2024-01-07 04:34:18
For his first participation with a cutting-edge vehicle, Belgian Guillaume De Mevius hit hard on the 2024 Dakar. The rider from the Overdrive team won the first stage in the Saudi desert. The Namurois obviously takes advantage of this to lead the general classification. He is ahead of the Spaniard Carlos Sainz by 1min44sec and the South African Giniel de Villiers by 9min18sec.
The two Prodrive Hunter drivers, the Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah and French Sébastien Loeb (with Fabian Lurquin as co-pilot) have been struggling all day, already losing around twenty minutes.
“At the start of the special, our intercom was not working. Then we got a puncture following 70 kilometers. As there were still 350km left, we said to ourselves that we would ride more calmly. But following 220km, we hit a rock and the rear link broke. We lost regarding ten minutes changing it. In the end we just lost time on Sainz. We avoided disaster“, explained Fabian Lurquin following the first stage.
Not counting Lurquin’s seven successes as Loeb’s co-driver, this is the first victory of a Belgian driver in the Dakar since Stéphane Henrard (VW) in 2003 and the father of Guillaume, Gregorywinner of three stages in 2002.
This first stage had seen its departure delayed by an hour.due to an incident with a spectator approximately 200 meters following the starting line. The injured spectator was treated by the medical service and transported to the nearest hospital“, communicated ASO, organizer of the rally-raid.
On a motorbike, it’s Ross Branch who was the fastest. The Botswana driver certainly arrived in 16th position but Branch stopped to check on him. Tosha Schareina. The Spaniard, winner of the prologue the day before, fell and was forced to retire with a broken forearm.
On Sunday, the 2nd stage will take the caravan on a 463 km route between Al Henakiyah and Al Duwadimi.
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