BISHA, Saudi Arabia — There’s no easing into the Dakar Rally, as organizers have thrown some of the biggest challenges at competitors immediately.
Stage Two is the notorious 48-hour Chrono and on Sunday night the convoy sleeps out in the desert, with a massive 1,000km to cover in two days.
In the Ultimate class, five-time Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah made his move for the front in the new Dacia Sandrider and spent the day fighting for the lead. The Qatari and his Saudi Arabian rival Yazeed Al Rajhi pushed each other for over 600km before the 5 p.m. racing cut-off.
At sunset, it was Al Rajhi who held a lead of just over a minute on Al-Attiyah.
While one champion is in contention for the win, the news wasn’t good for defending Dakar winner Carlos Sainz, who flipped his Ford Raptor T1+. Teammate Mitch Guthrie Jr. was soon on the scene to help Sainz get going, but the damage sustained prevented the Spaniard from clawing back lost time and he ended the day close to one hour adrift of the leaders.
Sébastien Loeb also suffered bad luck, as the nine-time WRC winner came to a halt 409km into the stage and lost precious time. He was assisted by the third Dacia Sandrider of Cristina Gutiérrez and finished the day down in 17th place.
Among the surprises on the first half of the 48-hour Chrono was the performance of Ultimate class rookie Toby Price The two-time Bike champ got his teeth into the task with fellow Bike winning co-driver Sam Sunderland and the duo set up camp just 16m 20s off the stage leaders.
There was no 48-hour Chrono for Laia Sanz, following her Stage One crash. Although she brought her car back to the bivouac, it was too badly damaged to continue in her quest to finish a 15th consecutive Dakar.
The Bike class has seen a dream start for Australian Daniel Sanders. After wins on the Prologue and Stage One, Sanders was fastest again on the first part of the 48-hour Chrono. After close to eight hours in the saddle, Sanders put down the fastest time to maintain the overall lead of the bike race. Sanders is joined in the provisional top 10 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mate Luciano Benavides and 19-year-old rookie Edgar Canet, who has massively impressed so far.
In the Challenger class it was a decisive day for a pair of Taurus T3 Max drivers, as both Pau Navarro and Dania Akeel launched attacks. Navarro rose to fifth on his Challenger class debut while Akeel provisionally took sixth. Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team rookies Gonçalo Guerreiro and Corbin Leaverton stood up to everything in their first 48-hour Chrono experiences and came out in second and fourth respectively in the overall Challenger contest.
Monday sees the conclusion of the 48-hour Chrono, following a night for competitors sleeping out in tents. Separated from their mechanics, they must also perform all repairs themselves.
