Dakar 2024, live | Follow Stage 2 of the rally, live now

LAIA SANZ IS IN THE TOP-10. The Catalan passed kilometer 137 in the Top-10 cars, 7’39” behind Peterhansel’s best time at that point.

We received statements from Lorenzo Santolino after his abandonment at the start of stage 2 of the Dakar 2024: “The Dakar is over for me. At kilometer 15 of the special I had a technical problem and I couldn’t fix the bike. I waited for help from the organization, the helicopter picked me up and I was waiting to return to the next bivouac. It’s a shame because I think it’s been a good year, the level of the bike is good and I’m in a good physical and experience moment. The terrain presented itself was favorable and yesterday (on stage 1) I went calmly knowing that the Dakar is long and even so we are well placed.”

“It’s a shame that I couldn’t take advantage of it to get a good result for myself and the team, which deserves all the work and effort put in to get here. I’m a bit surprised, I don’t know what really happened. Thanks to everyone who always supports me, the sponsors, the family and the team”

Al-Attiyah He had to do everything, to make up for the time lost in his holes in stage 1 yesterday. In this stage 2, he was expected to fly and he passed kilometer 96 less than a minute behind Peterhansel, who ended up in second position. However, he lost by 8’10” at the next checkpoint, kilometer 137. This meant that Sainz was still gaining almost 4 minutes on him at this stage.

Dakar can complicate the current champion, the winner of the last two editions. At Toyota he dominated, but his start in the BRX did not go as desired… although he should not be singled out, there is a reason why he is the ‘prince of the desert’.

At the moment, Carlos Sainz is starting to open up the track after passing De Mevius. Before, at kilometer 137, Peterhansel was ahead of Al-Rajhi (1’11”) and Seth Quintero (1’46”). Loeb passed in 4th in 2’41” and Chicherit, in fifth place in 3’48”. Sainz, very well saving tools up to that point, gives up 3’49”. But now we have to see what the reference is to kilometer 167, where Carlos has already passed. Now we wait for the rest to compare the times.

After his performance in a very difficult stage 1 where Al-Attiyah, Loeb and Peterhansel lost a lot of time, Carlos Sainz, second overall, started 2nd today behind De Mevius, a Belgian making his debut in the premier category. That means having a less experienced driver at the front end up opening the track, with the loss of time that usually comes with it. So now Sainz must defend himself and minimize losses, avoiding possible navigation errors as much as possible.

At kilometer 226, halfway through today’s special, Pablo Quintanilla leads his Honda ahead of his teammate Cornejo (1 second behind) and current W2RC World Champion, Luciano Benavides. Sunderland was 4th at 2’27”, with Toby Price 5th at 2’43”. Buhler was 6th and Barreda, 7th at 4’45”. Nice special so far from Joan, who had to make up time. Kevin Benavides was 11th at 7’07”.

Ross Branch, who had to open the track today and started the day with an 11 minute lead in the general classification after his performance yesterday, is 12’19”, but note that he still has to make up for the lost opening bonus time the track at the end of the stage.

Today, stage 2 started with bad news for the Spanish drivers. Lorenzo Santolino, who was 6th on the bike after a tough stage 1, just 3 minutes behind 2nd overall, was unable to continue after suffering a mechanical problem at the start of the special. All information: Lorenzo Santolino left the Dakar because of a problem.

Good morning. We start the live stage 2 of the Dakar 2024, with the motorcycles already in the middle of the special and Carlos Sainz already on the track in the cars. 463 km special stage, again very long, arriving at Al Duwadimi (Saudi Arabia).