- The prologue played out at over 2,000 masl on the iconic WRC sector dubbed 'El Cóndor–Copina'. Fog, wind and cold made an appearance but failed to dampen the mood of the massive crowds lining the 17 km course.
- The favourite Tosha Schareina nailed his start in the Rally GP motorbike class. The Monster Energy Honda rider edged out his teammate Ricky Brabec by a slim margin. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports), the championship leader, kept his cool behind the two Honda riders.
- The Rally 2 championship leader, Romain Dumontier, making his debut on a Honda HRC machine, lived up to his billing today, leading Bradley Cox (BAS World KTM Racing) and the W2RC rookie Ramiro Barco (Hero).Meanwhile, the Argentinian title holder and W2RC leader, Manuel Andújar, stamped his authority on the quad race.
- In the Ultimate car class, the hot favourite, Nasser Al Attiyah (Nasser Racing by Prodrive), buoyed by his win in Argentina last year and a brace in the two previous rounds, bagged the prologue ahead of Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing).
- The W2RC leaders also dominated proceedings in the Challenger and SSV classes. Rokas Baciuška led David Zille (Wevers Sport), while Yasir Seaidan (MMP) beat Ricardo Ramilo (Ramilo Scuderia) to the line.
- The ten Rally GP riders chose to start as far back as possible in the selection of the starting order for tomorrow, with Tosha Schareina picking 11th place. The eight Ultimate crews took the same approach, with Nasser Al Attiyah opting for 8th place.
- Stage 1, a loop around Córdoba, will total 505 km, including 381 km of special.
FIM: SCHAREINA PIERCES THE FOG
After winning the 2023 DR40 and the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal last April, Tosha Schareina cemented his status as the favourite for the fourth round of the championship. The Spaniard was shocked to win on Sunday, but no prologue can resist him (see "Stats"). "I wasn't really expecting this because I struggled with poor visibility in the first ten kilometres. It was cold, windy and foggy. I pushed hard in the last four kilometres", he explained. As the thermometer plunged to 4 degrees, he edged out Ricky Brabec by 2 seconds. The American made an almost-triumphant W2RC return following his second Dakar title last January. The championship leader, Ross Branch, came in third at 28 seconds but managed to put 18 seconds into his closest rival for the W2RC, Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda). Sebastian Bühler (Hero MotoSports) cracked the top 5. The struggle for supremacy between Honda and Hero flared up again in the context of a close-run competition, with a mere 1′37″ separating the 9 W2RC entrants in the Rally GP class.
Romain Dumontier took the Rally 2 win on his first outing on the Honda entrusted to him by HRC. The championship leader in the category prevailed by 2 seconds over his title rival Bradley Cox. Hero's fresh recruit, the Peruvian hopeful Ramiro Barco, showed his pace by taking third at 15 seconds. Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally), Jiří Brož (BAS World KTM Racing) and Gustavo Milutin rounded out the standings.
Victory went to a local star in Rally 3, with Fernando Hernández (MED Racing) scooping up his maiden W2RC win. He was 53 seconds faster than the Chilean John Medina (Xraids Experience), while his countrymen and teammates Marcelo Miti and Eduardo Alan trailed by 55 seconds and 1′52″, respectively.
Argentina was also victorious in the quad race thanks to Manuel Andújar, fastest among the championship entrants. The Pole Konrad Wiśniewski (Orlen Team) dropped 1′40″ and the Bolivian Suany Martinez shipped 3′42″, just 7 seconds ahead of her father, Leonardo.
FIA: AL ATTIYAH SOARS ABOVE EL CÓNDOR
Nasser Al Attiyah was first on the road into the WRC-style special stage that served as the prologue. His experience in this discipline (see "Did you know?") paid dividends as he won convincingly in 16′17″ and put 22 seconds into Yazeed Al Rajhi, himself no stranger to this format. The third Ultimate driver, 35 seconds behind the Qatari, Marcos Baumgart (X Rally Motorsport) placed another Prodrive Hunter on the podium of the class. Another Brazilian, Lucas Moraes (Toyota Gazoo Racing), had a nightmarish start to the race as his rear right wheel came off just over 3 km into the special. It was one of the hazards posed by the tight, winding El Cóndor–Copina track, but the Hilux pilot escaped without further damage. While the prologue time does not count towards the standings and only determines the starting order for tomorrow, Moraes will be last of the FIA crews in 28th position. Overtaking on tomorrow's sinuous, undulating route will be the price to pay (see "Tomorrow's stage").
Rokas Baciuška set the third-fastest time overall in the Challenger class, neck and neck with Yazeed Al Rajhi. The Lithuanian, participating in his first Ruta 40 and starting for the first time with Sébastien Delaunay, made an impactful entrance. The Can-Am Factory driver edged out two Argentinians: David Zille by 2 seconds and his championship rival, Nicolás Cavigliasso, by 25. Dania Akeel (BBR) kept the podium in sight, 54 seconds off the pace. In the SSV competition, Yasir Seaidan, forced to retire from Portugal due to a turbo failure, did not miss a beat on his return. The Saudi romped home with 26 seconds in hand over Ricardo Ramilo, but also 33 seconds ahead of the man he needs to pull clear of in the championship, Sebastián Guayasamín (BE Racing) from Ecuador. At the end of the day, all three W2RC leaders came out on top of their respective specials.
FIA/FIM STATS: SCHAREINA AND AL ATTIYAH TO THE POWER OF 3
Tosha Schareina is the undisputed king of the prologues this year. The Spaniard has never been beaten in the exercise this season at the events he has entered, winning the prologues in the Dakar, the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal and now the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF INFINIA. He sat out the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, unlike Nasser Al Attiyah… who did bag that prologue. The Qatari then made it a double in Portugal before making it a treble in Argentina. 3/3 for Schareina, 3 on the bounce for Al Attiyah!
DID YOU KNOW?
Nasser Al Attiyah had already tackled this prologue twice before. The 17 km test retraced every corner of the legendary WRC stage from the Rally Argentina dubbed 'El Cóndor–Copina'. In 2012, the Qatari was entered in WRC driving a Citroen DS3 and lapped the sector in 13′54″. In 2014, he returned in WRC2 aboard a Ford Fiesta RRC, setting the fourth-fastest time of 16′20″ before going on to win. With no co-driver's notes beyond the road book, fog and driving a heavier, bulkier T1+ rally-raid machine, the Prodrive Hunter pilot stopped the clocks on 16′17″, that is, 3 seconds better than a decade ago. Al Attiyah is ageing like a fine Argentine wine!
THE LOWDOWN ON TOMORROW’S STAGE from the race director, Pablo Eli:
"Stage 1 will run over WRC tracks that the Dakar has tackled pretty much in full before. It'll be a proper roller-coaster with non-stop climbing and descending through the mountains. There'll also be a 10 km section in a río, which is not sandy but stony. Broadly speaking, navigation will not spell the difference here. But in my book, navigation isn't just about going cross-country. Staying focused on the 350 notes packed into a 381 km special will be a challenge."
Programme:
• 3 June — stage 1: Córdoba–Córdoba (road section: 124 km / special: 381 km / total: 505 km) • 4 June — stage 2: Córdoba–San Juan (road section: 301 km / special: 423 km / total: 724 km) • 5 June — stage 3: San Juan–San Juan (road section: 137 km / special: 341 km / total: 478 km)
• 6 June — stage 4: San Juan–La Rioja (road section: 264 km / special: 412 km / total: 676 km) • 7 June — stage 5: La Rioja–Córdoba (road section: 301 km / special: 218 km / total: 519 km)
Local time: GMT-3
