Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Mini won the first stage of the Dakar Rally between Buenos Aires and Villa Carlos Paz on Sunday but defending champion Nani Roma saw his hopes collapse.

Al-Attiyah, who won the title with Volkswagen in 2011, clocked 1 hour, 12 minutes for the 170-kilometre timed section of the 833km stage.

That was 22 seconds faster than Argentina’s Orlando Terranova, also in a Mini, and 1:04 ahead of American Robby Gordon behind the wheel of a Hummer.

Veteran Peugeot drivers Carlos Sainz and Stephane Peterhansel placed eighth and 10th respectively at 2:06 and 2:35.

But it was a miserable first day for Roma as the Spaniard’s Mini broke down after just 10km and he ended the day being towed home, more than four hours behind Al-Attiyah.

“The stage was a bit too fast, but we got off to a good start. We needed to know where everyone stands,” said Al-Attiyah.

“We might be able to be more aggressive tomorrow. There were a few tricky spots where we didn’t take any risks. The car worked perfectly.”

In the motorbike section, Britain’s Sam Sunderland on a KTM was fastest in 1:18:57, 0:05 faster than Paulo Goncalves of Portugal on a Honda and 1:12 ahead of last year’s winner Marc Coma on a KTM.

“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,” said Sunderland.

“It’s also important not to go all in, you’ve got to leave something for the other stages.”

This year’s rally features a gruelling 9000km trek through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia before arriving back in Buenos Aires for a January 17 finish.

Former winners Sainz and Peterhansel were spearheading the Peugeot campaign as the French car-makers returned to the Dakar Rally for the first time in 25 years.

This year’s event, the seventh in South America since its enforced transfer for security reasons from Africa, is the 37th of all time.