TOUGH CONDITIONS ON FIRST STAGE
A crowd of 1,500 people gathered outside the Belém Cultural Centre to witness the start. But fog from the Tagus River enveloped competitors soon and the majority of the leading cars left in foggy conditions and poor visibility.
Joan ’Nani’ Roma was the leading Mitsubishi driver in seventh position after the opening stage. Former winners Stéphane Peterhansel and Jean-Paul Cottret came in 24 seconds after their teammates and held eighth place, while Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon were classified 10th overall.
"I had a puncture," said Masuoka, "but the stage was very difficult. It was tight, twisty and there were a lot of tree stumps where it was easy to damage the car."
"I knew that the pace would be high on the rally this year," admitted 17th-placed Alphand. "So we need to keep in touch without taking any risks."
"We will up the pace a little, because we do not want to leave too much work for Africa and Mauritania in particular,” added Serieys. “I take my hat off to Volkswagen today. They did a good job. But there were no mechanical problems with any of our cars and this is a major bonus. We must also remember that no one has ever won the Dakar on the first two or three stages."
