Dakar Rally 2023: Sainz tops Stage 1 as Sunderland is airlifted to hospital

Following the prologue, Carlos Sainz topped the timing sheets for the car drivers while defending Dakar 2022 champion, Sam Sunderland, was airlifted to hospital in Stage 1.

Prologue – December 31, 2022 – Sea Camp

On Saturday, a short 13km track – on the coast of the Red Sea – was the challenge which lay ahead of the participating 603 competitors, and would set the starting positions for Sunday’s gruelling 368km special stage.

Mattia Ekstrom, in his Audi RS Q e-tron E2, blasted through the short stage and provided the fastest time on the day across all the categories with a time of eight minutes flat, ahead of fellow car competitors Sebastien Loeb / Fabian Lurquin (P2) and Stephane Peterhansel / Edouard Boulanger (P3).

Whereas in the Bike category, Toby Price took top honours in the Prologue for Red Bull KTM with a time of eight minutes 22 seconds, one-second ahead of Australian rider Daniel Sanders who acquired second place.

In the T3: Lightweight Prototype, and with eyes set on improving their previous P3 finish in Dakar 2022, Cristina Gutierrez topped the session alongside their co-driver Pablo Moreno after they sprinted through the session by eight minutes and 49 seconds.

1st place rankings after prologue:

• Bike – Toby Price, Red Bull KTM
• Quadbikes – Alexandre Giroud, Yahama Racing
• Car – Mattias Ekstrom, Team Audi Sport
• Lightweight Prototype – Cristina Gutierrez / Pablo Moreno, Red Bull CAN-AM
• Modified Production SSV – Rokas Baciuska / Oriol Vidal Montijano, Red Bull CAN-AM
• Truck – Martin Macik / Frantisek Tomasek / David Svanda, MM Technology

Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergvist on their Audi RS Q e-tron E2 of the Team Audi Sport during the Prologue of the Dakar 2023, on December 31, 2022 near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia // DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool

Stage 1 – January 1, 2023 – Sea Camp 

After the prologue, the Dakar rally didn’t waste any time to throw up some drama amongst the Saudi Arabian dunes as the bike race’s defending champion, Sam Sunderland, crashed out. The British Dakar winner crashed out at 52km, of 368km, and was soon airlifted to hospital.

As such, the bike rider was soon overtaken by 2020 winner, Ricky Brabec – 40-seconds ahead of Kevin Benavides and Toby Price, respectively.

The prologue winner for the T3 class, Guiterrez, fell down to ninth overall behind Red Bull CAN-AM’s Francisco Lopez / Juan Pablo Latrach – who inherited the lead – after the 31 year-old Spaniard was slapped with two punctures and overheating issues. This issues meant the Guiterrez and, her co-driver, Pablo Moreno Huete were forced to go into ‘survival mode.’

Speaking on the issue, Gutierrez said:

“We started the day well and set a high pace. Unfortunately, after 160 km we had two flats.

“From then on, we went into survival mode, not least because we were plagued by overheating issues that forced us to take it easy on the dunes.

“That’s the way it is: one stage down, thirteen to go.”

In the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 car, Carlos Sainz Sr. went on to secure his 42nd Dakar Stage win at 60 years old – under the watchful eye of his son, Formula 1 race winner and Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz Jr. The former WRC champion showcased he still has what it takes as he finished Stage 1 ahead of Sebastien Loeb / Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme) and Yazeed Al Rajhi / Dirk Von Zitzewitz (Overdrive Racing) respectively.

1st place rankings after S1:

• Bike – Ricky Brabec, Monster Energy
• Quadbikes – Alexandre Giroud, Yahama Racing
• Car – Carlos Sainz Snr. / Lucas Cruz, Team Audi Sport
• Lightweight Prototype – Francisco Lopez / Juan Pablo Latrach, Red Bull CAN-AM
• Modified Production SSV – Eryk Goczal / Oriol Mena, EnergyLandia Rally Team
• Truck – Martin Macik / Frantisek Tomasek / David Svanda, MM Technology

That’s it for the article; Dakar Rally 2023: Sainz tops Stage 1 as Sunderland retires out! What do you think, will the lead change hands by the end of Stage 2 tomorrow? Let us know in the comments!

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.