Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz (Audi RS Q e-tron), have finished second in the first stage of the Dakar Rallye that was held today ending in the town of Al Henakiyah and with 414 kilometers timed.

The Spanish rider started from 48th position today, and it didn’t take long for him to make the comeback to be in the lead at one kilometer point of the day, finishing this first day in second position, just one minute and forty-four seconds behind the winner of the stage, Guillaume De Mevius (Overdrive), despite suffering three punctures. Carlos and Lucas are in second place after this first stage of the Dakar Rally 2024.

Carlos Sainz: “Today’s stage, as we knew, was going to be complicated by the dust, and so it has been. Especially at the beginning, then I was able to ride a little better. But later on I started to see that I had a wheel that was leaking air with a slow puncture. After the neutralization, there was a rocky area, where I got another flat tire and I took the opportunity to change both of them. Here we had 200 kilometers left and I had already run out of spare tires. Later I got another puncture, and luckily we were able to recover the wheel from the first slow puncture and put air in it. We were able to keep going, but in the end we were stopped for about 14 minutes or so and I got to the finish line thinking I had lost a lot of time, but in the end the others had problems too.”

Tomorrow’s stage
Al Henakiyah > Al Duwadimi
Stage 2: Liaison > 192 Km – Special > 463 Km
Liaison or special, this stage is the best! At the beginning of the route there is a stretch of about thirty kilometers of dunes to cross. But then, for most of this new special stage, the terrain is quite fast and will favor the most daring riders… without forcing them to take risks. At this stage, the Dakar is now an endurance race. Arrival at Al Duwadimi will be late.