Dakar – Nani Roma already seeded, Al-Attiyah leader

The 170km special contested between Buenos Aires and Villa Carlos Paz (Argentina) did not pose any particular difficulties for the crews, but the 2015 Dakar nevertheless experienced its first upheaval with the fall of one of the main contenders for victory. Nani Roma (Mini) had to dismount following what appears to be an oil pressure problem and sees his hopes of winning dashed after winning last year. The Spaniard is assisted and will try to continue the adventure.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini) is doing better since he emerges as the first provisional leader of the event after completing the timed course in 1h12'50 with 22 seconds ahead of his teammate Orlando Terranova. Robby Gordon (Hummer), Giniel de Villiers (Toyota) and Krzystzof Holowczyk (Mini) follow a little over a minute behind, just ahead of the Duster of Emiliano Spataro (Renault) who is ahead of Bernhard Ten Brike (Toyota).

The first Peugeot 2008 DKR are more than two minutes behind the leader with Carlos Sainz in provisional eighth place, a few seconds ahead of his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel. The biggest winner of the Dakar was slowed down by a puncture. Cyril Desprès (Peugeot) finished more than ten minutes behind the reference time. Christian Lavieille (Toyota) and Bernardo Sousa (Mitsubishi) are close to the provisional top ten. For his Dakar debut, Romain Dumas (Optimus) finished the first stage just over five minutes late.