Daniel "Chucky" Sanders has maintained an ideal start in his bid to become Australia's second Dakar Rally champion as the Yarra Valley motorcyclist forged into a two-minute lead of the great endurance race in the Saudi Arabian desert.
After victory in Friday's prologue gave the 30-year-old Red Bull KTM rider the ideal starting position, he dominated the opening stage 24 hours later, a 413km trek lasting over four-and-a-half hours around the southwestern town of Bisha.
Sanders is two minutes and four seconds clear of Monster Energy Honda's defending champion Ricky Brabec, of the United States as he prepares for Sunday and Monday's gruelling 48-hour Chrono stage.
Sanders will be taking nothing for granted after starting the 2022 race in exactly the same fashion with victory in the prologue and first stage, only to have to abandon the race after the first week when he fractured his elbow and wrist in an accident.
But it's a terrific start with 25 minutes already separating him from the 10th-placed rider.
The Australian admitted his start hadn't been ideal, but he recovered in the final section as his rivals made navigation mistakes.
"I think some guys made a mistake at the end, but once I got past everyone in the group, I just focused on the road book and try to not make mistakes," he said.
"And I did a pretty good move and found the correct way. I think some riders got lost at the end here.
"‘They weren’t the easiest passes out there with the dust and so many riders in a row. So, you just had to throw the brain in the bin and just go full gas and make some passes.
"It was good, because at the beginning I couldn’t get the rhythm right and I was just riding the lines. I couldn’t get the road book correct with my brain. So, by the end of the stage it was good. It’s positive for tomorrow."
In the car race, American driver Seth Quintero was promoted to first place after helping a crashed rival.
Quintero's Toyota actually crossed second behind the Mini of Frenchman Guerlain Chicherit.
But Quintero was credited with 95 seconds by rally organisers for stopping to help Spaniard Laia Sanz after she crashed about 90 kilometres from the finish.
He was handed his first stage win in Dakar's top car class and a 55-second lead over Chicherit, who was also penalised 10 seconds.
Most of the title contenders held back near the finish line to avoid starting the 48-hour, nearly 1000km chrono stage close to the front on Sunday.
Five-time champion Nasser Al-Attiyah was 19th, two-time world championship runner-up Yazeed Al Rajhi was 20th, and nine-time world champion Sebastien Loeb was 23rd, all more than 13 minutes back.
Australia's two-time motorcycle champion Toby Price, the man who Sanders is now trying to emulate as race winner, is now competing in the Ultimate car class with his former British teammate Sam Sunderland, and was lying 12th, nearly six minutes down on Quintero.
The two four-wheel rookies had an eventful day with their GPS failing to work properly and failing to get their car to restart after stopping at the finish. "A bit of chaos," sighed Sunderland.
