Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah put himself in early contention at the Dakar Rally after finishing the opening stage in third place, just seconds behind leader Carlos Sousa.
Mini driver Al-Attiyah finished the 180km special – from Rosario to San Luis – in 2hr 21min 23sec, just 11 seconds behind second-placed Orlando Terranova and 47 seconds behind Portugal's Sousa.
France’s Stephane Peterhansel, in a third Mini, and seeking a 12th overall title (after six on motorcycles and five in cars), was down in sixth place, 4min 21sec behind Sousa after suffering a puncture.
Al-Attiyah said: “It was a good day for us, a beautiful stage in which we didn’t take too many risks. I caught up with Stephane Peterhansel towards the end, he let me through and I think we ended up posting a good time.”
Honda’s Joan Barreda clocked a time of 2hr 25min 31sec to take the motorcycle stage with Spanish compatriot Marc Coma, on a KTM, 37 seconds behind.
Frenchman Cyril Despres, the defending champion and seeking a sixth career title, was in third, 1min 40sec off the provisional leader.
Barreda said: “I’m really happy with the first stage. At the beginning I had some trouble easing into the race due to a slight problem with the suspension, but afterwards everything went smoothly.
“We’ll work on it to ride even faster tomorrow. I’ll try to keep up this pace in the next few stages.”
Despres, the champion in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013, said it had been an emotional day for him on his debut for Yamaha, having switched from KTM this year.
He said: “The first special is always tough when you come from cold Europe and you get thrown into the thick of things, so I’m happy to get good feelings.
I got a bit emotional at the start, what with starting a new adventure… It was a difficult year, with the decision to move to Yamaha, and then having to prepare the motorcycle, working with the entire team.”
In the quad category favourite Marcos Patronelli was beaten to first place on the opening stage by Chile’s Ignacio Casale with Honda’s Lucas Bonetto in third place.
Competitors in the trucks category were still battling through their opening stage into the early hours of this morning (UAE Time).
Today will see the second stage of the Dakar which this year crosses Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.
