Dakar Rally opening stage: Al-Attiyah stripped of victory

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah was stripped of victory in the opening stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally on Sunday for exceeding the time limit while reigning champion Nani Roma's hopes of another victory were dashed.

Mini driver Al-Attiyah, the 2011 champion, had led the Dakar Rally with one hour and 12.50 minutes after the 170 kilometers timed section of 833km stage, reports Xinhua.

However, as the whole race finished, Al-Attiyah was punished for driving at 68km/h in a section of the stage where the limit was 50km/h and was therefore penalised two minutes and relegated to seventh place.

Home favourite Orlando Terranova, also from Mini, who used to trail Al-Attiyah by 22 seconds before the penalty, then declared the winner ahead of American Robby Gordon from Hummer and South Africa's Giniel de Villiers in a Toyota.

Last year's winner Roma from Mini came to a halt just a few miles from the Buenos Aires start, as he had to wait on the stage for technical assistance, losing over eight hours to the eventual leader and all realistic chance of back-to-back wins.

Peugeot's Dakar return got off to a quiet start with Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel driving conservatively in eighth and 10th places. Peugeot returned to the Dakar Rally for the first time in 25 years after winning four consecutive times between 1987 and 1990.

In the motorbike section, Britain's Sam Sunderland on a KTM was fastest in an hour and 18. 57 minutes, five seconds faster than Paulo Goncalves of Portugal on a Honda and one minutes and 12 seconds ahead of last year's winner Marc Coma on a KTM.

The first stage covers more than 800kms from Buenos Aires to the town of Villa Carlos Paz. This year's event, the seventh in South America since its enforced transfer for security reasons from Africa, is the 37th of all time.