De Mevius takes surprise lead
Belgian Guillaume de Mevius took a surprise lead in the Dakar Rally after the Toyota driver won Saturday’s tough opening stage in Saudi Arabia while favourites Sebastien Loeb and Nasser alAttiyah ran into trouble.
De Mevius finished the 414km stage from Al’Ula to Al Henakiyah 1min 44sec clear of Audi’s second-placed Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers from SA was third overall, but 9:18 off the pace.
“I’m quite surprised, to be honest; we drove smart and avoided punctures and I think that was the key today. But I’m quite surprised to finish so high up,” de Mevius said.
The day’s big losers were alAttiyah, the reigning champion, and nine-time world rally champion Loeb — both driving Prodrive Hunters.
Frenchman Loeb was 18th and more than 22min adrift while al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar champion and winner for the past two years, was 21st.
“In the first 50km we had two punctures and then we cannot push. We just tried to manage [to reach] the finish,” alAttiyah said.
Dakar record holder Stephane Peterhansel, a 14-time winner, was 23rd.
The start of the first car was delayed after a spectator had to be taken to hospital in an incident about 200m into the stage.
An immediate shock came in the motorcycle category when Honda’s prologue winner Tosha Schareina retired with a broken left wrist after 240km.
“I tried to pass [Australian] Toby [Price] and I think I hit something with the rear wheel. I crashed in slow [speed] but I broke my wrist,” he said.
Botswana’s Ross Branch, who stopped to help Schareina and was credited with the lost time, led the motorcycle category after winning the stage ahead of Americans Ricky Brabec and Mason Klein.
In the SSV category, Brazilian Rodrigo Varela led starting in a borrowed car after the ship carrying his original vehicle had to divert to escape Houthi pirates in the Red Sea and was delayed.
Varela, who was informed of the change on Christmas Day, was forced to find a replacement for his Can-Am UTV car, with the help of his father, former rally driver and Dakar champion Reinaldo Varela.
“We found a Can-Am in Portugal, owned by a driver who came to Brazil to race with us. But we had to make modifications and adaptations in a hurry. Fortunately, it worked and passed Dakar inspection,” Rodrigo said. /