the American Quintero finally won the 1st stage ahead of the Frenchman Chicherit, Loeb 24th “without problem”

American Seth Quintero won the first stage of the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, which the organizers had initially awarded to Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit.

Nearly two hours after proclaiming the victory of the 46-year-old Frenchman on the 413km special in 4h 35min 53sec, the Dakar organization announced that it would finally award first place to the Toyota of Seth Quintero, 22 years old. “The American stopped at kilometer 330 for an accident. He recovered 95 seconds, which put him ahead of Guerlain Chicherit and he won the stage», declared the organizers in the press room.

Guerlain Chicherit (Mini) therefore finished in second position, 45 seconds behind the winner, who also took the lead in the provisional general classification.

Loeb did not “take any risks”

Nine-time world rally champion but having never yet managed to win in the Dakar, Frenchman Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) ranks 24th, 12 minutes behind Quintero. “It was a problem-free stage for us, we didn't take any risks. The goal was not to set the best time so we stopped for a few minutes at the end to lose a little time and avoid having to open the road tomorrow», declared the Alsatian to the press when he got out of the car.

The two other heavyweights of the rally-raid, the Spaniard Carlos Sainz and the Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah, are in 7th and 20th positions respectively. The Dakar competitors will be engaged on Sunday and Monday in the formidable “48h chrono”, a special of almost 1,000km without assistance over two days.

In these conditions, opening the road, as the leaders of the previous day's stage must do, could constitute a serious disadvantage.