BUDAPEST, Hungary — Carlos Sainz of Spain won the first stage of the Central Europe Rally today, edging Robby Gordon of the United States and Giniel de Villiers of South Africa.

Sainz, driving a Volkswagen, completed the 39-mile special stage on a military shooting range in Taborfalva in 39 minutes, 56 seconds, 41 seconds faster than Gordon in his black Hummer H3. De Villiers was 56 seconds back from Sainz in a Volkswagen.

Marc Coma of Spain won the first stage of the motorcycle competition in 40 minutes, 1:40 ahead of Cyril Despres of France. Jordi Viladoms of Spain was third, a further 0.2 back.

More than 230 vehicles are taking part in the maiden event of the Dakar Series, a new competition launched by the organizers of the Dakar Rally, which was canceled this year due to terrorism threats in North Africa. The 2009 edition of the contest is scheduled to be held in Argentina and Chile.

The seven-stage event is taking place over 1,670 miles _ nearly 680 miles of timed stages on closed circuits and the rest on highways where competitors must obey local traffic regulations.

Cars, motorcycles, trucks and all-terrain vehicles took off Sunday morning from Heroes' Square and made a short tour around downtown Budapest before heading to Taborfalva, a town 37 miles southeast of Hungary's capital, for the timed stage.

Among the participants are several former winners of the Dakar Rally, including nine-time champion Stephane Peterhansel of France and his compatriot, Luc Alphand, as well as Nani Roma of Spain.

Gordon, who said at the time that the January cancellation of the Dakar Rally cost him about $4.5 million and criticized race creators Amaury Race Organization for not having a "Plan B," was glad for the new opportunity to compete.

"This race does make up for the Dakar," Gordon said. "I was disappointed because we have a lot of sponsors ... and if there was no event, how do you explain to them that they still have to pay because we spent the money?

"By having this event this year, I believe they saved our team and maybe even some of the others," said the California-born driver who also competes in other off-road races and NASCAR events.

Gordon, who won stages of the Dakar race the past three years and led the event in 2005, said his team made several modifications to his Hummer _ including a small fuel tank and a smaller tread width and wheel base _ because of the shorter stages of this rally.

Peterhansel, who has won three car Dakars and six on motorcycle, also spoke about the need to use different tactics for this race compared with the Dakar event.

"We need to start fast and take more risks because of the short stages," Peterhansel said. "If you want to have a chance to win, you need to push fast from the first kilometer to the last."

From Taborfalva, competitors head to Baia Mare, Romania, for timed stages Monday and Tuesday before returning to Hungary.

The race ends Saturday near Lake Balaton, the largest lake in Central Europe.