Mattias Ekström, Cristina Gutiérrez and Toby Price starred at the opening prologue stage of the 45th edition of motorsport’s toughest test of endurance, the Dakar Rally. On Saturday, a short, sharp 13km prologue track on the shores of the Red Sea determined the starting positions for Sunday’s more challenging 368km timed special stage. Two-time DTM championship winner Ekström piloted the Audi RS Q e-tron E2 for the first time with the day’s fastest time across all categories (eight minutes) to claim an early lead in the T1 car class standings. Meanwhile, in the T3 race, Gutiérrez set the fastest time with co-driver Pablo Moreno.

Follow MotorMouth on social media:

• 
• 
• 
•