The Dakar Rally officially began today with a 29-kilometer prologue. There Henk Lategan was fastest with the Toyota Hilux. The South African was 1 second faster than Mattias Ekström (Ford) and 20 seconds faster than Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia). The top 17 were within 55 seconds of the winner.
The prologue does not count toward the final standings of the Dakar, but it is a good warm-up for the competitors. What it does affect is the starting order. Here the ten fastest participants get to choose their own starting position, so the fastest rider gets to choose the most favorable starting position for the next day. Because the result determines the starting order, some riders chose not to go full speed.
The fastest time was thus for Lategan in the Hilux, shortly behind was Ekstrom and at 20 seconds Al-Attiyah. Baciuska (Toyota) and Baragwanath (Century) completed the top five. Reigning Dakar winner Carlos Sainz did not get beyond the 25th time, but that could just have been a deliberate choice with an eye on the first stage.

In the Challengers, the win went to American rookie Corban Leaverton. He was 3 seconds faster than Guerreiro and 11 seconds faster than Cavigliasso. The top five was completed by Akeel and Saeidan.
Another American rookie, Brock Heger, was fastest in the SSVs. He was 18 seconds faster than Gonzalez Ferioli and 24 seconds faster than De Soultrait. Price was 4th and Lopez Contardo 5th.
The Dutch today
Tim and Tom Coronel were the fastest Dutchmen, with the 34th time. Maik Willems was 47th and Rik van den Brink 49th. Dave Klaassen was 54th and was 1 second faster than Ronald van Loon in 55th position. Stefan Carmans came 61st.
Paul Spierings did well among the Challengers, finishing 6th at 21 seconds. Puck Klaassen was 18th, Gert-Jan van der Valk 22nd, Lex Peters 24th and Marinus Streppel was 43rd. Richard Aczel, navigated by Wouter Rosegaar, came 47th.
Among the SSVs, Richard Grouwels was the fastest Dutchman with the 21st time. Sander Derikx was 24th.
Photos: Toyota Gazoo Racing, Red Bull Content Pool