Tough Stage 1 of 2023 Dakar Rally with Women racing the unpredictable terrain of leg Sea Camp > Sea Camp. With total of 601kms covered of which 367kms were timed, all competitors experienced their first taste of the rigors of competing in the 45th edition of Dakar.
From racing the sandy route of Prologue to navigating the rocky sections and dubious sand dunes in Stage 1, women competing in Bike, Car, Lightweight Prototype and T4 categories kept their nerve, delivering results in table rankings.
Dutch rider, Mirjam Pol executed carefully calculated race posting P73 in Bike category, finishing the timed leg in 5 hours, 28 minutes and 33 seconds. In her 2nd Dakar, Spanish rider Sandra Gomez embraced the extra time spent on her KTM 450 Rally bike posting P91, stating:
‘I felt good on the bike, although it took me some time to get into the rhythm, but I’ve been moving forward. The terrain was soft and with a lot of stones. We reached a stretch of dunes in which we have started to catch the cars. I had a navigation failure that made me lose time after the last neutralized section’.
South African rider Kirsten Landman, raced with all enthusiasm needed to compete in Malle Moto category with No Assistance finishing credible P103 in 5 hours, 57 minutes and 14 seconds. As Kirsten states:
‘What a day! That was a tough stage but I loved every second of it. I feel I’m still getting to grips with the rally bike and navigation but I’m very happy with my day and progress. They really threw everything at us on stage one with relentless rocks and some big dunes, fast straights with lots of lurkers and the cars caught me at 150kms which meant the track changed completely and became like a scalextric track which massive deeps ruts in the sand’.
Competing in her 13th Dakar, Laia Sanz experienced few problems in the Astara Team’s vehicle finishing Stage 1 Special in P21 with co-driver Maurizio Gerini. Paraguay driver Andrea Lafarja proved all experienced gained in competing in two previous Dakar’s has been put to good use, finishing the first Stage in P40 with father and daughter of Manual and Monica Plaza finishing the day in P55.
Women competing in Lightweight category T3 vehicles are fiery, determined lot, each posting plenty of experience racing endurance rallies with utmost caution combined with speed. Red Bull Can-Am Factory Team driver Cristina Gutierrez made P9 in 4 hours, 17 minutes and 47 seconds with Saudi female Dania Akeel proving her talent behind the wheel of South Racing Can-Am to be more fact than fiction, finishing P14 in T3 classification.
Women competing in X-Raid Team line-up mean business with Annett Fischer and co-driver Annie Seel sealing commanding result of P17 with Dakar Legend Camelia Liparoti driving the Team’s YXZ 1000R Turbo Prototype to P22 position overall. Slotted in between the X-Raid driver’s was debut entry Pamela Bozzano in P20 with Dutch rookie entry Anja Van Loon placed P26 finishing Stage 1 special in 5 hours, 21 minutes, and 7 seconds.
Buggyra Racing driver, Aliyyah Koloc shook off Prologue set-back racing with carefully prepared race-craft to complete Stage 1 in P29 followed by Uruguay’s Patricia Pita Gago finishing her first Dakar Stage in P40. Thoughts go to Merce Marti and Lisette Bakker who endured unfortunate crash on Day 1.
Although Molly Taylor would prefer to race full-accelerator to the floor, the 2016 Australia Rally Champion and 2021 Extreme E winner tempers her passion by embracing race strategy to finish Dakar’s long stretch of racing 14 days. Completing Stage 1 in P13 with co-driver Andrew Short, Molly shares her thoughts on how the day went:
‘Officially day 1 of Dakar is under our belts It was a really beautiful stage, under 400kms which we didn’t really get too much time to have a look at. Quite a tough stage, started off great but we had an issue without electronic roadbook, dusty so we got in a bit of traffic, then a problem with the front drive shaft and puncture – so there were plenty of challenges. Outside those issues we are really confident, it is still such a long way to go’.
Rounding out women competing in T4 category are Spanish co-driver Rosa Romero Font finishing P21 with rookie entry Rebecca Busi and co-driver Giulia Maroni completing long day in 9 hours, 6 minutes, and 33 seconds in P41.
2023 Dakar Rally Stage 2 Sea Camp > Alula Total distance: 589.07kms Special: 430kms. Header photo: Kirsten Landman Image: Team.
Words: Sharon Cox.
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