Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit led the two-week Dakar Rally on Saturday as race favourites in the car category slowed to secure better conditions for Sunday's 48-hour Chrono stage in the Saudi Arabian desert.
The Mini driver finished the 413km opening stage around the southwestern town of Bisha in four hours 35 minutes and 53 seconds, 50 seconds clear of Toyota's American Seth Quintero.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz went against the flow by moving up to seventh but five times winner Nasser Al-Attiyah dropped to 20th, nine times world rally champion Sebastien Loeb was 24th and local contender Yazeed Al-Rajhi ended the day 21st.
Setting off first through the sea of dunes and over rough and rocky desert tracks is a disadvantage compared to those who follow.
"The goal was not to do the best time, so we decided to stop for a few minutes at the end to lose a bit of time and not to be first on the road tomorrow," said Frenchman Loeb. "Everyone played the same game."
Fellow Dacia driver Al-Attiyah agreed tactics had played a big part in the day's classification and he had taken the stage easy, stopping for 15 minutes after a puncture to secure a more favourable position for Sunday.
"Maybe we lose a lot of time ... but it's very important for tomorrow. If I start 50th, that would be nice," said the Qatari.
"Last year, we took a risk but we learned. We don't need to learn this year, we need to be smart, and I'm really quite happy to manage today without any problems."
BUCKING TREND
Chicherit also stopped when a small fire broke out around the exhaust but he decided to adopt a different strategy to rivals.
"I predicted that all the top guns would follow the same strategy, so I asked myself, 'Should I stay with the herd in a low-risk,
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