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Bizzarre scenes at Dakar: No one wanted to win the stage!
- Nicole Mulder
Bizarre scenes took place in the cars: nobody seemed to want to win the stage and the leader even parked his car just before the finish.
Bizarre scenes in first stage of Dakar Rally
Sebastien Loeb stopped shortly before the finish to avoid having to open the chrono stage on Sunday. He was not the only one: several drivers parked their cars to avoid having to start first in the next 48-hour stage.
After the finish, Loeb explained, "The goal wasn't to set the fastest time, so we decided to stop for a few minutes at the end to lose some time and avoid starting first tomorrow. Everyone played the same game… Now we just have to wait and see our exact position in the standings."
In the end, Guerlain Chicherit won the first stage. The big favourites deliberately stayed behind to avoid starting first on Sunday. The reason: the further back drivers start, the more they can benefit from the tyre tracks of their predecessors. Those who start at the front do not have that advantage, so they are likely to lose time.
For Tim and Tom Coronel, the first stage of the Dakar Rally did not go smoothly. The brothers made a few mistakes in the Saudi desert and called themselves lucky that their car did not give up on them. The Dutch brothers finished the first stage in 35th place with a gap of 28 minutes to the leader.
This article was written in collaboration with Norberto Mujica.
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