Dakar: Peterhansel is the rider of the day, but Loeb lost only 29 seconds.

The second stage of the Dakar took place in the central part of Saudi Arabia, with participants in this year’s rally raid crossing desert areas with dunes for the first time. This did not cause any particular problems, except that it was necessary to carefully monitor navigation.

We have already briefly talked about the anniversary, the 50th victory of Stéphane Peterhansel in today’s stage: “Mr. Dakar” managed to partially recover after yesterday’s setback related to several punctures, and the French veteran, who plays for the Audi factory team, once again returned to the ranks of favorites.

But in the general classification, Carlos Sainz, Peterhansel’s teammate, remains in the lead after the results of two stages, but second place is taken by Sebastien Loeb’s team, who also finished today’s stage in second place and less than a lost half a minute. to the winner. Loeb’s teammate, Nasser Al-Attiyah, also gradually started to catch up – today he showed the 4th fastest time.

In the motorcycle class, the stage victory went to experienced Chilean Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo – riding a proven Japanese-made vehicle, the Honda CRF 450 Rally. But the lead after two days is retained by Ross Branch, the winner of yesterday’s stage.

There were no changes in the ATV category: just like yesterday, the stage was won by Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros, maintaining the lead in the general classification.

In the Challenger class, also called T3, the picture is similar: among the teams competing in light SUVs, the Polish-Spanish duo, consisting of racer Eric Gochal and co-driver Oriol Mena, is in the lead. Just like on Saturday, Michal Gochal, the uncle of the 19-year-old winner, arrived second at the finish of the stage.

But in the T4 class, also known as SSV (light SUVs similar in design, but simpler and less powerful), came the most experienced Spanish crew from the South Racing Can-Am team, composed of Gerard Güel and Diego Gil, first. As the name of the team suggests, they compete in a car from the Canadian brand Can-Am.

But second place today was taken by the Sebastien Loeb Racing team – French drivers Sebastien Loeb Racing Xavier de Soltre and Martin Bonnet lost only five seconds to the leaders. They are in third place in the overall standings and clearly intend to fight for victory in the rally stage.

Finally, the leader in the freight category did not change after two days – the second consecutive victory in the stage was achieved by the Dutch trio Janus van Kasteren, driving an Iveco Powerstar. But second place was taken by the most experienced Czech team of Ales Loprais, one of the few drivers who could ever compete with Russian KAMAZ trucks. The Czechs race the Praga V4S DRR prototype. Today they lost only 6 seconds to the leaders, and it is clear that they must be considered among the undisputed favorites.

On Monday, during the third stage of the rally attack, the participants will have to conquer 733 km, of which 438 km are fast special stages. Difficult challenges await everyone, as the terrain and nature of the route will change: there will be rocky areas and desert areas with endless rows of dunes. The task is also complicated by the fact that the team mechanics have only two hours after the stage finish to get the equipment in order. But experienced Dakar veterans are no strangers to this.