Alkass Digital
Audi veteran Stephane Peterhansel left his rivals trailing in the dust on stage two of the Dakar Rally yesterday in a treacherous 463km race through the winding dunes of the Saudi desert.
Defending champion Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah and co-driver Mathieu Baumel were fourth fastest yesterday at 6min 28secs.
Only nine-time rally world champion Sebastien Loeb got anywhere near Peterhansel at 29sec as American rookie Seth Quintero came home third at 3min 11sec.
The 58-year-old Peterhansel scooped his 50th Dakar Rally stage win to become joint record holder with Ari Vatanen.
“I stopped counting a long time ago, but it’s good to know I can still beat him,” Peterhansel said.
“The bar was very low because yesterday (Saturday) was an absolute disaster.
“Today (Sunday), we set a decent time and had fun in the cockpit, with nice tracks and dunes in the morning. No flats today, no navigation blunders either, so it was a good stage. Yesterday (Saturday) was a downer because I was unable to figure out how to drive on stones.
“It was a peculiar stage and everything came out wrong...but, as (Pierre) Lartigue said a long time ago, Dakar is still far away. I’m not really keeping count of the stages, I knew I was mano a mano with Vatanen, but I had no clue whether I’d already surpassed him! Keep in mind that he won as many stages as I have, but in a shorter span. He’s a legend. Back when he raced in the Dakar, he used to take stage wins and the overall like nobody’s business... but this means I’ve still got a shot at beating him,” he added.
But the result leaves Audi’s Carlos Sainz in the overall lead at 8hr 49min 38sec with a lead of 1min 51sec on Saudi Arabian Yazeed al-Rajhi who came fifth yesterday, while Loeb sits third at 4min 17sec.
Al-Attiyah and co-driver Baumel have endured two tough days. On Saturday, it was two punctures near the start of the special. Yesterday, it was a broken rear arm that delayed the world champions. But the Nasser Racing crew remains upbeat.
“It was good, very fast. We pushed from the beginning, but we broke a rear arm and we stopped for more than ten minutes to repair. I think it’s a weak point of this car because Seb broke the same arm yesterday (Saturday). We’ll try to speak with the team to fix the problems.
“I enjoy the car a lot, even with all the problems we had today and yesterday, we’re still in the game, it’s only twelve minutes in the overall,” al-Attiyah said yesterday.
In the motorbike section Honda’s Ignacio Cornejo took the win with a lead of 5min 59sec ahead of Luciano Benavides while Botswana’s Ross Branch remains in the overall lead. Today’s 438km run from Al Duwamsimi to Al Salamiya features changing terrain from dunes to jagged rocky sections.
Motorcyclist in ‘serious’
condition after crash
Spanish motorcyclist Carles Falcon was helicoptered to hospital with serious injuries in Saudi Arabia yesterday after crashing during the second stage of the Dakar Rally. The high-speed race over jagged rocks and winding sand dunes in the Saudi desert was almost complete when the experienced off-road rider from Tarragona suffered an accident.
“Immediately notified by another racer who was following him, the organisation dispatched a medical helicopter which took care of the injured motorcyclist in a condition considered serious. He was airlifted to Al Duwadimi hospital,” race organiser ASO said yesterday. Falcon, riding for the Twintrail Racing Team, was 76th after Saturday’s opening stage.