Mattias Ekstrom edges Loeb to take opening Dakar Rally prologue

YANBU, Saudi Arabia: Sweden’s Mattias Ekstrom drove his Audi hybrid to victory in the 13km-long prologue of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. Ekstrom edged out France’s nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb (BRX) by a second. “It’s always nice to start in a good way, but, of course, the day is long and the rally is even longer,” said Ekstrom.

“A good end to 2022, but tomorrow is the real start. We’ll have to try and be focused for another two weeks.” The Swede’s Audi teammate Stephane Peterhansel — the Dakar great who has won the event 14 times (eight in a car and six on a bike) — rounded out the opening podium of the 45th edition of the Dakar. Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar finished 12sec adrift in fourth in his Toyota.

The prologue acts as a way to determine the order of the top 10 starters in the first stage proper on Sunday, a 603km run including 368km of timed specials. That was not lost on Ekstrom, who said it was “really good... (as) a junior in the sport, to start from the back so I have some tracks to follow.” “The race is on,” added Peterhansel, often referred to as ‘Mr Dakar’.

“You put your helmet on at the start and you know you are about to be launched into the thick of it. “We finished first, third and sixth. Personally, I did better than I expected.

The course was more favorable to pure rally or rally-cross drivers, which I’m not, so it was a good result. I’m not used to coming up with strategies, but I’ll be in a good position to pick my starting order for tomorrow.” Australian KTM rider Toby Price edged compatriot Daniel Sanders (GasGas) in the motorbike section, with Botswana’s Ross Branch (Hero) in third, 9sec behind. Defending title holder Sam Sunderland (GasGas) came