Overview
- Guillaume De Mévius and co-driver Mathieu Baumel (Mini) won the 305 km special around Yanbu, finishing 40 seconds ahead of Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia) with Martin Prokop (Ford) third.
- Mattias Ekström (Ford), fastest in the prologue, placed fourth on Stage 1 after leading several splits, while Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) finished 10th at over three minutes.
- Defending champion Yazeed Al Rajhi received 16 minutes in penalties for a missed waypoint and speeding, leaving him 28:52 off De Mévius’s benchmark after adjustments.
- Edgar Canet (KTM), the prologue winner, took the motorcycle stage after Ross Branch (Hero) was penalized six minutes for speeding, with Daniel Sanders (KTM) next best.
- The 48th Dakar spans 13 stages and roughly 8,000 km in Saudi Arabia through January 17, with a long run to Al Ula on Monday featuring about 400 km of timed sections.