After a bruising opening stage there were already sizeable time gaps in the Ultimate class ahead of Stage 2, but turning that around was Stéphane Peterhansel. The Audi RS Q e-tron driver powered to his 50th stage win on four wheels (plus a further 33 in the Bike class). He lifted himself up to 13m 16s off the race lead, which is now occupied by team-mate Carlos Sainz. The 61-year-old Spaniard now has a cushion of 1m 51s over local favourite Yazeed Al Rajhi. “It was a much better day than yesterday for us and it was a pleasure to drive. The settings on the car were really good and to take a stage victory is always nice,” said Peterhansel, 58.
– After losing time on Stage 1, it was also a decent day in the desert for Sébastien Loeb as he promoted his Prodrive Hunter to the overall podium after missing out on the stage win by just 30s. The record WRC champion said: “It was a long stage, but very nice for us. I tried to push throughout. We hesitated a few times with the navigation, but each time we came back to the track quite quickly.” Flying the flag for the next generation are Seth Quintero, 21, and Guillaume de Mévius, 29. Both drivers are making their Ultimate class debut and sit fourth and fifth in the general classification.
– Ominously for the drivers at the front, there was also a significant move made by defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, despite some technical issues with his Prodrive Hunter. Al-Attiyah has lifted himself to seventh overall, grouped in with Mattias Ekström, Lucas Moraes and Peterhansel. All have their eyes fixed on podium places.
– In the Bike class, Luciano Benavides showed the speed that saw him crowned the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship winner in 2023. The Argentinian rode his Husqvarna to second place on the stage to break into the top five overall, just two seconds ahead of Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders. The Australian leads his team-mate Sam Sunderland by less than a minute, while a further 1m 20s behind Sunderland is Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Toby Price.
– Managing to squeeze his way among the Goczal family at the front of the Challenger class on Stage 2 was Mitch Guthrie Jr. The American has been a big part of the development of the MCE-5 Taurus vehicle that currently holds the Top 5 places in the category and finished third today behind 19-year-old Eryk Goczal and his uncle Michal. Eryk’s father Marek was fourth on today’s stage and the Goczal brigade still occupies all three podium spots in the general classification. Then comes Guthrie Jr. , 17m 7s behind the race leader, with the fifth MCE-5 Taurus of Cristina Gutiérrez just a couple of minutes behind. Guthrie Jr., 27, said: “Stage Two was a lot of fun and definitely a lot better than the first one. Today was much faster, but there were still some dunes and also rocky areas.”
– Another intense day awaits on Stage 3, where a 440km special featuring vast dunes separates the competitors from the next bivouac in Al Salamiya. There, team mechanics will have just two hours to work on the race vehicles before the competitors continue to a Marathon Stage bivouac
2024 Dakar Rally overall standings after Stage 2
Ultimate Car
1. Carlos Sainz (ESP) 8h 49m 38s
2. Yazeed Al Rajhi (SAU) +1m 51s
3. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) +4m 17s
Challenger Car
1. Eryk Goczal (POL) 9h 39m 40s
2. Michał Goczal (POL) +1m 19s
3. Marek Goczel (POL) +11m 24s
Bike
1. Ross Branch (BWA) 9h 50m 5s
2. Jose Ignacio Cornejo (CHL) +2m 55s
3. Ricky Brabec (USA) +7m 15s
Day 1: Prologue – January 5, 2024
Route: AlUla > AlUla: Liaison 130km and Special 27km
Sweden’s Mattias Ekström came out hard and fast at the beginning of the 46th Dakar Rally with the Audi RS Q e-tron star and co-driver Emil Bergkvist winning the Ultimate car prologue by an impressive 23 seconds from American category debutant Seth Quintero with Frenchman Sébastien Loeb third 38 seconds behind. Ekström, 45, said: “We had a clean run and I was enjoying driving the car a lot, so I’m very happy”
With 5,000km to cover over the 12 days of intense racing, reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah was just 1m1s behind Ekström in his Prodrive Hunter rally car debut as he looks to win a sixth Dakar Rally title in a fourth different car. The Qatari, 53, revealed: “It’s a good start. I’m so happy with the performance, the handling was great. We lost some time when we missed one junction, but we still managed to finish strongly.”
– Fighting back from a big recent injury, Australian Daniel Sanders piloted his Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing bike to a prologue second just 12 seconds behind Spaniard Tosha Schareina with Luciano Benavides, teammate Sam Sunderland, Toby Price and Kevin Benavides all inside the top 10. Sanders, who finished fourth overall as a rookie back in 2021, declared: “It was rough with so much traffic in front. I tried to follow the roadbook and just made one mistake near the finish.”
– The Challenger car class looks set to be a fascinating tussle with American Mitch Guthrie Jr. ending the best placed of the leading overall contenders in fifth with three-time Dakar quad winner Ignacio Casale sixth in his Yamaha YXZ 1000R prototype and Guthrie Jr.’s fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team racer Cristina Gutiérrez an encouraging eighth.
– Saturday’s Stage 1 will see the convoy tackle a mammoth and tricky 405km timed special stage to Al Hanakiyah, including 127km of liaison.
