Starting with a 29th time, Tim and Tom Coronel started the 2023 Dakar Rally. They completed the first 13 kilometers of the 15-day race across Saudi Arabia in 8 minutes and 52 seconds. Rally champions Mattias Ekström and Sébastien Loeb stood head and shoulders above the rest of the field.
“Tim went full on, but it just couldn’t be any harder at this point”
Tom Coronel – Dakar Co-Pilot
“Tim went full on, but it just couldn’t be any harder at this point,” Tom Coronel said at the finish of the lap around the Sea Camp on the Red Sea. “I wouldn’t have done it any differently. He was well up to speed, only made one small mistake: shortly before the finish, in the last corner, we went wide for a moment. Too bad.”
The course of the prologue, which determines the starting order for the first stage, was flat and twisty and was allowed to be explored beforehand. Ideal conditions for WRC specialists and it showed. Ekström was 1 second faster than Loeb at the finish. Number 3, Stéphane Peterhansel, followed 10 seconds behind Loeb.
Such a short drive at speed requires acute attentiveness and that was there with the Coronel brothers. “Usually I’m pushing a little more and Tim has to get into it for a while, but he was right on top,” Tom noted. “He is one with the car; usually that takes a while. Testing in Spain and Portugal did him well. I already noticed that in the shakedown.”
Tim and Tom have to really get going starting tomorrow morning. Departure from the Sea Camp is from 9 a.m. local time, 7 a.m. in the Netherlands. An hour later, the first car will take off for a 368-kilometer special. “And then fifteen days down to the nitty-gritty. Wonderful!”