Five things we learned from the opening two stages of Dakar 2023

The opening two stages of Dakar 2023 have already proven to be brutal for both man and machine. With 12 more stages still to run in the iconic desert race through Saudi Arabia, here are five things that have caught our eye already.

Aussies Daniel 'Chucky' Sanders (L) and Toby Price (R) ahead of the second stage at the 2023 Dakar Rally. Source: Getty.

1. Sanders and Price are competitive, but playing different tactics

There’s no doubt that Australia's great white hopes in the race in two-time champion, KTM’s Toby Price and his GasGas rival, Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders are both hungry to win this race. You can see it in their body language, as both men are out to avenge the dramas that plagued their 2022 campaigns.

But there’s one clear difference between them in this early stage of the event - their strategies on how to attack each stage. We’ve seen already that Sanders wants to go out and assert his dominance over his opposition and in the second stage over 430 km overnight, he put his cards on the table nice and early that he’s out to win this event. Sanders was leading much of the stage by over three minutes, before deciding to back it off in the final 50km and have a ‘picnic’ to avoid going first in tomorrow’s third stage and leaving a path for everyone else.

Sanders knows there’s a long way to go, as does Price. But unlike Sanders, the Gold Coast-based rider is taking a more calculated approach to each stage. He knew after winning the Prologue on New Years Eve that being first off the rank isn’t necessarily the quickest option and it’s best to follow in the tracks of your opposition and pounce when they strike trouble. So far, it’s worked out nicely for him. He sits second outright in the general classification, 1’41” behind leader Mason Klein, whilst Sanders sits 2’55” behind in fifth place.

2. Klein is the next generation coming through and fast

We’ve been thoroughly impressed by the raw speed and maturity of 21-year old American Mason Klein, who stepped up to the outright class in 2023 for BAS World KTM Racing Team having won the Rally2 contingent in last year’s event.

Klein was the revelation of the opening stage, largely dominating the 360km Sea Camp loop after the early crash and retirement of Sam Sunderland, before deliberately backing off in the final stanza to finish sixth. Klein remained within the top three to four placing for much of stage two and was second on the road, when Sanders backed off in the final 50 km to avoid starting first. This allowed the Californian to take the stage win and the overall lead, following problems for day one leader Ricky Brabec.

Klein was rather down on himself when he sustained a two minute time penalty for spending. The rules this year stipulate riders are not allowed to go over 160 km/h in the interests of safety. Despite this, he was buoyed by retaining the stage win and overall lead and will lead the field away in stage three tomorrow. The real test will now be whether he can maintain the front pace whilst leading the field away. Time will tell.

3. The intense rivalry between Al-Attiyah and Sainz

It would be foolish for us to ignore the car component of Dakar, especially when there’s a war of words going on between Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Audi’s Carlos Sainz Snr.

Ferrari's Spanish Formula One driver Carlos Sainz Jr (R), son of rally driver Carlos Sainz (L), speaks with his father by his vehicle before the start of the second stage of the Dakar 2023 rally between Sea Camp and al-Ula in Saudi Arabia on January 2, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

There’s history between these two.They were teammates when Volkswagen were heavily involved in the event and both men have won two of their four victories with the German manufacturer. But they aren’t necessarily on good terms, due to the simmering tension that’s been going on for a long time.

Coming into this year’s event, Al-Attiyah accused his Spanish rival of ‘complaining over a lot of things’, following the latter’s pre-race comments that the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 was hardly penalised by being 100kg heavier than his rivals. Sainz returned serve by saying he didn’t want to answer anything about him or his comments and that he’d let the racing do the talking.

And so far, the racing is very much doing all the talking. Sainz bounced back from an early puncture during the opening stage to come from 31st at one point to take the stage win and an outright lead. In stage two, he went toe to toe with his Qatari rival across the 430km, 27 percent of which featured stone sections.

Nasser Al-Attiyah looks on during stage two of the 2023 Dakar Rally. Source: Getty.

Despite his Hilux not being ideally suited to the stage, Al-Attiyah got the stage win with Sainz coming through in third. Sainz though retains the overall lead by 2’12 over Al-Attiyah and at this early stage of the event, the car component of the rally is likely going to be a two horse race between them.

4. Loeb’s Dakar dream is cruelly denied after only two stages

Sebastian Loeb is the most successful rally driver of all time. He’s a nine-time world Rally Champion and he’s won Pikes Peak. But Dakar once again remains elusive for the Frenchman.

Having finished a strong second in stage one, things were looking comfortably good for him and the Prodrive run Bahrain Rally Xtreme team. But the unthinkable happened. Two successive punctures early in the stage meant he had to swap to his two spare tyres each car is allowed to carry. All he had to do was get to the next refuelling point where he could replace the damaged tyres with new ones to carry him through. He didn’t make it.

BRX' French driver Sebastien Loeb reacts at the end of the second stage of the Dakar 2023 rally between Sea Camp and al-Ula in Saudi Arabia on January 2, 2023. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP) (Photo by FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images) Source: AFP / FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

A third puncture meant that with no more spares, he was stranded until the service crews attended to him and that would take a few hours. He eventually got going again, but it brought his 2023 campaign to a sad end. He now sits 26th overall, 1 hour and 21 minutes behind race leader Carlos Sainz Snr.

The same issues also caught out his team mate Guerlain Chicherit and he too dropped out of outright contention. It really was a horror day for Bahrain Rally Xtreme and Prodrive.

5. Molly powers on smiling in T4 despite issues plaguing her campaign so far

There’s one clear trait that shines through in Molly Taylor - resilience. It hasn’t been the easiest of starts to Dakar for the Sydney-born driver, but she’s managed to drive through each of the problems that herself and Andrew Short have endured to finish the two stages already run, as well as the Prologue.

A road map malfunction that disabled her push to pass feature in her South Racing Can-Am, was followed by a front driveshaft failure that left her with rear wheel drive only in stage one dropped her to 13th for the stage. She had to persist with an early puncture, then a loose rear steering arm that was rubbing on the inside of one of the rear wheels during stage two.

Thankfully, she was able to quickly repair the issue during the refuelling point midway through the stage and she came through to finish sixth in the stage, cracking into the top ten in ninth place 33 minutes behind current leaders Marek Goxzal and Maciej Marton.

There’s plenty of time for Taylor and Short to make up in this event, but so far, she’s made every stage finish and she’s smiling.

Stage three tomorrow is another big journey, this time over 447 km between Alula and Ha’il. It’s going to be long and gruelling and it’s not going to get any easier for any of the competitors.

Catch the second stage highlights tonight from 5pm AEDT on SBS and anytime on SBS On Demand.