Nasser Al-Atiyah today opened the stage in the desert between Ha'il and Al Qaisumah. This slowed him down a bit, as did the flat tire at the end of the stage, but Nasser continued until the final without changing it.
No problem today were (FRA) SEBASTIEN LOEB / (BEL) FABIAN LURQUIN (BAHRAIN RAID XTREME), who made the first stage victory. So they are only 9:16 behind the drivers (QAT) NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (AND) MATTHIEU BAUMEL (TOYOTA GAZOO RACING).
The third position in the general is for (ARG) LUCIO ALVAREZ (ESP) ARMAND MONLEON (OVERDRIVE TOYOTA), but with a pretty big difference of 40:53 minutes.
The first 4 positions in the trucks are occupied by Kamaz led by OVERDRIVE TOYOTA.
In motorcycles, the first stage victory for (ESP) JOAN BARREDA BORT (MONSTER ENERGY HONDA), which overtook the competition by more than 5 minutes.
At the top of the overall standings is (GBR) SAM SUNDERLAND (GASGAS FACTORY RACING), second is (FRA) ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN MONSTER ENERGY YAMAHA RALLY TEAM at 2:51 minutes.
The four-wheelers are led by (LTU) LAISVYDAS KANCIUS (STORY RACING S.R.O.), second is (USA) PABLO COPETTI (DEL AMO MOTORSPORTS / YAMAHA RALLY TEAM) in 3:32 minutes.
The light prototypes are led by (CHL) FRANCISCO LOPEZ CONTARDO (CHL) JUAN PABLO LATRACH VINAGRE.
The SSV category is led by (USA) AUSTIN JONES (BRA) GUSTAVO GUGELMIN.
The next 3rd stage will not be a marathon due to flooded tracks and will be 255 km long around Al-Qaisumah.

The second day of the Dakar Rally 2022 and in fact the first stage of the race brought very serious problems for a number of favorites. Suspension problems delayed Stephan Peterhansel by several hours and he lost a real chance to win.Carlos Sainz got lost in the desert and it cost him over 15 minutes. Second disappointment for the Audi team with electric drive (Stephan and Carlos). Many crews, especially many motorcyclists, had serious problems at this point on the tracks.
So far, NASSER AL-ATTIYAH / MATTHIEU BAUMEL (TOYOTA GAZOO RACING) is in the lead without any problems. The second position is for SEBASTIEN LOEB / FABIAN LURQUIN (BAHRAIN RAID XTREME) with a lag of 12 '44' '. The Czechs MARTIN PROKOP / VIKTOR CHYTKA (BENZINA ORLEN TEAM) are third at 22 '39' '.
In motorcycles, surprisingly DANIEL SANDERS (GASGAS FACTORY RACING) is led by PABLO QUINTANILLA (MONSTER ENERGY HONDA) at 3 '07' '.
The big contenders from KTM are third with MATTHIAS WALKNER at 11 "06".
The leader in quadricycles is LAISVYDAS KANCIUS from Lithuania (STORY RACING S.R.O.).
The trucks are led by Kamaz with DMITRY SOTNIKOV at the helm.
Tomorrow the stage is shortened after torrential rains and is 338 km from Ha'il to Al Artawiyah.

The official start of the Dakar Rally 2022 took place today in Hail, Saudi Arabia.
168 motorcycles, 96 cars, 61 trucks and more from the categories Quad, Light Prototype, SSV, Open and Classic took part in the start.

The 44th version of the race will also take place from 1 to 14 January 2022 in Saudi Arabia. Gold Bedouins in seven racing categories.

Toyota's Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won the prologue of 19 km in the car category.

Cars
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota)  0:10.56
2. Carlos Sainz Sr. (Audi) +0.12
3. Henk Lategan (Toyota) +0.36

Bikes winner is Daniel Sanders (Australia) with GAS GAS Factory Team.

Trucks
1. Eduard Nikolaev (Kamaz)  0:13.01
2. Dmitry Sotnikov (Kamaz) +0.07

1st of January
Stage 1A (prologue): Jeddah - Hail (total length 834 km / special stage 19 km)

January 2
Stage 1B: Hail - Hail (546 km / 334 km)