Carlos Sainz quickest on Dakar opener

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