Home » Al Rajhi wins battle of attrition in 48h Chrono, Spierings wins Challenger class

Al Rajhi wins battle of attrition in 48h Chrono, Spierings wins Challenger class

The decision by several top drivers to avoid opening the second stage proved to be a wise one. Yazeed Al Rajhi won the stage after nearly 11 hours behind the wheel of his Toyota Hilux. Henk Lategan finished second, also in a Hilux, while Nasser Al-Attiyah secured third in the Dacia Sandrider. However, the 48-hour stage was anything but uneventful in the car category.

Al-Attiyah initially seemed set for second place but received a time penalty, dropping him to third. It was a strong stage for the Toyota drivers: in addition to Al Rajhi and Lategan, six Toyotas finished in the top ten. Yacopini came fourth, Baciuska fifth, Price ninth, and Vanagas tenth. Serradori performed well, finishing sixth in his Century CR7, while Loeb secured seventh in the Dacia and Ekström was the fastest Ford Raptor, placing eighth.

There were also setbacks for some top competitors during this grueling stage. Carlos Sainz was the first to run into trouble, crashing his Ford in the dunes. The reigning Dakar champion managed to continue but lost an hour and a half. His teammate Nani Roma wasn’t as lucky; after a crash, Roma had to abandon the stage and was towed to the bivouac by his service truck.

Toyota’s success was tempered by misfortune. De Villiers collided with Variawa in the dust. De Villiers managed to continue after lengthy repairs, but Variawa was unable to proceed. Botterill also lost significant time due to repairs on his Hilux.

The MINI team wasn’t spared either. De Mevius had to stop for extensive repairs on both days. Chicherit struggled with navigation, losing a lot of time, while Jurkevicius suffered a heavy crash in his MINI, though the crew emerged unscathed.

Dacia appeared to have a decent stage, but appearances were deceiving. Loeb encountered cooling issues on the first day but managed to fix them and recover time during the second day. Gutiérrez, however, was less fortunate. After assisting Loeb with repairs and starting the second day strong, she faced power steering issues and had to be towed to the bivouac. Al-Attiyah was the only Dacia driver to avoid significant problems.

In the overall standings, Lategan took the lead with a 4:45 advantage over Al Rajhi. Al-Attiyah moved to third, 11:14 behind, followed by Price at 11:44 and Ekström at 13:16.

Among the Dutch, Tim and Tom Coronel were once again the fastest. The duo had problems with the suspension, but still managed to set the 33rd fastest time. Ronald van Loon was given a time penalty, which dropped him to 35th position. Dave Klaassen was 41st, Stefan Carmans came to the 48th fastest time and Rik van den Brink was 51st. Maik Willems stood still for about four hours on the way, it is not yet known what happened, he became 52nd.

Challengers

It was a dynamic stage for the Challengers. Guerreiro started strong but was overtaken by Cavigliasso after 169 kilometers. Then Paul Spierings made his move, climbing from 17th in an exciting duel with the Argentine. Cavigliasso seemed poised for victory, but a time penalty handed Spierings his first Dakar stage win—a remarkable achievement for the Dutchman. Cavigliasso finished second, with Leaverton in third.

Puck Klaassen finished tenth today, after a difficult start the 22-year-old climbed to tenth place. Gert-Jan van der Valk rode a great stage and finished 21st. Lex Peters finished 23rd and Richard Aczel finished 25th. Marinus Streppel had a lot of problems in the first 373 kilometers and fell far behind. He was towed back to the bivouac.

In the overall standings, Cavigliasso retained the lead, followed by Guerreiro and Leaverton. Spierings moved up to fourth, with Navarro in fifth.

SSVs

The SSV category saw an intense battle between Brock Heger and Xavier de Soultrait, who traded the fastest times throughout the stage. Ultimately, debutant Heger edged out the experienced De Soultrait for the win, with Pinto finishing third.

In the overall standings, De Soultrait maintained his lead over Heger, with Pinto in third.

Roger Grouwels finished 20th today, Sander Derikx came in 25th.

Photos: ASO/DPPI

Al-Attiyah secures Dacia’s first stage win, new leader in the car category

Al Rajhi wins first part of the marathon, Al-Attiyah aims for more

All roads lead to ‘Roma’ as Lategan strikes back

Week 1 in Dakar: Lategan leads, Toyota dominates, and many top drivers face setbacks