Mini snatches win from Ford as Mattias Ekstrom drops again

X-raid Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius topped the opening stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, overhauling long-time chief Mattias Ekstrom in a dramatic late turnaround.

Ford driver Ekstrom managed a lot of the day’s 305km stage round Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, grabbing the lead on the second checkpoint on 70km earlier than stretching out a bonus of over a minute in his Ford Raptor.

De Mevius was Ekstrom’s closest challenger with about 120km left to run, 53s adrift off the highest spot, earlier than disappearing from the leaderboard attributable to a transponder subject.

This left Ekstrom with a lead of 1m20s over Nasser Al-Attiyah on the penultimate checkpoint, with Energylandia’s Marek Goczal and MD Sport stalwart Martin Prokop trailing in third and fourth respectively.

Nonetheless, the complexion of the stage modified within the closing 45km stretch, which featured a mixture of dunes, sand and rocky terrain, with Ekstrom quickly dropping down the order.

This allowed de Mevius to take a shock win by 40s, marking Mini’s second opening-stage win in two years.

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Dacia’s star driver Al-Attiyah additionally got here by way of to seize second place, finishing a outstanding comeback from a sluggish begin that had left him exterior the highest 10 on the first checkpoint.

#226 Ford M-Sport Ford: Mattias Ekstrom, Emil Bergkvist

Picture by: A.S.O.

Prokop ultimately completed the stage in third place in his buyer Ford Raptor, whereas Ekstrom slipped to fourth within the closing reckoning, not helped by a 10s penalty for rushing.

Goczal ultimately completed fifth within the main Toyota Hilux, two spots forward of manufacturing facility driver Man Botterill, who’s representing Toyota’s South African arm.

They had been separated by four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz Sr, who ran as excessive as third within the stage earlier than slipping to sixth place, 1m54s down on winner de Mevius.

Sainz’s manufacturing facility Ford team-mates Nani Roma and Mitch Guthrie completed eighth and ninth respectively, making it 5 vehicles from the Blue Oval inside the highest 10.

Having been Ekstrom’s closest challenger at one level, nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb haemorrhaged over three minutes and ultimately ended the day tenth on the timesheets.

It was a tough day for Toyota’s manufacturing facility World-Rally Raid Championship workforce, with its trio of drivers ending sixteenth, seventeenth and 18th respectively. Two-time bikes champion Toby Value led the squad in sixteenth place, with final 12 months’s runner-up Henk Lategan ending the day simply behind him after opening the highway in sandy situations. Seth Quintero accomplished the trio in 18th after being hit with a two-minute penalty for rushing.

Reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi additionally endured a depressing begin to his title defence, dropping 12 minutes by way of the stage in his Overdrive-entered Toyota. A mammoth 16-minute penalty for lacking a waypoint and rushing compounded his day, leaving him exterior the highest 20 within the standings.

Dakar outcomes: Prime 10 after Stage 1:

Pos.	Crew	Model	Staff	Time/distinction
1	Guillaume de Mévius Mathieu Baumel	Mini	X-Raid Staff	3:07.49
2	Nasser Al-Attiyah Fabian Lurquin	Dacia	Dacia Sandriders	+00.40
3	Martin Prokop Viktor Chytka	Ford	Orlen Jipocar	+01.27
4	Mattias Ekström Emil Bergkvist	Ford	Ford Racing	+01.38
5	Marek Goczal Maciej Marton	Toyota	Energylandia Racing	+01.38
6	Carlos Sainz Lucas Cruz	Ford	Ford Racing	+01.54
7	Man Botterill Oriol Mena	Toyota	Toyota Gazoo Racing SA	+02.03
8	Nani Roma Alex Haro	Ford	Ford Racing	+02.37
9	Mitch Guthrie Kellon Walch	Ford	Ford Racing	+02.50
10	Sébastien Loeb Edouard Boulanger	Dacia	Dacia Sandriders	+03.01