Dakar – Al-Attiyah attacks hard in the 2nd stage

With 518km timed and crushing heat, the crews had to face the first difficulties of the 2015 Dakar where the longest special was contested between Villa Carlos Paz and San Juan (Argentina). After being penalized, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Mini) shone in the second stage en bouclant le parcours chronométré en 5h40’50 après avoir pris tous les risques, en choisissant notamment de ne prendre que deux roues de secours. Le Qatari a devancé de plus de huit minutes Giniel de Villiers (Toyota), son plus proche poursuivant, suivi par Bernhard Ten Brike (Toyota) qui complète le podium provisoire sur un autre Hilux.

The Minis of Krzysztof Holowczyk and Vladimir Vasilyev complete the provisional top five of the day ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota). Erik Van Loon (Mini) is currently the only other driver less than 20 minutes behind the reference time.

Robby Gordon (Gordini Buggy) lost several tens of minutes following a brake problem while he was in second place at the end of the first stage. The Peugeot 2008 DKR also lose a lot of ground since Carlos Sainz is 20 minutes behind the leader at the end of the special, while his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel loses more than an hour. But the Spaniard is especially worried because of a collision with a biker. Cyril Desprès was 40 minutes late at the last checkpoint.