Dakar Rally Day #1 was taken by Toby Price Racing.
The opening day featured a huge challenge right from the start: 433 kilometres of liaison and a 319-kilometre timed special, going north from Jeddah along the Red Sea coast to Al Wajh. With a mixture of fast, rocky pistes and soft sand dunes, the first day of racing in Saudi Arabia gave the riders a taste of what is to come in this new chapter of the Dakar.
The Aussie reigning champ was 23rd rider off the line and immediately pushed hard, posting the second fastest time to the first waypoint. However a seized road book was making navigation difficult. Thankfully he was able to tag on to the back of teammate Matthias Walkner and the pair brought their KTM 450 RALLY machines home safely.
“I had a really good day today up until about 140 kilometres where my road book started to play up a bit," said Price back at the bivouac. "Something had got in there and jammed the rollers and so I was left without a road book for a while. Luckily, I caught Matthias after he lost a little time and I was able to stay with him towards the finish. My result looks good on paper, but it turned out to be quite a tricky day."
