P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Stage: 305km, liaison:213km Flying under the radar after a transponder malfunction, Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel won the opening stage of Dakar ’26 in their X-Raid Mini JCW, beating Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Lurquin in the leading Dacia Sandrider by a mere 40 seconds. The Belgian was in fine spirits after the opening salvo; “Winning a […]
With a Stage of 305km and a liaison of 213km, Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel won the opening stage of Dakar ’26 in their X-Raid Mini JCW, edging out Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Lurquin by a slim 40 seconds margin.
De Mevius expressed satisfaction with the unexpected win, stating that it wasn’t their planned strategy for the day, but it was a positive outcome considering their perceived lack of pace.
Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner, maintained a cautious approach during the stage, finishing second but seeing it as a positive position for the following day where they could push from behind De Mevius.
Notable performances included Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka in their privateer Ford Raptor securing a third-place finish, and Mattias Ekstrom and Emil Bergkvist leading the stage for a large portion before finishing fourth.
Marek Goczal and Maciej Martin impressed with the leading Toyota and fifth in the stage, while Guy Botterill and Oriol Mena finished in a superb seventh position with their Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux.
Rounding out the top ten were Nani Roma/Alex Haro, Mitch Guthrie/Kellon Walch, and Sebastien Loeb/Edouard Boulanger, with pre-event favorite Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings finishing 17th in their Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC Hilux.
