Frenchmen Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq’s Mini scored a surprise win over Toyota Gazoo Racing crews on the first day of the Dakar Rally.
Frenchmen Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq drive their Mini on day one of the Dakar Rally. Photo: Motorsport MediaDakar’s first official day of racing delivered a sharp sting in the tail with a significant reshuffle among the leaders through the day’s tough final sector.
The top ten from Friday’s prologue chose their starting positions within the top 30. Winner, Henk Lategan opted to set off eleventh in his Hilux, while tenth man Guillaume de Mévius opened the road in his Mini. Many observers had predicted Ford and Dacia to fight it out for Dakar 2025, but that seemed wide off the mark as two Minis sandwiched five Toyotas in the top seven at the first checkpoint.
Moraes and Variawa moved ahead into a Gazoo 1-2 at quarter-distance with another all-SA combination, Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer up to fifth in their Century CR7 from Lategan, Brazilians Gastaldi and Metge in another Century, Quintero and Zenz’ Hilux, Portuguese Mini duo Joao Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro. Multiple bike winners, Aussie Toby Price and Brit Sam Sunderland were ninth in their Hilux from Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov’s Mini.
It was however Chicherit who emerged as the stage winner as the charging Quintero came out of the blue to pip Gazoo teammate Variawa to second. Czech Raptor privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka also came out of nowhere to put one over the entire factory Ford team in fourth.
Sector Dakar 2025 Lucas Moraes Gazoo Hilux Guillaume De Mévius Ferreira Mini Francois Cazalet Ford Guy Botterill Seth Quintero Joao Ferreira Toyota Gazoo Racing Sam Sunderland Frenchmen French American Guerlain Chicherit Alex Winocq Dennis Zenz Wct Amarok Yazeed Al-Rajhi South Africans Toyotas Lategan Toby Price Minis Bisha Moraes Centurys Denis Krotov Brian Baragwanath Dacia De Mevius Filipe Palmeiro Portuguese Metge Brazilians Gastaldi Cr7 Leonard Cremer Konstantin Zhiltsov Aussie Armand Monleon Dennis Murphy Saudi Timo Gottschalk Brett Cummings Ford Raptors Baragwanath 17Th Al Attiyah Daniel Schröder Henry Köhne Loeb Giniel De Villiers Dirk Von Zitzewitz Chrono Carlos Sainz Martin Prokop Raptor Dacia Sandrider Viktor Chytka Czech Pablo Moreno Cristina Gutiérrez Lucas Cruz
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