Portuguese duo take Dakar honours

Sousa was the best driver on a good day for Volkswagen

Portugal's Carlos Sousa and Ruben Faria secured a home double as they triumphed in the first stage of the 2007 Dakar Rally from Lisbon to Portimao.

Volkswagen claimed the top five slots in the car section, with Sousa clocking a time of one hour, 20 minutes and 38 seconds over the 73-mile opening stage.

South African Giniel De Villiers was second and Spaniard Carlos Sainz third.

Faria finished the motorbike stage in a time of 1:22.7 to beat Yamaha team-mate Helder Rodriguez by 0.16 of a second.

The 15-stage race, which lasts 16 days and finishes in Senegal on 21 January, has a record number of competitors with 525 teams and 42 nationalities represented.

In all, 250 motorcycles, 187 cars and 88 trucks started the 4,918-mile race through Europe and Africa.

Sunday's second stage will take the racers from Portimao to Malaga in Spain over a total of 339 miles.

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Dakar Rally, stage 1 result (cars):

1 C Sousa (Por) Volkswagen 1:20:38
2 G de Villiers (SA) Volkswagen 1:23:09
3 C Sainz (Spn) Volkswagen 1:23:16
4 A Vatanen (Fin) Volkswagen 1:23:16
5 M Miller (US) Volkswagen 1:24:34
6 G Chicherit (Fr) BMW 1:25:30
7 N Roma (Spn) Mitsubishi 1:25:31
8 S Peterhansel (Fr) Mitsubishi 1:25:55
9 N Al-Attiyah (Qat) BMW 1:26:38
10 H Masuoka (Jpn) Mitsubishi 1:27:54

Stage 1 result (bikes):

1 R Faria (Por) Yamaha 1:22:07
2 H Rodrigues (Por) Yamaha 1:22:23
3 I Esteve (Spn) KTM 1:27:07
4 D Casteu (Fr) KTM 1:27:14
5 T Bethys (Fr) Honda 1:27:17
6 J Street (US) Pai 1:27:26
7 C Blais (US) KTM 1:27:40
8 PA Ullevalseter (Nor) KTM 1:28:23
9 F Planet (Fr) KTM 1:28:38
10 C Despres (Fr) KTM 1:29:33