The second stage of the 2011 Dakar Rally saw the two favourites in the Bike and Cars categories continue to set the leading pace, both winning their second consecutive stage. The Trucks category saw a change of lead, and already a fierce battle for mere seconds is taking place, reports EVAN ROTHMAN.
Bikes:
As it stands, Cyril Despres (KTM) now holds a lead of 02min 35sec over the hard-charging Marc Coma (KTM) with Despres’ teammate Ruben Faria (KTM) in a close third place on the overall leaderboard.
After SS1, officials of the Dakar Rally penalised Faria one minute for breaking the speed limit on the road section, thus handing the stage win to teammate Depres and dropping him off the overall lead.
With navigation not as critical as on upcoming stages, Despres was able to hold his KTM 450cc’s throttle to lead from start to finish on the 300km-long Special Stage. This was also his 25th Dakar stage victory of his career.
Coma, in a somewhat comfortable second place overall, is eyeing the top spot of the Bikes standings. The predicted duel between Coma and Despres is drawing ever nearer in these opening days, and it will be interesting to see how these to grand masters play out their tactics over the next few days of this rally.
Interestingly, David Casteu (Sherco) was the quickest of the non-KTM factory riders on SS2. He is now up to sixth overall in the classification, but 10min 01sec off the lead pace. This wily character, on a machine that is largely an unknown quantity on an event of this nature when compared to the BMW and KTM machines, may yet rise to a podium position this week.
While the mighty KTMs sprint for the horizon, Sherco, BMW and Aprilia are fighting for the remainder of the top ten rankings. The top Aprilia rider is Francisco Lopez in fourth (06min 51sec behind) and the top BMW entry is now in fifth place thanks to Paulo Goncalves (09min 28sec off the lead pace).
Cars:
In the Cars category Carlos Sainz (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) was harried by Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (BMW X3CC) on this stage, but Peterhansel could not close the gap to Sainz. Sainz enjoys an overnight lead of 03min 05sec heading into SS3.
The Cars category was fought out over a 324km route, similar to a World Rally Championship stage with its long straights, high-speed corners and bends and sweeping roads. This was the natural hunting ground for Sainz, and he won the stage albeit with an overall margin of 03min 05sec over Peterhansel. Sainz should have dominated this stage, and so should his Volkswagen Race Touareg 3 teammates, but it was the BMW X3CCs of Peterhansel, Holowycz, Terranova and Novitsky that impressed with their speed and handling. This stage is most definitely a warning for the Volkswagen crews to be on full alert for further BMW advances over the remaining 14 days of competition…
Sadly, Mark Miller and South African co-driver Ralph Pitchford (Volkswagen Race Touareg 3) suffered problems on SS2. They rolled 45km into the test and were hampered by smaller glitches throughout the remainder of the stage. In total they lost 50min to Sainz. With better luck on SS2 it was Guerlain Chicherit (MINI) who powered to a seventh fastest stage time to put SS1’s woes firmly out of his mind. He is still outside the top 20 overall, but closing in fast.
Trucks:
As expected, the Trucks category provided close rally action: Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) is now the overall leader by a slender 09sec from Ales Loprais (Tatra) and only 22sec ahead of Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz).
Overall Classification after SS2:
Bikes:
01) C. Despres (KTM) – 05hr 17m 42s
02) M. Coma (KTM) + 02m 35s
03) R. Faria (KTM) + 06m 13s
04) F. Lopez Contardo (BMW) + 06. 51s
05) P. Goncalves (BMW) + 09m 28s
06) D. Casteu (Sherco) + 10m 01s
07) J. Street (Yamaha) + 10m 14s
08) J. Pedrero Garcia (KTM) + 10m 50s
09) D. Fretigne (BMW) + 11m 26s
10) F. Verhoeven (BMW) + 12 06s
Cars:
01) C. Sainz/L. Cruz (VW Race Touareg 3) – 05hr 30m
02) S. Peterhansel/J-P. Cottret (BMW X3CC) + 03m 05s
03) N. Al-Attiyah/T. Gottschalk (VW Race Touareg 3) + 03m 19s
04) G. De Villiers/D. Von Zitzewitz (VW Race Touareg 3) + 10m 49s
05) K. Holowycz/J-M. Fortin (BMW X3CC) + 16m 04s
06) O. Terranova/F. Palmeiro (BMW X3CC) + 18m 25s
07) L. Novitsky/A. Schulz (BMW X3CC) + 28m 23s
08) G. Spinelli/Y. Haddad (Mitsubishi) + 29m 47s
09) C. Lavielle/J-P. Forthomme (Nissan) + 33m 32s
10) J. Roma/M. Perin (Nissan Overdrive) + 35m 45s
Trucks:
01) F. Kabirov (Kamaz) – 06hr 41m 00s
02) A. Loprais (Tatra) + 09s
03) V. Chagin (Kamaz) + 22s
04) A. De Azevedo (Tatra) + 09m 59s
05) F. Echter (MAN) + 14m 21s
06) P. Vila (Iveco) + 21m 33s
07) E. Nikolaev (Kamaz) + 22m 43s
08) M. Van Vliet (MAN) + 25m 08s
09) H. Duisters (Iveco) + 27m 23s
10) I. Mardeev (Kamaz) + 33m 36s