Carlos Sainz wins the first stage and leads the Dakar 2023

Second day of the Dakar 2023 race and second victory for a hybrid Audi: Spaniard Carlos Sainz won the first stage of the rally raid on Sunday, a 368-kilometre lap on the west coast of Saudi Arabia.

Sainz prevailed with a 23-second advantage over another of the favourites, the Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive), and he beat the winner of Saturday’s prologue, his Swedish teammate Mattias Ekstrom, by 47 seconds.

Sainz leads the provisional classification of the rally raid, which will cross the Saudi sands until January 15, followed by Loeb and Ekstrom.

The Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), winner of the 2022 edition, occupies the eighth position, more than 7 minutes behind.