De Soultrait takes on Dakar

1st stage: Asunción (Paraguay) - Resistencia (Argentina)

On Sunday afternoon, after getting a taste of the excitement of the Paraguayan crowd and gathering on the start rostrum set up in front of the Presidential Palace in the centre of Asunción, the 144 motorcycles and 37 quads officially entered for the Dakar put their machines back in the parc fermé. 

In the run up to the big moment, the tension and the temperature continued to rise with each day of preparation, reaching their paroxysm with a soaring 40° and 100% humidity at the start of this 39th edition, which promises to be a tough ride, taking in Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia, 

This morning, Toby Price opened the trail of the first special, a 39 km prologue to determine the starting order for the second stage covering 803 km between Resistencia and San Miguel de Tucuman. Setting out in numerical order, the riders pursued their individual strategies, some attacking from the word go while others preferred to start further back, knowing that, on these trails almost worthy of a trials section, there is no shortage of pitfalls and that risks do not always pay. 

But the young wolves are hungry and Xavier de Soultrait, who had a very successful season in the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship, tackled the Paraguayan trails in fine style, winning this first special of the 2017 Dakar aboard his Yamaha with a lead of 2 seconds over Juan Pedrero (Sherco) and 14 seconds over Ricky Brabec (Honda). However, the French rider was penalised for speeding in a DZ (Speed limit zone).  “I set off at speed in this special, which was relatively dangerous, but without taking risks. I felt good and I realised I had a chance to win the special, which would leave me opening the trail tomorrow, which I did not want to do. So once I got into the DZ, I took a minute’s penalty for speeding on purpose!”  

So Juan Pedrero will be opening the trail on Tuesday!

Michael Metge took 4th position with his Sherco, followed by Paolo Gonçalves (Honda), Sam Sunderland (KTM), Joan Barreda (Honda), Matthias Walkner (KTM), Gerard Farres (KTM) and Ivan Cervantes (KTM). The other big guns, Toby Price (KTM), Stefan Svitko (KTM) and Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna), chose to stay futher behind. The first Hero Speedbrain with Joaquim Rodrigues finished in 16th.

It was a bad day for Jakub Piatek, who crashed in a turn and hurt his right wrist, while quad rider Sébastien Soudray broke his right wrist falling into a hole announced as a Danger 3.

Marcelo Medeiros won the special in the quad class ahead of Gonzalez and Paraguay’s Nelson Sanabria, who was able to live his dream at home with the support of his fellow countrymen! The only woman in the quad class, Camélia Liparoti, finished 28th.

On Tuesday, they will be covering over 800 km on the way to San Miguel de Tucuman. 


Judith Tomaselli