French duo Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq surprise many by taking the lead in the first stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Dakar’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. At the end of the day, Frenchmen Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq ’s Mini shrugged off the ado around them to score a surprise win over Toyota Gazoo Racing crews, American Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, and South African Saood Variawa driving with French navigator Francois Cazalet.
Saturday’s 413km first full stage set off on sand tracks before switching between that and dirt and gravel tracks in a loop around Bisha described as a mosaic of terrains ready to test even the most experienced navigators to the very limit. To that end, Dakar’s bonus time system helps mitigate the disadvantage of opening the road, but the final sector had its own ideas. 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. Chicherit and Winocq’s Mini started 30th, but led early on, from Gazoo Hilux crews, South Africans Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy and Brazilians Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon. Saudi home hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk followed in another Hilux, from Variawa and Cazalet and South African champions Lategan and Brett Cummings in two more Gazoo Hiluxes, and de Mevius’ Min
Dakar Rally Mini Toyota Guerlain Chicherit Alex Winocq
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