SS1: Victoria to Cordoba
Road Section: 566km
Special Stage: 192km for bikes, 222km for cars and trucks
Bikes:
The Portuguese rider Ruben Faria claimed the honour of winning the first stage of the 2011 edition of the Dakar Rally, and giving him his second stage win in his event’s career. Interestingly, Faria claimed the final stage of the 2010 Dakar Rally… His duty is to offer support to KTM’s number one rider, Cyril Depres, as he had offered in 2010, and with the pair finishing 1-2 at the finish line last night their Dakar Rally campaign has started off strongly.
Marc Coma, also on a KTM, finished third overall after the long 192km route for the bikes with a gap of only 01min 15sec behind Faria. His wingman, Juan Pedero Garcia took fourth position, to already establish the battle lines for this 2011 epic.
Cars:
It was another masterful display from the Spaniard Carlos Sainz in his Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 to win the opening stage of the Dakar Rally 2011. Behind him, Stephan Peterhansel (BMW X3CC) was unable to catch him, and was forced to settle for second place overall with a deficit of 01m 31s. Sainz was well supported by fellow Volkswagen crews of Nasser Al-Attiyah (third overall and 02m 16s behind), Mark Miller (fourth and 04m 17s behind) and Giniel de Villiers (in fifth and 05m 06s behind). The fast De Villiers always starts his rally-raids slowly, following the pace before attacking for the lead. Remember, this is a 9,500km race!
Sadly, the rally got off to a poor start for Robby Gordon (Hummer H3), as his two-wheel drive monster battled through the slippery and muddy sections on this stage, to lose over ten minutes to the leaders. Guerlain Chicherit (MINI) suffered early on the stage with mechanical problems. His MINI lost over an hour on the side of the road as Chicherit tested and ran fixes to his new machine.
Trucks:
In the trucks category, Wulfert van Ginkel somersaulted his truck end-over-end on the highway to the start of the stage, and is already ruled out of the rally. Gerard de Rooy, master of this class, withdrew from the rally after 72km. He hit a jump and landed heavily, damaging an already injured back. The usual challengers of Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) and Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) will take on the might of the Tatra brand with Ales Loprais at the wheel. These behemoths are separated by only 05m 52sec after 222km of racing. It will be a thrilling battle!
Classification after SS1:
Cars:
01) C. Sainz (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) – 02h 18m 32s
02) S. Peterhansel (BMW X3CC) + 01m 31s
03) N. Al-Attiyah (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) + 02m 16s
04) M. Miller (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) + 04m 17s
05) G. De Villiers (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) + 05m 06s
06) K. Holowycz (BMW X3CC) + 07m 07s
07) O. Terranova (BMW X3CC) + 10m 11s
08) R. Gordon (Hummer H3) + 11m 04s
09) G. Spinelli (Mitsubishi) + 12m 00s
10) L. Novitsky (BMW X3CC) + 13m 41s
** 12) A. Cox (Nissan Overdrive) + 17m 00s
** 36) T. Coronel (McRae Buggy) + 40m 05s
** 76) G. Chicherit (MINI) + 57m 45s
Bikes:
01) R. Faria (KTM) – 01h 58m 02s
02) C. Depres (KTM) + 29s
03) M. Coma (KTM) + 01m 15s
04) J. Pedero Garcia (KTM) + 02m 13s
05) P. Goncalves (BMW) + 02m 18s
06) J. Street (Yamaha) + 03m 07s
07) F. Lopez Contardo (Aprilia) + 03m 14s
08) H. Jose (KTM) + 03m 23s
09) J. Viledoms (Yamaha) + 04m 11s
10) F. Verhoeven (BMW) + 04m 23s
** 14) D. Casteu (Sherco) + 06m 44s
** 16) J. De Azevedo (KTM) + 09m 04s
** 29) P. A. Ullevalseter (KTM) + 13m 45s
Trucks:
01) V. Chagin (Kamaz) – 02h 44m 22s
02) A. Loprais (Tatra) + 04m 41s
03) F. Kabirov (Kamaz) + 05m 52s
04) E. Nikolaev (Kamaz) + 09m 16s
05) A. De Azevedo (Tatra) + 10m 35s
06) M. Spacil (Tatra) + 13m 18s
07) F. Echter (MAN) + 15m 04s
08) P. Vila (Iveco) + 15m 13s
09) M. Behringer (MAN) + 19m 07s
10) M. Van Vilet (MAN) + 20m 04s