The second stage of the Dakar 2022, in which the pilots have been able to receive assistance after the cancellation of the marathon stage which was scheduled for today, has developed without major shocks. Sam Sunderland had to settle for the second best time of the day in the motorcycle category after being surpassed by five and a half minutes by the Spanish Joan Barreda. In cars, Sébastien Loeb and Nasser Al-Attiyah almost reached the goal together after the Frenchman overtook. Stéphane Peterhansel, whose continuity in the rally was in doubt after yesterday’s mechanical problems, completed the stage without major problems, finishing fourth, albeit with a notable penalty.
Sam sunderland After the stage, he acknowledged having paid special attention to navigation and was satisfied with the result obtained, which places him at the forefront of the general classification in motorcycles: «I have concentrated on navigation. Even when I had the tracks of other riders before me I have always made sure to check where I was going. You lose some time slowing down to make sure you’re on the right track, but then you quickly pick up the pace. I caught up with Adrien Van Beveren and Matthias Walkner and, after the provisioning, we took turns to open the track. It was a very complex sailing, but overall I am satisfied with the day. It is always a joy to be in charge of the provisional general, even if there is still a long way to gor. The important thing is that the bike is doing well and I feel physically strong this year ».
Kevin Benavides he has obtained the third best time of the day, which has earned him to place himself at the gates of the ‘top 10’ in the general classification. Good news for the Argentine who, after the navigation problems he had to deal with yesterday, had been left quite behind: «We recovered by pushing hard from the start of the day. Today’s special was fast and difficult, you had to know where to attack and when to focus on navigation. The Dakar is like that, there are always ups and downs».
Daniel sanders, who had obtained the victory in the two previous days, has fallen to third place overall. His problems locating one of the mandatory crossing points has made him give up 24 minutes with respect to the winner of stage 2: «Things were going well for me today until the 200 kilometer refreshment station. Afterwards, it was crazy. I have skipped a ‘waypoint’ and I have lost about 20 minutes to find it. I had to give him gas to close the gap in the dunes and I had a good end of the stage. I have lost some time, but it is only the second day of competition. I have given 20 minutes today but I plan to give it my all for the next few days ».
Sebastien loeb He has achieved his fifteenth stage victory today on a Dakar, which is also the first in Prodrive’s record. The French rider was satisfied with his performance and with the car’s performance: «I attacked hard, it was a WRC special between two WRC drivers. We rode hard and I finally managed to scratch Nasser’s time, probably because he had to open a track between the dunes. We signed a perfect special, without making mistakes or puncturing. The thing has been very close because the rhythm of the two cars is very similar. Our car is responding well, at least against the Toyota. He didn’t want to overtake Nasser but the road was getting very stony. We reached plains where a lot of dust was raised, so I preferred to overtake it in the final section. I prefer that he is the one who takes risks and not me.
Nasser Al-Attiyah He still maintains the overall lead in cars with an advantage of more than nine minutes over Loeb, who in the opinion of the Qatari driver seems to be emerging as his main rival: «We have hit a stone in the last 10 kilometers, but we have decided not to stop so as not to lose an additional three minutes. I am quite satisfied with the stage, we have been open all day and it has not been easy. We could talk about a duel with Loeb now. And we may fight to the end, but there is still a lot of rally to go to the finish line. I see that BRX has improved compared to last year and Seb is very fast, but we have done a good job too. Today we lost, but tomorrow we will start the stage behind him. We’ll see who wins. I have the feeling that many surprises await us on this Dakar.
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Stéphane Peterhansel He seems focused now on winning specials after having lost almost any chance to revalidate his champion title. After yesterday’s mechanical problems, Peterhansel drags a penalty of almost 27 hours, of which 10 hours and 50 minutes correspond to exceeding the maximum time in which a runner must overcome a certain part of the stage, 10 hours having appeared at the end point with a delay of more than fifteen minutes and 6 hours for the ‘waypoints’ not crossed: «I hope we can win stages between now and the end of the test. Today has been a somewhat particular day, I think I have never started so far back. The sand was very rough after the passage of so many vehicles and we noticed the very heavy car. Driving in conditions like this is very time consuming and difficult to compare times. Now we are going to try to win specials, put the vehicle to the test and prepare for next year.
Giniel de Villiers He stood today at the gates of the general standings by obtaining the eighth best time of the day, to later be sanctioned with a 5-minute penalty for hitting a motorcycle: «Unfortunately we had to change a wheel after damaging it in the reception of a jump at the start of the special. In any case, it has had no further repercussions. Nasser had an incredible time, he is very strong on fast stages like today. We are happy with our performance today, although the puncture will translate for us in three minutes. There is a nice fight between Nasser and Loeb, who are side by side. It will be nice to see the outcome of the duel. Many others have wasted time trying to find a ‘way point’. The race is still wide open. Nasser and Sébastien set a tremendous pace. In my case, trying to attack is not the correct strategy. There are ten days left and in specials like today, anything can happen».