Dakar Rally 2015: Latest Results and Updated Schedule Info

The Dakar Rally is the most famous race of its type in the world—and the 2015 edition of the rally raid once again began in South America on Sunday, starting from Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is the seventh time the race has started on the continent.

This year's rally will comprise of 13 stages, with the race passing through Chile and Bolivia before concluding on January 17 back in Argentina.

Four major vehicle groups compete in the rally raid: motorcycles, quads, cars and trucks. As always, the race is open to keen amateurs as well as professionals.

The event takes place over 9,110 kilometers of gruelling endurance racing with 665 competitors taking part, per TopGear.com.

Rally commentator Colin Clark spoke about the wonderful atmosphere building in Argentina, expressing delight at some of the opening scenes from the first stage:

Here is the up-to-date schedule information for the rally, as well as the latest results information:

Date	Start	Finish
Jan. 4	Buenos Aires	Villa Carlos Paz
Jan. 5	Villa Carlos Paz	San Juan
Jan. 6	San Juan	Chilecito
Jan. 7	Chilecito	Copiapo
Jan. 8	Copiapo	Antofagasta
Jan. 9	Antofagasta	Iquique
Jan. 10	Rest day Bike / Quad
Jan. 10	Iquique	Uyuni (Car) / Marathon (Truck)
Jan. 11	Uyuni (Car) / Marathon (Truck) / Iquique (Bike)	Iquique (Car/Truck) / Uyuni (Bike)
Jan. 12	Rest day Car/Truck
Jan. 12	Uyuni	Iquique
Jan. 13	Iquique	Calama
Jan. 14	Calama	Marathon (Bike) / Salta (Car/Truck)
Jan. 15	Marathon (Bike) / Salta (Car/Truck)	Termas Rio Hondo
Jan. 16	Termas Rio Hondo	Rosario
Jan. 17	Rosario	Buenos Aires

Sam Sunderland Speeds into Opening-Day Lead

Victor R. Caivano/Associated Press

Englishman Sam Sunderland made a spectacular start to the 2015 Dakar Rally, grabbing a five-second lead to win the stage.

The 25-year-old, riding a KTM motorcycle, completed the 175-kilometer opening gambit of the race ahead of Paulo Goncalves on his Honda.

According to Eurosport's Toby Keel, Sunderland clocked in at one hour, 18 minutes and 57 seconds to take a lead into Stage 2, with defending champion Marc Coma trailing in third spot— 1:12 behind the Brit. 

Sunderland was pleased with his opening effort and significant lead over multiple-time champion Coma, but warned there is much more dangerous racing to follow, per Keel:

"

It's difficult to judge your strategy based on the first day because you still don't know who's pulled out all the stops.

It's also important not to go all in, you've got to leave something for the other stages. However, I think I had a good special and that's always a reason to be happy.

The bike didn't miss a beat, it was very fast and I probably posted a good time. I'm a contender for the first day. I hope I'm also a contender at the end, but we've only covered 175 kilometres and there's still a long road before us.

"

Hans Stacey grabbed the win for the trucks section, taking a 35-second lead into Stage 2.

Ignacio Casale leads in the quads, nurturing a useful 1:07 margin of victory:

Nasser Al-Attiyah Takes Command

The Mini of Qatari racer Nasser Al-Attiyah took control of the car rally for Day 1 with a huge performance to establish a 22-second lead.

Al-Attiyah pushed hard to leave Argentine Orlando Terranova in his dust as he stormed through the first and second checkpoints ahead.

American Robby Gordon in the Gordini was third-fastest for the first stage, a full 1:04 behind Al-Attiyah.

South Africa's Giniel de Villiers was fourth, recording a time which was eight seconds further back.

But the most dramatic news of the day came with defending champion Nani Roma, whose challenge was destroyed by mechanical troubles, leaving his chances of regaining his crown in ashes.

This is the most exciting race of its type on the planet, but the opening stages usually mean so little with such perilous challenges ahead for the racers.

Sunderland and Al-Attiyah will be delighted with their opening performances, but as was shown with Roma, one bad day at the office will destroy any hope one might have of winning.