As the weeks-long Dakar Rally begins, competitors first have a sandy qualifying run just 27 km long run in Al’Ula dubbed “The Prologue” that took place today. Finish in the Top 10 today, and you to choose your starting position for the opening stage.
Fastest amongst the cars was Audi Sport’s Mattias Ekstrom with an impressive 16m 30s in his RS Q e-tron. That was 23 seconds faster than the next-fastest car, reigning FIA World Rally-Raid champion Seth Quintero’s Toyota Hilux.
Ekstrom’s teammate and 14-time Dakar winner Stephane Peterhansel finished in 7th, good enough to nab him control over his starting position for Stage 1.
Carlos Sainz finished in 34th, which may sound like a lot but, in the end, just two minutes off of Ekstrom’s time.
Just how the Audi Sport will stack up in the 2024 competition remains to be seen. Ingolstadt has shared details on its updated RS Q e-tron E2 in order to better prepare it for its third year in Dakar competition. Also significant, the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship committee made a balance of power (BOP) adjustment in Audi’s favor that will see the three RS Q e-tron’s granted an additional 15kW ow power that nets out to about 21bhp extra.
Follow along with our Dakar Rally coverage HERE.
Dakar 2024 – Prologue Top 10 Results:
| Pos | Driver | Car | Time/gap |
| 1 | Mattias Ekstrom | Audi | 16m30s |
| 2 | Seth Quintero | Toyota | +0:23s |
| 3 | Sebastien Loeb | Prodrive | +0:38s |
| 4 | Marcos Baumgart | Prodrive | +0:38s |
| 5 | Cristian Baumgart | Prodrive | +0:44s |
| 6 | Krzysztof Holowczyc | Mini | +0:44s |
| 7 | Stephane Peterhansel | Audi | +0:45s |
| 8 | Lionel Baud | Toyota | +0:47s |
| 9 | Martin Prokop | Ford | +0:49s |
| 10 | Brian Baragwanath | Century | +0:55s |
