The French anti-terrorist prosecutor's office has started preliminary investigations after the explosion before the start of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia.

The Paris authorities said on Tuesday that there was a suspicion of an attempt to kill in connection with terrorism.

A French driver was seriously injured in the leg in the explosion on a vehicle belonging to his team in the coastal city of Jeddah last Thursday.

According to organizer Aso, the other five French in the car were uninjured.

The driver is Philippe Boutron from Team Sodicars Racing, who was to be competing in the rally for the ninth time.

According to Boutron's team, he was operated on at the Jeddah military hospital.

He was later flown to France, as reported by the French news agency AFP.

The pro-government Saudi newspaper "Saudi Gazette" reported on Sunday that the police were ruling out a criminal background after initial investigations.

The French Foreign Ministry announced that the hypothesis of a criminal act could not be ruled out.

Terrorist threats persist in Saudi Arabia.

Maximum vigilance is necessary in everyday life.

The Dakar Rally will take place in Saudi Arabia for the third time this year and will run until January 14th.

It leads from Ha'il in northern Saudi Arabia in a loop, first to the east via the capital Riyadh and then through the southern desert to the coast to Jeddah.

First victory for Audi

Meanwhile, the three-time champion Carlos Sainz gave Audi its first day win at the Dakar Rally.

The Spaniard won the 368 km long special stage of the third stage with start and finish in Al Qaisumah, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Audi is testing a sustainable concept at the Dakar.

In the RS Q e-tron, Sainz and Co. rely on an electric drive in combination with an efficient energy converter.

Record champion Stephane Peterhansel (France / + 1:41 minutes) rounded off the good result for Ingolstadt in third place.

The third Audi driver Mattias Ekström (Sweden / + 2:59) finished fifth.

Overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) was one of the day's winners.

The three-time champion from Qatar finished the day in eighth place (+ 5:10) and massively expanded his top position in the overall standings.

His rival Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) struggled with technical problems early on and reached the finish line more than 30 minutes behind the winner of the day, Sainz.

As second in the overall standings, veteran Loeb is now 37:40 minutes behind Al-Attiyah.

The fourth stage leads over 465 kilometers from Al Qaisumah to the capital Riyadh on Wednesday.