The Dakar Rally officially started today with the prologue stage. Today’s day consisted of a short 27-kilometer special stage that did not add up in the general classification, but did determine the starting order for tomorrow’s stage.
Carlos and Lucas finished in 48th place. Tomorrow they will have to face the stage from a delayed position, with the consequent handicap of dust when starting from the rear.
Carlos Sainz: “Today’s stage did not go as we expected. Although, as you all know, we didn’t lose any time, because it didn’t add up to the classification today, but it was important to have a strategy. The strategy was to stop at the end of the special stage for a minute or so to start tomorrow between the 15th and 20th places. And what happened is that we got lost at the end of the stage, and when you get lost it is very difficult to calculate how much time you lose. So we thought we lost a lot less time than we actually did. Instead of stopping for a minute, we stopped for 40 seconds, but that calculation was wrong, it was too much time, which will make us start tomorrow in 48th place”.
“It was a mistake, a mistake that only we are responsible for, but tomorrow we will have to be patient, we will lose time for sure, but this is just the beginning. The important thing will be not to make mistakes in the dust, because starting in 48th place, and also from 20th place, you start minute by minute, it will not be a very pleasant stage for us. But it has only just begun and the important thing is to get through tomorrow without any problems”.
Tomorrow’s stage
Alula > Al Henakiyah – Stage 1 Link > 127 km – Special > 414 km
The start sets the tone for the 2024 edition: dense and demanding. In order to enter fully into a high-intensity sporting debate, a completely new route has been laid out, in an area with specific geological characteristics, hitherto unknown on the Dakar. The route meanders between volcanoes, amidst a palette of mineral colors where all shades of gray alternate, from the most sober to the most explosive. The format of the stage is already consistent and the differences will be visibly marked.