Dakar 2022 – Stage 1B

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It was Australian Daniel Sanders flying the GasGas flag at the head of the 2022 Dakar field, claiming top honours for the prologue yesterday, with Stage 1 today reinforcing that was no fluke as he again proved fastest again after choosing a strategic 15th place start for the day.

Stage 1 was a loop for Ha’Il, covering 546 km, including 334 km of special, with navigation catching out many riders including Toby Price who lost significant time as a result.

Add a section of wet, sandy desert tracks due to overnight rain and the additional hazard, along with the usual demanding sand dunes, fast, rough tracks, and challenging navigation ensured a seriously demanding opening stage.

For Sanders, the game plan worked perfectly, allowing him to win the stage by over two-minutes to extend his place at the top of the overall provisional classification. Opening stages are a situation fraught with uncertainty, however that will now be the challenge for Stage 2 for the Aussie.

Daniel Sanders – P1

“So far things are shaping up really good. After winning the Prologue yesterday I got to choose my starting position and opted to start in 15th and then focus on chasing after the guys up front. There was some tricky navigation near the end of the special but I kept cool, avoided any huge errors and then l lead the stage to the end. This was great for me as it made sure I focused on my roadbook and as I’ll lead out tomorrow – it was good to get a little experience of riding alone up front. I’m excited for tomorrow and looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

In stark contrast to his winning ride on stage one of last year’s Dakar Rally, Toby Price unfortunately endured a hugely frustrating opening stage. As one of the many riders to run into the same navigational issue, the Australian would eventually complete the special 47 minutes down on countryman Sanders.

Toby Price – P22

“The stage was a bit of a rough one for me today. There was one note that just didn’t seem to add up properly, didn’t quite make sense to me, so I ended up getting lost for 45, maybe 50, minutes. So, not a good way to start the rally. But it’s early days and let’s see what happens. No crashes, so that’s good, but a costly navigation mistake. I’ll keep my head down and keep at it and see what tomorrow brings.”

Pablo Quintanilla produced a fine performance today for Honda, arriving at the Ha’il bivouac satisfied with securing another runner-up spot on the stage.

Pablo Quintanilla – P2

“It was a tough, complicated day. Last night it rained and washed out some tracks, the route was barely visible. I tried to push throughout the whole stage, even at the note at kilometre 268, where there was a hidden waypoint that was very difficult to find. I took it easy, navigated well and in the end it turned out to be a good day. It was very physically demanding, with a lot of changes of direction, on tracks that were not very visible, very fast and stone-filled… but I feel good, with good pace. I think it was a great day.”

Matthias Walkner pushed hard from the start and, throughout the opening six waypoints, made up good time on the riders ahead of him. Running into a navigational issue mid-way between waypoints six and seven, Walkner was able to quickly find his way and end the stage in a strong third place.

Matthias Walkner – P3

“It was a good day but super tricky with the navigation today. The rain certainly made the sand harder and things a little more challenging, but a few of us worked together, riding in a fast, strong group at the end of the stage to make sure that we arrived at the finish in a good way. In the morning the rain made the sand firmer and really nice to ride on, but at the end of the day it was much more challenging and harder to ride on. Although today was a hard day, it’s only the first day of the rally. We saw it last year, you can lose or win 30 minutes or so, but at this early stage in the race that doesn’t mean too much.”

Adrien Van Beveren made a highly positive start to his Dakar campaign by completing the special as the fourth fastest rider, despite entering as the 10th rider, with the event very much a war of attrition for Yamaha, looking at last year’s results.

Adrien Van Beveren – P4

“Today was tricky, but really enjoyable. I made a small navigation error early on but nothing major and my pace was where it needed to be also. So, it was a slow start but then I was able to ride with Pablo Quintanilla and this really improved my speed. There was some really difficult navigation near the end, but I found my way through and then opened the stage to the finish. I entered the stage in 10th and completed it as the first rider so this has been a great day for me. The focus for tomorrow will be to build from this result and start to build some momentum.”

Enjoying a strong debut ride aboard GasGas machinery, Sam Sunderland was well placed and running up front with the leading riders until until finding one of the waypoints late on in the 334-kilometre special proved anything but easy. After losing valuable time along with many of his rivals, Sunderland quickly found his way and pushed to the end of the special to secure his sixth-place finish.

Sam Sunderland – P6

“The first proper day is done and it’s safe to say that we went straight in at the deep end! My navigation was good all day but when we got to kilometre 276 there was a waypoint which was really difficult to find. A few of us went around in circles but once I found it my only option was to push as hard as I could to make up for lost time. It’s been a tough first day but there’s such a long way to go, hopefully tomorrow will go a little more smoothly.”

Ross Branch, like his teammate Adrien, moved forward during the stage to join the leading group of riders before a small crash slowed his progress. Remounting quickly and chasing down the leaders once again, a minor navigational error then cost the Botswana native a couple of minutes, completing the special as the eighth fastest rider.

Ross Branch – P8

“It was an up and down day today but overall I’m happy. I had a crash early on, around kilometre 130 and then I made a pretty big mistake with my navigation, which was frustrating. I lost a couple of minutes there but I’m all good otherwise. I feel good, and my bike is running perfectly. I’m now focused on tomorrow and looking forward to making up for lost time”

Skyler Howes claimed Husqvarna Factory Racing’s best result, the American completed the 546-kilometre stage as the 10th fastest rider despite a navigational issue hampering his performance.

Faring well during his first ever Dakar Rally special stage, Danilo Petrucci was able to benefit from his starting position of 33rd and follow the tracks ahead of him, ending up P12. Arriving at the troublesome waypoints after the leading riders, the Italian was able to avoid issues and went on to enjoy a notably positive result but did score a one-minute penalty, the ex MotoGP star 33-minutes behind the race leader.

Danilo Petrucci

“I’m really, really happy to finish my first real Dakar stage. I was so nervous at the start. Generally, all went ok for me but the 120 kilometers after the refueling seemed really, really long for me, especially with the big dunes.”

Aussie privateer Andrew Houlihan kicked off his Dakar campaign with a P117 result, four hours off leading time.

The second stage of the Dakar, set to take place tomorrow, will be dominated by dunes. There will be several stretches of dunes occupying about a quarter of the 338-kilometre special stage.

With a total of 568 kilometres, this was intended to be the only marathon stage of the 2022 Dakar, finishing in Al Artawiyah, but due to a heavy downpour yesterday which flooded the originally planned site, the bivouac has been moved to Al Qaisumah. As a result, there is no scheduled marathon stage and RallyGP riders will be able to receive external mechanical assistance like on any other race day.

Dakar 2022 Results Stage 1 (Stage 1B Provisional)

Dakar 2022 Provisional Standings after Stage 1 (Provisional)

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2022 Dakar Rally schedule

Source: MCNews.com.au