The second part of the first leg, stage 1b near Hail, saw two MINI JCW Buggy finish in the top ten. Argentineans Sebastian Halpern and Bernardo “Ronnie” Graue ended day two in sixth place, with Jakub “Kuba” Przygonski (POL) and Timo Gottschalk (GER) ninth. Yasir Seaidan (KSA) and Alexey Kuzmich came home 14th in their MINI JCW Rally. Three positions behind, the third MINI JCW Buggy with Denis Krotov and Konstantin Zhiltsov crossed the finish line. Laia Sanz (ESP) and Maurizio Gerini (ITA) finished the stage in 32nd place in the MINI ALL4 Racing.
As announced by the organisers ahead of the event, navigation proved to be very challenging. One waypoint in particular in the last third of the stage caused many crews to despair. Argentineans Halpern and Graue made good progress at the start of the stage, losing just a little time whilst looking for one waypoint. As a result, they finished in a very fine sixth place.
Sebastian Halpern: “That was a very nice stage today – with sand, rocks and dunes. We lost a few minutes looking for one waypoint, but everyone had issues there. Ronnie did a great job. We are sixth overall and are very happy with that.”
Przygonski and Gottschalk were second onto the route and thus created tracks for the cars behind them to follow. A puncture resulted in them losing a few minutes, but the biggest challenge was reserved came towards the end of the stage. Like many other crews, they lost time whilst searching for a waypoint. This meant they had to settle for eighth place at the end of the day.
Kuba Przygonski: “Exciting terrain on day one. A lot of sand, rocks and tricky ascents – and by no means easy. There were also a lot of jumps, which were hard on the car. We struggled to find the right way at one point, as did all the cars that opened the route. We lost a lot of time, but we made it to the finish and reached every waypoint. We should be happy with that.”
Nearly the whole stage went very well for Seaidan, and even the tricky navigation could not slow him down. The Saudi Arabian found himself as high as third place at one point. However, he suffered a broken drive shaft shortly before the finish. The repair took a long time, and Seaidan eventually reached the finish in 14th place.
Yasir Seaidan: “The navigation was challenging today. The route was very bumpy for many kilometres, but we came through very well. We did not make any mistakes in terms of navigation either. However, with just 20 kilometres remaining, the drive shaft broke. Despite this, I am happy with today.”
Tomorrow sees the competitors take on the marathon stage, from Hail to Artawiyah, where the crews will spend the evening alone and unable to call upon assistance from their teams. However, the competitors are permitted to support each other.
Dakar Rally – result SS1b
1. N. Al-Attiyah / M. Baumel – Toyota – 3h 19m 57s
2. S. Loeb / F. Lurquin – BRX – 3h 32m 04s
3. M. Prokop / V. Chytka – Ford – 3h 41m 18s
4. L. Alvarez / A. Monleon – Toyota – 3h 46m 28s
5. V. Vasilyev / O. Uperenko – BMW X5 – 3h 47m 49s
6. S. Halpern / B. Graue – MINI JCW Buggy – 3h 48m 13s
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9. J. Przygonski / T. Gottschalk – MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 00m 47s
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14. Y. Seaidan / A. Kuzmich – MINI JCW Rally – 4h 10m 10s
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16. V. Zala / P. Fiuza – MINI JCW Rally – 4h 13m 55s
17. D. Krotov / K. Zhiltsov – MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 14m 25s
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32. L. Sanz / M. Gerini – MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 39m 04s
Overall standings after SS1b
1. N. Al-Attiyah / M. Baumel – Toyota – 3h 30m 53s
2. S. Loeb / F. Lurquin – BRX – 3h 43m 37s
3. M. Prokop / V. Chytka – Ford – 3h 53m 32s
4. L. Alvarez / A. Monleon – Toyota – 3h 58m 35s
5. V. Vasilyev / O. Uperenko – BMW X5 – 3h 59m 51s
6. S. Halpern / B. Graue – MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 00m 30s
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8. J. Przygonski / T. Gottschalk – MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 12m 44s
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13. Y. Seaidan / A. Kuzmich – MINI JCW Rally – 4h 22m 26s
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15. V. Zala / P. Fiuza – MINI JCW Rally – 4h 27m 04s
16. D. Krotov / K. Zhiltsov – MINI JCW Buggy – 4h 27m 15s
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31. L. Sanz / M. Gerini – MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 52m 40s
