Day one of the 2017 Dakar has had a surprise winner with Xavier de Soultrait, the satellite Yamaha rider from France, turning out to be the fastest man. Juan Pedrero riding the TVS-Sherco RTR 450 finished second at the end of Day 1, two seconds behind Soultrait. Honda seems to have had a decent start to Dakar 2017 with Ricky Brabec claiming the third spot. Surprisingly, there is no KTM in the top three.
Dakar 2016 winner Toby Price ran steady pace finishing 17th overall but knowing his consistency and ability to go faster with time, he will be strategising his attack for the overall win. On the other hand, Xavier, in his quest to make a mark, might have sped over the prescribed speed limits in transport and might incur a penalty handing out the lead to TVS-Sherco.
Aravind KP, the Indian Dakar rookie, started well with a solid P63 at the end of Day 1, finishing way ahead of his other teammate, Adrian Metge (P128). After last year’s tough result, CS Santosh is looking strong with his P47 finish riding the Hero Speedbrain 450 for the first time at Dakar. In his third Dakar sojourn, CS Santosh will be aiming to better his first Dakar result of an overall P36.
Hero Speedbrain lead rider, Joaquim Rodrigues has finished P16 overall, 1m 22s behind the race leader Xavier de Soutlrait. Today, the riders will start from Resistencia and will finish the stage at San Miguel de Tucumán in Paraguay. Stay tuned for daily updates of the Dakar 2017.
