DAY 2: Stage 1 – January 6, 2024 – Route: AlUla > Al Henakiyah: Liaison 127km and Special 414km
Car class rookie Guillaume de Mévius made the dream start to the race proper, as he charged over a rocky Stage 1 to set the day’s fastest time. The young Belgian powered through one of the toughest opening stages in years to beat three-time winner Carlos Sainzby 1m 44s, while South African veteran Giniel De Villiers used all of his experience to finish in third place, 9m 18s behind. Former T3 class stage winner de Mévius said: “I’m quite surprised about the timings. There was a lot of dust and a lot of guys to pass. The key was avoiding punctures and staying calm in the dust.”
– Sainz powered his Audi RS Q e-tron to the day’s podium despite three punctures and Prologue winner Mattias Ekström finished top 10, but other contenders in the Ultimate class were not so lucky. A little further back came a group of five drivers who lost between 20 and 30 minutes to the race leader. Sébastien Loeb, Seth Quintero, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Laia Sanz and Stéphane Peterhansel will all be hopeful a favourable starting position for tomorrow’s 470km stage to Al Duwadimi will help them claw back their early deficit. Quintero, 21, said: “Today was probably the hardest Dakar stage we’ve ever seen in Saudi Arabia. We got a puncture around 35km and that kind of set the tone for our day. I wish everybody that’s still out there all the best. It’s going to be a long night for some.”
– Opening the stage for the entire Dakar convoy was the Bike class and various riders described the rock-riddled special as the toughest opening bike stage that the rally has ever seen. Defending Dakar champion Kevin Benavides kept the early leaders in sight, which was a remarkable achievement considering he’s recovering from a broken tibia sustained just a month ago.
– Also keeping their heads down and getting through the stage as best they could were the Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing pair of Daniel Sanders and Sam Sunderland, who both remain within striking distance of the overall podium, while Husqvarna’s Luciano Benavides and two-time Dakar winner Toby Price will be well placed to attack tomorrow after they finished just outside the Top 10. “It was incredible how many kilometres we did over the stones, the riding was really technical, slow and in places almost impossible,” said the younger Benavides brother.
– One family dominated the Challenger class on Stage 1, with 19-year-old Eryk Goczal leading home his uncle Michal Goczal and father Marek to park their trio of MCE-5 Taurus machines at the top of the early leaderboard. Doing his best to keep pace with the Goczal clan was defending class champion Austin ‘AJ’ Jones. The American brought his Can-Am to the Al Hanakiyah bivouac in fourth place, 10 minutes behind Eryk, while just a few minutes behind Jones came Cristina Gutiérrez and Mitch Guthrie Jr. after they battled through the rocks and dust. A little over 26 minutes back from Eryk Goczal sits Ignacio Casale, the three-time quad race champion.
– Stage 2 doesn’t get any easier, as the distance is even greater with a 470km timed special transporting competitors from Al Hanakiyah to Al Duwadimi and starting with a daunting 30km chain of dunes.
2024 Dakar Rally overall standings after Stage 1
Ultimate Car
1. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL) 4h 35m 59s
2. Carlos Sainz (ESP) +1m 44s
3. Giniel De Villiers (RSA) +9m 18s
Challenger Car
1. Eryk Goczal (POL) 5h 14m 18s
2. Michał Goczal (POL) +19s
3. Marek Goczel (POL) +7m 38s
Bike
1. Ross Branch (BWA) 4h 56m 1s
2. Ricky Brabec (USA) +10m 54s
3. Mason Klein (USA) +11m 19s
