DAKAR 2017

 
Monday, January 2, 2017
 
Stage 1: Asuncion (Paraguay) – Resistencia (Argentina)
Liaison: 415 km – Special stage: 39 km – Total: 454 km

Yesterday evening, the five crews of Xtremeplus Polaris and the Toyota fast assistance driven by Marco Piana, went through the starting podium and felt the enthusiasm of Paraguayans that witness the Dakar in their soil for the very first time!

Monday morning, the Dakar takes off and competitors get out to race the first special stage of the 39th version of the hardest race in the world. This selective section was short, but intense with technical tracks that were even a bit like trial. At the end of it, the Young Russian Ravil Maganov (#378 XT+), navigated by Kirill Shubin, takes the stage victory in the SSV category, 30 seconds in front of Vidal Cachafeiro and Santiago Navarro. Brazilian driver Leandro Torres and his friend Lourival Roldan #351 take the 4th place, but in the liaison, Leandro was affected by the heat wave that hit the Chaco region with more than 40 degrees with high humidity.

After them, Li Dognshend and Quanqian Guan #374 arrived in the 5th position while Mao Rujin and Sebastien Delaunay #342 and the other Chinese XT+ crew composed by Wan Fujiang/Li Wei #386 took the 7th and 8th position, respectively.

Small correction: There are no 10 SSV on the Dakar 2017, but only 8. The two Coronel drivers, Tim and Tom, have buggies of more than 1,000 cc. This mistake will be corrected by ASO in the standings.

Tuesday, January 3 will be the begin of serious Racing with a stage of 800 km, which include a timed section of 275 km prior to arrive to San Miguel de Tucuman.