The director of the Dakar Rally, David Castera, mentioned before the start that the first stages will be extremely difficult, so that the participants will immediately feel what is meant by calling this competition the most difficult in the world. CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team rider Antanas Kanopkinas, after completing Sunday's stage, did not mince words and said that the day was particularly difficult, and it was made worse by technical problems.
"I had to drive more than four hundred kilometers without front wheel drive, three hundred with one punctured tire and two hundred without muffler and with a lack of engine power. I don't know if there is anything else that can be added to the list of things that I would not like to experience on the stage, but it seems that I got everything from there today", A. Kanopkinas said at the finish without hiding his fatigue and said that driving with the technical challenges that appeared on the stage became the most exhausting thing.
It is true that, despite the problems that arose, the athlete provisionally recorded the sixth fastest time in the ATV classification in the second stage, and the Frenchman S. Desbuisson, who finished in seventh place, was more than half an hour behind him.
The participants will start the working week in Dakar with an even longer day - almost 300 kilometers of liaisonand a 438 kilometer speed section await them. Organizers say it will consist of rocky sections and sections where racers will have to tackle navigational challenges between the dunes. What's more, after completing this stage, the mechanics will only have two hours to repair and maintain the vehicle, as it will then have to remain in the parc ferme - this will be the first day of the marathon stage.
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