Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Carlos Sainz quickest on Dakar opener

Carlos Sainz set the pace as the 2013 Dakar Rally got underway with a short eight-mile stage in Pisco

The field travelled the 155 miles from the rally start in Lima before tackling the stage.

Driving a Red Bull Buggy, 2010 winner Sainz set a time of 7m40s, beating Argentina's Lucio Alvarez by eight seconds.

Because of the first stage's short length, a coefficient is applied and times tripled, meaning in the full results Sainz's lead will be 24s going into the first fully-fledged stage.

Guerlain Chicherit and Sainz's team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah hold a joint third place, just ahead of French driver Ronan Chabot.

Dakar legend and last year's winner Stephane Peterhansel set the same time as X-Raid Mini team-mates Krzysztof Holowczyc and Leonid Novitskiy in sixth.

Robby Gordon's pursuit of an elusive maiden Dakar win got off to a depressing start when his Hummer became stuck and then suffered a transmission problem, costing him 10 minutes, which became a half-hour deficit with the coefficient applied.

Leading positions after stage one:

Pos  Driver                Team/Car          Time/Gap
 1.  Carlos Sainz          Red Bull Buggy       7m40s
 2.  Lucio Alvarez         Overdrive Toyota      + 8s
 3.  Guerlain Chicherit    SMG Buggy            + 10s
 4.  Nasser Al-Attiyah     Red Bull Buggy       + 10s
 5.  Ronan Chabot          SMG Buggy            + 12s
 6.  Krzysztof Holowczyc   X-Raid Mini          + 34s
 7.  Leonid Noviktskiy     X-Raid Mini          + 34s
 8.  Stephane Peterhansel  X-Raid Mini          + 34s
 9.  Giniel de Villiers    Imperial Toyota      + 35s
10.  Nani Roma             X-Raid Mini          + 37s

Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Nasser Al-Attiyah and Carlos Sainz pair up for Dakar
Next article Dakar Rally: Stephane Peterhansel moves into lead

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe