Dakar 2011: Leg 2

End of SS2: Cordoba-San Miguel de Tucuman Cars/Trucks: 324 Kms Bikes/Quads: 300Kms

Carlos Sainz continues to lead the 2011 Dakar Rally after taking the win on today’s stage, the 324 Km run from Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucaman. Sainz’ team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah came in second, 1 min 43secs behind the Spaniard. Third was Stéphane Peterhansel, who finished 2 mins 14secs behind the leading VW driver in his BMW X3.

Today’s stage challenged crews in the car and truck classes with 324Kms of racing, with the road surface much the same as yesterday’s stage. The bikes and quads again made a slight detour, which took 24Kms off their stage mileage.

The stage began in dry and dusty conditions as rally leader Sainz set off into the 324 Km test, but the rain returned mid-way through and towards the end of the stage. With the stage appearance again similar to a WRC stage, Sainz and Al-Attiyah again capitalised, with Al-Attiyah half-a-minute ahead of third placed Peterhansel.

Sainz showed the opposition why he has won three times at Rally Argentina, not to mention two World Driver’s titles, leading the stage from start to finish, with Peterhansel and Al-Attiyah in second and third, respectively, throughout the stage.

Their positions remain the same in the general classification.

Another VW driver, Ginnel de Villiers, holds fourth, while Krzysztof Holowczyk and Orlando Terranova are fifth and sixth. Leonid Novitskiy, Guilherme Spinelli, Christian Lavieille and former winner Nani Roma closing out the Top 10.

The easy-to-spot Hummer H3 of Robbie Gordon had a torrid stage. First, the American crashed off the road, losing 57 mins. Then, he blew up the transmission, having to be towed back to the bivouac by a fellow competitor. He now sits 21^st. Guerlain Chicherit is now 23^rd overall, gaining seventh place on the stage. The new MINI performing well, having cured the problems that so badly ruined his first stage in the new car.

The Kamaz-powered team of Kabirov/Belyaev/Mokeev continue to lead the truck section of the rally, but the Tatra-powered Loprais/Holan/Kalina team are only 9 secs behind, overall. The Chagin/Savostin/Shaysultanov crew are a further 22 secs behind in the general classification. However, the rest of the truck field is well spread out, with fourth place over 9 mins behind third and fifth over 4 mins behind fourth.

To the bikes and Cyril Despres still leads with Marc Coma now in second. Ruben Faria fallen to third. The Despres-Coma gap now stands at 2 mins 35 secs, with Faria now 6 mins 13 secs behind Despres. The KTM team still have the stranglehold over the podium places, with Aprilia-mounted Francisco Lopez Contardo almost 6 mins behind the leader, Despres.

In the quad class, Josef Machacek continues to lead the class. Alejandro Patronelli is now second after winning today’s stage. Still third is Sebastian Halpern. Machacek is just over 5 mins ahead of Patronelli, with Halpern 7 mins 45 secs further back. Yamaha have lost their stranglehold on the Top 10, but they still hold the Top 6.