Australian rider Daniel Sanders (GasGas) avoided Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) winning Chile’s stage at the opening of the 2023 Dakar Rally. Joan Barreda held his own, staying in fourth and moving into a strong second place overall, while the defending champion, British racer Sam Sunderland (GasGas), faced a setback after an accident.
The stage delivered high drama to the finish. North American Mason Klein looked poised to take the win, but Sanders edged him out by seven seconds. Sanders had already secured two partial stage wins last year and led the 2023 overall standings after this opening round.
Defending champion Sunderland did not finish the day. He crashed at kilometer 52 during the first endurance segment of the rally and was forced to retire. Organizers noted he remained conscious and fully mobile, but he required medical evaluation at Yanbu hospital after the incident.
In the prologue on Saturday, Australia’s Toby Price (KTM) posted the fastest time, earning a position among RallyGP’s 28 contenders. Chilean rider Nacho Cornejo (Honda) overcame an early fall and overtook Mohammed Balooshi (KTM) to recover some lost time, eventually finishing tenth, 6:25 behind the winner.
Starting from 22nd, Sunderland led the first 37 kilometers (22:10) of the special with a ten-second edge over Quintanilla and Barreda, and a thirteen-second lead over Price.
With Sunderland out of contention, the RallyGP field narrowed to three Hondas at the second spot. North American Ricky Brabec posted the best time of 58:34, ten seconds ahead of Barreda and eleven seconds ahead of Quintanilla. California’s Mason Klein, making his RallyGP debut, suffered a thirteen-second setback but turned the tide around by the 133-kilometer mark, defeating Brabec and Barreda by about 46 seconds and more than a minute over Price, Sanders, and Quintanilla.
Klein extended his lead in the special, reaching 168 kilometers with a 1:26 gap over Sanders and a 1:51 gap over Brabec, while Barreda trailed by 2:26 as he fell out of the running for the top stage honors. At the 277-kilometer checkpoint, Klein remained ahead of Sanders by twenty seconds, with Brabec and Barreda about a minute and a half behind the American, and Quintanilla and Barreda close behind in the pack.
As the day progressed, Klein’s pace kept him in the lead, but Quintanilla surged to second place, trailing Sanders by just seven seconds. Brabec stood ten seconds back, and Barreda was twenty seconds behind them as the finish line neared.
By the end of the stage, Sanders had moved into the overall lead, with Quintanilla close behind and Brabec within striking distance. Price finished the prologue in sixth, while Klein remained competitive in the early going of RallyGP, hoping to build on his stage performance in the following days. The rally continues with teams and riders regrouping for the next challenge, as Sanders aims to extend his early advantage and others seek opportunities to climb the standings.
Source: Dakar Rally results and stage reports. [Note: All times are provisional and subject to official verification.]