AL ULA: Audi`s Mattias Ekstrom was fastest on Friday on the 27km Dakar Rally prologue raced over the desert sands of Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia.

Double defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah made a slight detour and ended the day 12th.

January is the coolest month in the often searing region with temperatures at 23 degree Celsius (over 40 C in July) with almost no wind to blow up the sand and a very low level of humidity.

Swede Ekstrom set a time of 16min 30sec, some 23sec ahead of the American Seth Quintero of Toyota, making his debut at this level.

`I wanted to prove that I was there to play in the big leagues,` said the 21-yearold Quintero who joined Toyota to replace Al-Attiyah, winner of the last two editions, who left for Prodrive this season.

`It worked very well, there were a lot of traps but we did well.

French veteran Sebastien Loeb came in third at 38sec in a promising start after his second place overallin 2023.

The times do not count towards the overall standings but instead provide a choice of starting position for Saturday`s opener.

`That wasn`t easy,` said the nine-time world champion Loeb, who is yet to win a Dakar. `It was a tough choice to either attack the course or manage the deficit. In the end I attacked and it worked out okay,` he said.

Prodrive`s Brazilian brothers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart rounded out the top five.

Al-Attiyah brushed off his mishap of 12th place at 1min Olsec saying he was getting used to the new car.

Spaniard Tosha Schareina on a Honda took the honours on the motorbikes, finishing the prologue 12secs ahead of Daniel Sanders` GasGAs with Hero rider Ross Branch a further seven seconds behind.

Title holder Kevin Benavides, achieved the day`s ninth best time, a little less than one minute behind the winner.-AFP