Stephane Peterhansel has snatched the Dakar Rally 2014 lead on the second day of running; the Frenchman posted the quickest time on the second special stage, edging Carlos Sainz by 46 seconds. Peterhansel currently leads with a 28-second gap to Sainz. Nasser Al-Attiyah remains third overall despite being fifth quickest today.
Yesterday’s leader Carlos Sousa seems to be facing technical problems as he failed to cross the check point, although many other competitors have already done so. Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers, who faced mechanical issues yesterday, made a great comeback from 27th to 6th overall.
The motorcycle category remains wide open, with victory favorites Marc Coma and Cyril Despres losing out to several other rivals. Joan Barreda Bort extended his lead to 2 minutes; he is now followed by Chilean rider Francisco Lopez Contardo in second and Britain’s Sam Sunderland in third. Coma is fifth overall, while Despres drops to eighth.
Argentinean rider and 2013 champion Marcos Patronelli has taken the quad category lead with his Raptor 700 Yamaha, he heads felow countryman Lucas Bonetto who’s almost 4 minutes behind. Early leader Ignacio Casale dropped back to fourth behind now third-placed Rafal Sonik.
Russia’s Ayrat Madreev holds first place in the trucks class after stage 1, ahead of Czech Republic’s Ales Loprais; stage 2 results should start appearing in less than two hours (23:00 GMT+2).