last year’s Cars champion, Nasser Al-Attiyah, was hamstrung by punctures on the opening leg.

Al-Attiyah led the way for the first 200km from Jeddah to Al Wajh in the #300 Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux but then incurred three punctures and ended the day 5:33s off the pace in fourth position.

With the Qatari’s misfortune, the lead fell to Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi before a mishap in his Peugeot 3008 saw the car “came to rest on its side” in a wadi 60km from the end of the stage, according to Al Qassimi’s PH Sport team.

Zala had been gradually rising to the top of the stage classification and the Agrorodeo Mini 4×4 driver finished the day with more than two minutes on each of the X-raid JCW Buggy entries.

“I am so happy to drive this Mini, we would never have achieved such a result in our previous cars,” said the Lithuanian.

“I immediately noticed the difference on the first few kilometres of the stage. The first stage was not easy, but we managed to avoid punctures. I never expected such a great result.”

Stephane Peterhansel is second and X-raid team-mate Carlos Sainz third, the latter at 2:50s off the pace.

Both had to overcome navigational errors and Sainz a puncture, with Peterhansel facing the difficulty of having to communicate in English after a late change of co-driver.

“We wandered around a bit and must have lost three to five minutes looking for a hidden waypoint,” said Peterhansel.

“The directions were hard to understand in English; I must be going soft in the head. In 21 editions of the Dakar, I’ve never had a co-driver talk to me in English.”

Sainz recounted, “We briefly went the wrong way after a waypoint and then picked up a puncture later on.

“On the whole, it did not go too badly, as I thought we would have lost a lot more time. I am happy.”

Bernhard ten Brinke is fifth overall in another of the factory Hiluxes while team-mate Fernando Alonso made his Dakar debut with the 11th fastest time through the 319km of competitive running.

Jakub Przygonski dumped almost six hours due to technical dramas in the same model of Mini with which Zala won the stage.

The X-raid driver eventually made the finish and put Car #303 into 77th position in the general classification.

In Trucks, Anton Shibalov sits atop the leaderboard for Kamaz, while five-time Dakar-winning team-mate Eduard Nikolaev is 10th at 11:24s off the pace.

Ignacio Casale leads in Quads while Aron Domzala holds first position in the SSV category.

Australians

Toby Price holds a narrow lead in Bikes despite a dramatic first day during which he tore his road book.

Of his compatriots in the field, all in Bikes, now privateer Yamaha rider Rodney Faggotter is 25th overall with a five-minute penalty to his name, Ben Young (KTM) is 92nd, Phillip Wilson (KTM) is 98th, Trevor Colin Wilson (Husqvarna) is 127th, and Matthew Tisdall (KTM) is 129th.

Stage 2 takes place from tonight (AEDT) with 367km of special stage running which takes the field from Al Wajh to Neom.

General classification: Cars (Top 10)