Rally Raid
KTM's Sam Sunderland grabs the lead of the Bike class as reigning champion Toby Price hits trouble at the 2020 Dakar Rally, while in the Car class Giniel de Villiers wins Stage 2 for Toyota.
Stage 2 of the 2020 Dakar Rally saw the competitors hit the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia and with the crews better settled in to the race's new home after a day's worth of competition, the pace was increasing out in the dunes.
The stage brought the remaining competitors a further 400km north, as they left behind Al Wajh and headed towards Neom. The runners and riders across the five classes looked to establish a solid mix of speed and precision to ensure a high finishing position when the finish comes into view.
Read on to find out who gained and lost time as the 2020 Dakar Rally entered its second day of competition.
KTM's Sam Sunderland takes overall Bike lead
For KTM's Toby Price, Stage 2 of the 2020 Dakar Rally wouldn't prove to be such a good day. Following his Stage 1 win, it was Botswanian rider and 2019's best newcomer Ross Branch's turn to smile, as he won his first Dakar Rally stage, finishing 1m 24s ahead of new overall standings leader Sam Sunderland.
Price started the day with a five second lead after receiving a two-minute penalty at the end of Stage 1 and the Australian found it difficult to consolidate his lead, losing considerable time, while second place man Ricky Brabec also lost ground early on.
Spanish rider Joan Barreda led the stage after 159km, followed by Branch and Pablo Quintanilla and, by the 264km mark, Branch had seized the lead of the stage, with the KTM rider resisting intense pressure from Quintanilla, just one minute behind. At the end of the stage, Sunderland had made it two KTM's at the top of the timesheet, beating Quintanilla to second for the stage and assume the overall lead of the class.
Laia Sanz struggled on day two of the 2020 Dakar Rally, suffering a fall on the first part of the special and losing 20 minutes, but the Spanish rider regrouped to get back on the trail to Neom. Bolivian rider Daniel Nosiglia Jager wasn't as lucky and his race came to an end after 141km with a fall and a minor head injury requiring a trip to hospital.
Dakar Rally 2020 Bike standings (after Stage 2)
- Sam Sunderland (GBR) 7h 21m 22s
- Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) +1m 18s
- Kevin Benavides (ARG) +1m 32s
- Matthias Walkner (AUT) +2m 00s
- Ricky Brabec (USA) +4m 11s
Giniel de Villiers claims first Saudi stage win in the Cars
Toyota's Giniel de Villiers drove superbly to win his first stage of the 2020 Dakar Rally, smoothly navigating the 367km stage when many of his competitors struggled with the tricky navigational requirements. Argentina's Orlando Terranova claimed the overall lead at the end of the stage meanwhile.
It was home advantage for Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi in the opening 50km of Stage 2, as the Toyota driver attacked the dunes, leading Nasser Al-Attiyah, de Villiers and Fernando Alonso, who was running solidly during the early hours of his second ever day of Dakar racing.
By the halfway point of the special stage, the double Formula One world champion had ground to a halt, though, and he lost around 20 minutes, as Al-Rajhi extended his advantage at the front to a four minute lead over Toyota team-mate Al-Attiyah.
Stage 1's surprise winner Vaidotas Zala struggled to keep up with the leaders' pace and after 214km found himself 16 minutes behind Al Rajhi, as other hopefuls for the overall lead, including Carlos Sainz, Stéphane Peterhansel, Al-Attiyah and Bernhard Ten Brinke, all lost ground.
Ultimately, long-time stage leader Al-Rajhi's bid for victory came undone when he made a navigational error late on and saw his six-minute lead over de Viliers vanish, as the South African claimed a popular win ahead of Terranova, who took the overall lead ahead of Sainz.
Fernando Alonso recovered from his broken wheel, but the issue caused the Spanish driver to lose two-and-a-half hours in the overall standings.
Dakar Rally 2020 Car standings (after Stage 2)
- Orlando Terranova (ARG) 7h 7m 36s
- Carlos Sainz (ESP) +4m 43s
- Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) +6m 7s
- Mathieu Serradori (FRA) +7m 22s
- Vaidotas Zala (LTU) +8m 11s
Chaleco López snatches the overall SSV lead
Reigning SSV champion Francisco 'Chaleco' López made a great recovery from problems on Sunday's opening stage and stamped his authority on this year's rally during Stage 2.
López suffered not one, but two, punctures on day one and ended up fourth overall, but a rapid performance en route to Neom saw the Chilean take the rally lead by over 11 minutes, despite a strong challenge early on in the stage from Conrad Ratenbach.
For Stage 1 winner Aron Domzala there would be no repeat celebrations, as he suffered mechanical problems that dropped him nearly 1.5hrs behind the leader.
Dakar Rally 2020 SSV standings (after Stage 2)
- Francisco López (CHI) 8h 21m 15s
- Casey Currie (USA) +9m 37s
- Jose Antonio Hinojo Lopez (ESP) +10m 48s
- Sergey Karyakin (RUS) +18m 37s
- Austin Jones (USA) +20m 47s
Ignacio Casale builds on his Quad lead in the sand
Ignacio Casale continued Stage 2 where he left off on day one by winning the stage and extending his overall lead in the Quad category, delivering a blistering performance aboard his Yamaha.
At the 100km mark, Casale enjoyed a 1m 37s lead over Enrico Giovanni, with Stage 1 runner-up Rafał Sonik a couple of minutes further back in third place. Sonik moved up to second overall by the 214km point however, around five minutes adrift of Casale's lead.
By 314km into the stage, Casale had extended his lead to over eight minutes over Sonik, with Simon Vitse moving up into third place, and up front the double Dakar winner steamed to his second stage win to beat Sonik by 3m 33s. Will the Polish rider have any answer for the blistering pace of his Chilean rival?
Dakar Rally 2020 Quad standings (after Stage 2)
- Ignacio Casale (CHI) 9h 3m 44s
- Rafał Sonik (POL) +9m 9s
- Giovanni Enrico (CHI) +23m 8s
- Simon Vitse (FRA) +29m 56s
- Manual Andujar (ARG) + 1hr 11m 33s
Viazovich wins Stage 2 and leads Truck overall
The road to Neom saw Stage 1's winner Anton Shibalov make a rapid start in his KAMAZ to establish a solid lead of almost one minute over nearest challenger Siarhei Viazovich. By the end of the Al Wajh to Neom stage, though, it was the Byelorussian Maz driver Viazovich who was celebrating taking the stage win and the overall lead of the class.
159km into the stage was the moment Viazovich took control, leading the KAMAZ of Dmitry Sotnikov by just under a minute, with last year's Dakar winner Eduard Nikolaev almost 15 minutes off the pace.
Dakar Rally 2020 Truck standings (after Stage 2)
- Siarhei Viazovich (BLR) 7h 29m 52s
- Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) +4m 20s
- Andrey Karginov (RUS) +7m 12s
- Anton Shibalov (RUS) +13m 42s
- Martin Macik (CZE) +14m 6s
Quote of the day
"There was one place where all top five cars were lost. Navigation is really difficult at this rally. After this, we had to relax our pace and proceed with a little caution. When we could we tried to push, but unluckily for us we had another three flat tyres out there." – Nasser Al-Attiyah
The race is really difficult, but this is how it should be at the Dakar
Stage 3 preview
Day three of the 2020 Dakar Rally sees the convoy take on a loop stage that starts and finishes at the bivouac in Neom. The majority of the 414km special stage will be over sand, as the rally continues to acquaint itself with the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
The loop will take competitors to the border with Jordan and features canyons and mountains, and it's during this special stage that the 2020 Dakar Rally will reach its highest point at an altitude of 1,400m.
Catch the action from Saudi Arabia live with Red Bull TV's Daily Dakar show.
