First Dakar stage cancelled due to poor weather

The first stage of the 2016 Dakar rally has been cancelled due to poor weather conditions, organisers Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) have announced.

Medical helicopters were unable to fly due to heavy showers and thunderstorm, with the special and end of the stage being the most affected areas.

As a result, race director Étienne Lavigne has cancelled the stage altogether, with the competitors rerouted via the highway. Motorcycles and quads will travel in a convoy, while cars will go on their own. Trucks will follow the same course as that of assistance vehicles.

The Dakar rally was scheduled to start today at 8 am local time, with competitors beginning their journey from the Argentine city of Rosario and ending their day in Villa Carlos Pace. In all, over 600 kms were to be covered, out of which the timed distance for bikes and quads was 227 kms and for cars and trucks was 258 kms.

Prior to the start of the rally, a prologue stage was held yesterday, primarily to determine the starting positions. India’s CS Santosh finished a lowly 127th among the bikes, after hitting a river crossing and losing eight minutes.

The prologue was topped by Barreda Port and Ruben Faria, with both riders setting identical times. Bernhard Ten Brinke was the quickest among the cars in a Toyota, beating veteran Carlos Sainz by three seconds.

Several spectators were injured in the prologue when Guo Meiling's X-raid Mini veered off the course, bringing the proceeding to a halt.