JEDDAH: Australian Motorcyclist Toby Price began the journey to defend his world champion title on a positive note by leading the first round of 2020 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.
The defending champion overcame a two-minute road book violation penalty with a finish time of 3:21:33 to win the race with just a five-second lead over American Ricky Brabec. Australia’s Matthias Walkner came in third with 3:22.13 time.
Meanwhile, Vaidotas Zala from Lithuania won the first leg of car race category at Dakar Rally with France’s Stephane Peterhansel coming in second.
Two-time World Champion of Formula One racing Fernando Alonso managed to stay in the race despite finishing at 11th position. This is his first Dakar rally race and world champion is poised to improve his position in coming races.
This is the first time in Dakar rally’s history that the race is being held in the Middle East. Last editions were held in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa before being moved from there due to security concerns.
The second leg of the race will be held from Al-Wajh to Neom today.
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