Image gallery: Stage 1 of the 2017 Dakar Rally
The 2017 Dakar Rally has begun from the city of Asuncion in Paraguay, with the first stage taking participants on a relatively short route to Resistencia, 454km away. The competitive section of this stage measured just 39km, but played an important role in a deciding the team's strategy for the starting position on Day 2. The competitive section, although short, was still quite tricky with technical and trial-style sections. Most of the competitors took it easy on this leg, as it was just the beginning of the rally.
Here's a quick look in images, at what happened on Day 1 of the rally:
TVS Sherco Racing's Juan Pedrero Garcia took the lead with a time of 28m22s. First place was handed to him after Team Yamaha's Xavier De Soultrait after overspeeding on purpose during the return leg to get a one-minute penalty, so he wouldn't have to lead the pack on Day 2
Team Honda Racing's Ricky Brabec took second place after Stage 1 with a time of 28m34s, while his team-mate, Paulo Goncalves finished 14 seconds behind him
Defending champion, Toby Price finished 17th in Stage 1, clocking 29m45s
CS Santosh from Hero MotoSports Team Rally, took it a bit slow considering it was still the beginning of the rally and finished in 47th place
Sherco TVS Racing's Aravind KP, who began 77th from the start, crashed during the stage, resulting in two fractures in his hand. However, he still managed to complete the stage
Nasser Al-Attiyah took the lead in the Car category, setting a time of 25m41s. This, despite the fact that he had a small fire in his front left wheel case caused by an oil leak and the heat
Stephane Peterhansel, who won the Car category last year, finished in 12th place with a time of 27m15s
Carlos Sainz took fourth place in his Peugeot 3008 DKR, two places ahead of team-mate, Sebastien Loeb
