January 5, 2015 – Former Dakar winner and Olympic medallist Nasser Al-Attiyah has started as he means to go on: leading the opening day of the 2015 Dakar Rally, which took competitors west from Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires all the way to Villa Carlos Paz in the Cordoba province.
However, on arrival at the bivouac, the Qatari was hit with a two-minute time penalty for speeding. Despite the setback Nasser is still determined to push hard for another Dakar victory.
“On the opening day I just wanted to take it easy with no risks at all,” said Nasser, who is contesting his first Dakar Rally with Frenchman Mathieu Baumel as his co-driver.
And it is actually Mathieu who has provided Nasser with even more motivation to win in South America this year. “On January 17, when the rally finishes, it is Mathieu’s birthday,” he explained. “So I definitely have to try and make him a special present that he will always remember: his first win at the Dakar!”
The opening stage was short by Dakar standards, with a wide variety of different terrain ranging from fast and open sections to slower and more technical parts. Nasser, the reigning WRC2 champion, knows the area around Villa Carlos Paz very well, as it has traditionally hosted Rally Argentina in the WRC.
Some of yesterday’s Argentine action included tight and twisty sections, which Nasser is extremely familiar with through his career in world championship rallying. “That experience definitely helps, but as today I was not going flat-out at all, I wouldn’t say it made a particularly big difference,” added Nasser. “It was actually impossible to tell which way the road was going to go, so there was no point to push. I think we had a good strategy but we still need to improve during tomorrow in particular, which will be a very long stage. This is only the very beginning, so we cannot say anything really, but so far the car is feeling very good and Mathieu has done a good job as well.”
“I have tried both a four-wheel drive and a two-wheel drive car in the past and i think four-wheel drive is definitely the best choice for me. I felt at home in it straight away and I know that the car is reliable as well as fast,” concluded the Qatari. “And in my opinion, it is a very beautiful car; now we just have to make the most of every opportunity.”
Today the competitors tackle the longest stage of the rally en route to San Juan, at 518 kilometres.
Results after SS1:
1 Orlando Terranova (ARG)/Ronnie Graue (ARG) Mini 1hr 13min 12sec
2 Robby Gordon (USA)/Johnny Campbell (USA) Hummer 1hr 13min 54sec
3 Giniel de Villiers (RSA)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (D) Toyota 1h4 14min 02sec
4 Krzysztof Holowczyc (PL)/Xavier Panseri (F) Mini 1hr 14min 06sec
5 Emiliano Spataro (ARG)/Benjamin Lozada (ARG) Renault 1hr 14min 08sec
6 Bernhard Ten Brinke (NL)/Tom Colsoul (B) Toyota 1hr 14min 28sec
7 Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (F) Mini 1hr 14min 50sec
8 Carlos Sainz (E)/Lucas Cruz (E) Peugeot 2008 DKR 1hr 14min 56sec
9 Erik van Loon (NL)/Wouter Roesegar (NL) Mini 1hr 15min 10sec
10 Stéphane Peterhansel (F)/J-P Cottret (F) Peugeot 2008 DKR 1hr 15min 25sec