The 40th annual Dakar Rally – and the 10th consecutive year the world’s most arduous endurance race has been held in South America – kicked off Saturday in Lima, Peru and traveled to nearby Pisco, Peru for Stage 1.
The Rally will continue on through January 20, with 14 stages and nearly 5,600 miles to be traversed across Peru, Bolivia and ending up in Argentina.
MORE: Dakar Rally daily stages schedule, NBCSN broadcast schedule, list of all competitors
Here’s some of the top video action from Saturday’s Stage 1:
CARS
In the marquee Cars class, Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah – a two-time Rally winner – took his Toyota to the No. 1 spot in a time of 21 minutes, 51 seconds.
MOTORCYCLES
Defending champion Sam Sunderland of Britain (although he now lives in Dubai) had an outstanding first Stage, clocking in at 20:55 to grab the early lead in the class.
TRUCK
The Czech Republic’s Ales Loprais, considered one of the favorites, got off to a great start with a run of 25:15 on the 31-mile course, the shortest of the Rally’s 14 days.
QUADS
Chile’s Ignacio Casale got a huge jump with his Yamaha in the quads, ending with a one-minute edge over Russia’s Sergei Kariakin.