Dakar 2106 – prologue
After just 11 kms of around 8560km done and dusted, a number of things went right and some went wrong on this year’s Dakar already.
About halfway through the very first stage car 300 veered off the road and struck spectators, four of whom were injured.
Giniel during pre-rally testing
The 11km prologue was surprisingly won by Bernhard ten Brinke in a Toyota Hilux, opening the publicity account for Toyota very early on this event. Strange enough at a wild guess I would have thoight that Toyota won more stages in the oast, but this was only their fifth stage win on the Dakar.
Ten Brinke (6m08s) was followed by Carlos Sainz (Peugeot) and Xavier Pond (Ford Ranger) with Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini) in fouh place.
Nani Roma and Mikko Hirvonen, also racing for Mini, took sixth and seventh place, respectively, while Giniel de Villiers (8th) and his Toyota Hilux posted the same time as the other Peugeot drivers, Peterhansel (9th), Loeb (10th) and Despres (11th).
Leeroy Poulter finished 26th, 29 seconds off the pace.
I believe that Stage One is going to be quite interesting. It seems as a certain section of the field wants to try and make an early impression and that may just cause some fun and games for some and tears of regret for others.
The teams will today (Sunday, January 3rd) drive from Rosario to Vila Carlos Paz – a total distance of 662km of which 258km will be a special section for cars and trucks.
The bikers will get a discount of 31kms.