Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders and supported riders opened their bid for Dakar glory on Sunday in a relatively short first stage that saw the team’s Sam Sunderland take line honors.
The young British rider who is based in Dubai finished the 175km special in 1:18.57 hours, leading in 22 riders who all finished within a six-minute margin. Portugal’s Paolo Goncalves was right with Sam Sunderland, finishing only five seconds behind and master tactician and four-time Dakar winner Marc Coma a Red Bull athlete was a comfortable third at just 1.12 minutes.
Sunderland, a young rider with great potential was signed to the KTM Factory Racing Team early in 2014 was pleased, but also realistic about his Stage One win. "It's difficult to judge your strategy based on the first day because you still don't know who's pulled out all the stops. It's also important not to go all in, you've got to leave something for the other stages... However, I think I had a good special and that's always a reason to be happy. The bike didn't miss a beat, it was very fast and I probably posted a good time. I'm a contender... for the first day. I hope I'm also a contender at the end, but we've only covered 175 kilometers and there's still a long road before us," he said after the stage. Sunderland is correct – 175km in the bank and 4577km of tough timed specials to the finish line.
KTM-supported rider Matthias Walkner, making his Dakar debut also had a confidence-building first day out finishing in eighth place, the third just 2.42 minutes behind Sunderland. Walkner, an MX3 World champion but new to rally-raid is the first Austrian to ride in the Dakar since Heinz Kinigadner in the early 1990s following a world championship-winning career in motocross.
KTM Factory Racing rider Ruben Faria finished tenth, followed by KTM Australia’s Toby Price, also making his Dakar debut and the factory’s Jordi Viladoms, who was second last year to Coma was fourteenth, just 3.45 minutes off the winning pace.
Team Manager Alex Doringer said it had been a smooth and very fast stage with riders averaging around 130kph. "It was a good pace and a good backup. So far everything is going smoothly. While Monday is a longer and more difficult day, he said he was pleased to have a strong start from the team and especially from the younger riders Sutherland, Walkner and Price."
While Sunday was a taste of things to come, the rally in fact gets serious on Monday when Stage 2 from Villa Carlos Paz to San Juan has a relatively short liaison of 107km and a timed special of 518km.
KTM Results Service and KTM Racing Information every day during Dakar 2015.
Results Stage One Dakar 2015
Buenos Aires to Villa Carlos Paz – 663km liaison, 175km special (total 838km)
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 1:18.57 h
2. Paolo Goncalves ( POR), Honda, +5 sec
3. Marc Coma (ESP), KTM, +1.12 min
4. Joan Barreda (ESP), Honda, +1.41
5. Alain Duclos (FRA), +2.08